Following a message along with a photo posted by Leonardo DiCaprio on his personal account on Instagram, the message was liked by 251 thousand users in one day and the National Lake Urmia Restoration Program (NLURP) invited the American movie star to visit the place.
Worried about environmental issues, DiCaprio set up the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, to promote environmental awareness and later in 2014, he was appointed as a United Nations representative on climate change.
DeCaprio’s move was welcomed by many environmentalists, climate change activists, and Iranian figures like Mr. Gary Lewis, UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator in Iran, Mahnaz Afshar, a renowned Iranian actress, Seyyed Hadi Bahadori, an MP from Urmia constituency and a member of one of the projects of reviving the lake.
An endorheic salt lake between two Iranian Azerbaijan provinces, Lake Urmia was, at its full size, the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth largest saltwater lake on the earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km².
Home to migratory birds like flamingos, pelicans, ducks and egrets, the lake along with its once approximately 102 islands, is protected as a national park by the Iranian Department of Environment.
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