Leonardo DiCaprio Announces a $43 Million Pledge to Save the Galapagos Islands

Leonardo DiCaprio announced a $43 million pledge to help rewild the Galapagos Islands.

For this initiative, DiCaprio partnered with Re:wild, a conservation charity which he’s a part of; they will help the endangered animals in the Galapagos and protect the important wildlife of the island.

They’re supported by partners like the Ecuador’s ministry of environment and water, the Galapagos National Park Directorate, and the Charles Darwin Foundation.

DiCaprio Will Help Save the Galapagos Islands

Thanks to DiCaprio’s pledge, there will be efforts to restore the Floreana Island by reintroducing 13 species that have been locally extinct, including the Floreana mockingbird which is the first mockingbird that Charles Darwin described.

DiCaprio praised the work of Paula A. Castano from the Island Conservation organization.

She took over the actor’s Instagram and Twitter accounts recently to share important info about the team’s efforts for rewilding.

The actor said that more than half of the remaining wild areas in the world could disappear in the upcoming decades if we don’t act now. This is the main reason they launched Re:wild. To help protect what’s wild and restore the rest.

Some of their efforts will be focused on bringing back the pink iguana, the Floreana giant tortoise, and the Floreana mockingbird.

They want to make sure the Galapagos people also thrive with the wild.

DiCaprio said that when he went to the Galapagos Islands, he met with Castano and knows she works daily to help save one of the most irreplaceable places in the world.

Back in 2014, DiCaprio addressed the UN about the dangers from climate change and also spoke about a part of the problem in the 2016 documentary Before the Flood.

Sources:

RTE

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