In July 2020 , the Cameroon government approve plans to make roughly one - third of its Ebo Forest ’s some 500,000 acres available for log operations . Just a few weeks later , theapproval was rescinded — much to the rest ofconservationistsacross the orb who ’d spent those week talk out against it .
The contingent let in Leonardo DiCaprio , who publicized the takings on societal medium , even tagging Cameroon president Paul Biya in anInstagram postasking him to “ Please facilitate # SaveEboForest . ” While DiCaprio could scarcely be say to have caused the reverse himself , scientists at the UK ’s Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew , believe his effort to raise sentience really did help carry through the timberland .
To express their gratitude , asVarietyreports , they ’ve named one of the Ebo Forest ’s fresh classifiedtreesafter the thespian / activist : Uvariopsis dicaprio . Their enquiry on the coinage is write inPeerJ. The so - called “ Leo tree , ” a fellow member of the Annonaceae family , is a tropic evergreen plant whose bright yellow flower bloom in good order from its bole . “ This is a flora which , for a plant scientist , just jumps out at you , ” Kew taxonomist Martin CheektoldNew Scientist . “ It ’s so spectacular . ”
It ’s also critically endangered . Only about four dozen mature Leo trees have been identify in the Ebo Forest , and it ’s not known to grow anywhere else . U. dicapriois just one of manyendangered speciesthat call Ebo nursing home . Among them are Nigeria - Cameroon chimp , Goliath frogs , forest elephants , and grey parrots . Logging activity in or near their home ground could put serious pressure on the populations , threaten the biodiversity of the forest at large .
But the Ebo Forest is not out of thewoods , so to speak , quite yet : The government could technically reverse its reversal . The hope is that the forest will be grantednational park statusbefore that happen , protecting it from future interference .
[ h / tVariety ]
