The Hollywood actor, long an active conservationist and fundraiser, is a United Nations goodwill ambassador on biodiversity
You became a in July 鈥� how did you become interested in biodiversity and conservation?
I have been interested in these issues all my life, largely because my father worked professionally in the conservation movement for most of my growing up 鈥� he was the head of public policy for the [a US conservation organisation]. He founded the Grand Canyon Trust and was one of the founders of the [which works to convert disused railway routes to walking and cycling trails]. Later he initiated the [US-based] Nature Conservancy鈥檚 .
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So I have always been steeped in these issues through his work. And with my brother and sister, my dad was always taking us on adventures to wild places, to places of beauty, hiking, scuba diving and river rafting. He always immersed us in the intellectual and emotional values of conservation.
What does being goodwill ambassador mean to you personally?
It鈥檚 a compliment to be asked, but mostly I think of it as an opportunity to engage in another way. The fact that the issue of biodiversity loss is probably less front-and-centre than, say, climate change 鈥� even though they are interrelated 鈥� made me feel there was an opportunity to assist in highlighting it.
The UN has said we have reached a crisis point with biodiversity, and you have talked about getting the message out to 鈥渟treet level鈥� and that biodiversity is not just an abstract concept for an 鈥渆nvironmental elite鈥�: how can we change this?
If you are going to look for an opportunity in a terrible circumstance like the Gulf oil spill, one thing that it illuminates is the way that ecosystem collapse and biodiversity loss has a direct negative impact on our lives. We can talk about loss of species but people don鈥檛 necessarily have the context to understand that; they don鈥檛 necessarily feel the connection.
Events like the oil spill can help people at least have a clearer understanding of the way biodiversity connects to our daily lives. We have to acknowledge that taking certain actions and making changes to confront an issue sometimes means the political sphere has to be engaged. It鈥檚 unfortunate but true that sometimes negative consequences can drive change. Of course we all want to highlight positive stories, but highlighting negative impacts has an important role too.
You mean like highlighting the ecosystem effects of an event like the Gulf oil spill?
The spill is making that pretty apparent on its own! I like to highlight other lines of connection people might not have thought of, such as the role bees and butterflies and other pollinators play in most of our food crops. There鈥檚 no synthetic or industrial way to pollinate all the plants we rely on. If you illuminate or articulate some of these connections it can help people get beyond a view of animals having only an emotional value.
The biodiversity meeting in Nagoya, Japan, is on right now: you鈥檝e spoken out about the US being one of the few countries not to sign up to the . What difference would it make if the US signed?
The US can鈥檛 have its cake and eat it too. You can鈥檛 assert that your leadership and example are meaningful on some issues and not on others.
When the US won鈥檛 participate it sends a message to the rest of the world that the whole thing is gestural and not really meaningful. I think the US鈥檚 formal participation would and will help authenticate the commitments and make them more substantive. The situation is not dissimilar to the impacts many people observed resulting from the US failing to sign the Kyoto protocol.
You鈥檙e on the board for the , and president of its US branch. Can you tell me a bit about your own environmental and conservation interests?
I have been involved with different organisations for years as a financial supporter or on their boards. But I started to feel that in some places large non-governmental organisations are not effective in bringing their resources to bear unless there are strong local conservation partners. Local advocacy and local implementation is a component in this issue.
So I started working with the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, which works with a specific Maasai community in the Chyulu hills in southern Kenya. That鈥檚 where Ernest Hemingway wrote the Green Hills of Africa and The Snows of Kilimanjaro. We work with a Maasai community that owns vast tracts of wilderness between three national parks 鈥� nearly 2聽million acres [800,000 hectares] of land. Even when you set up national parks, animals migrate: the health of the watersheds outside these parks is vital to life in them. It鈥檚 all interconnected. An ecosystem doesn鈥檛 recognise the boundaries of a park. So a lot of the health of this particular ecosystem relies on the way the Maasai use their natural resources.
The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust鈥檚 core mission is to partner with the Maasai and to figure out many different ways they can create sustainable economic benefits by managing their land wisely. For example, the development of ecotourism, or getting lease payments for setting aside certain zones as conservancy.
You鈥檝e recently set up your own social networking website for fundraising, . Tell me about that?
Whether you are running the London Marathon for a charity or you just want to ask people in your life to support a cause you care about, Crowdrise gives you tools to do that effectively. It鈥檚 also meant to be fun.
Crowdrise has a virtual points system, like frequent-flyer miles. When people see what you are doing and they like it, they can award you points, which are redeemable against products. It sets up competitive fun.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said he hoped you鈥檇 move the world from Fight Club to Peace Club when he appointed you as goodwill ambassador: what鈥檚 the first rule of Peace Club?
[Laughs] I think Crowdrise鈥檚 slogan is a good one. Which is: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 give back, no one will like you.鈥�
