DiCaprio greets Bangladesh on ‘marine protected area’

Academy Award-winning Hollywood actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has congratulated the Bangladesh government on the newly established Marine Protected Area around Saint Martin’s Island.

Leonardo DiCaprio also extended congratulations to the local communities and NGOs on the achievement that will protect biodiversity.

In a tweet, he wrote, “Congrats to the Government of Bangladesh, local communities & NGOs on a newly established Marine Protected Area around Saint Martin’s Island that will protect an incredible community of biodiversity and provide key habitat for Bangladesh’s only coral reef.”

The government recently declared about 1,743 square kilometers area of the Bay of Bengal adjacent to Saint Marin’s Island as ‘Saint Martin Marine Protected Area’ to preserve marine biodiversity.

This newly declared marine protected area spans 672 square miles on Bangladesh’s southernmost tip. The tropical waters are home to the countries only corals, as well as pods of elusive Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and endangered whale sharks, now sheltered by the region’s newest protected area.

In 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio established his foundation with the mission of protecting the Earth’s last wild places. Since then he has been campaigning in the fight against climate change.

ARR