Global Compact International Yearbook 2016

Real-life
Eco-warrior
She is known for playing passionate women who fight for their chosen cause, but in real
life, Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver is equally relentless in her work as a zoologist
and conservationist. From saving the gorillas to protecting our oceans, the actress is
devoted to bringing about real change.
It is not unusual for actors to temporarily “become” the
person whom they are portraying, but when Hollywood
star Sigourney Weaver took on the role of murdered primatologist
Dian Fossey, it launched the actress on a lifelong
conservation mission that has continued long since the cameras
stopped rolling. Twenty-eight years later, her environmental
endeavors have gone beyond advocating for the protection
of the mountain gorillas, though she still serves as Honorary
Chairperson of the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
She is now also committed to raising awareness about the
threats faced by marine wildlife and empowering women in
extreme poverty through the nonprofit organization Trickle Up.
“After spending so much time with the mountain gorillas in
Rwanda and playing Dian, I felt that I had been given a gift.
It’s appropriate that I try to do whatever I can to help protect
them,” explains Weaver, describing how her environmental
crusade began. The 1988 drama tells the true story of Dian
Fossey, a naturalist who worked in Rwanda with mountain
gorillas. Prior to her work in the Virunga Mountains, Fossey
had spent time in the Congo studying the primates. Having
become frustrated at her inability to get close to them, she
eventually used her experience of working as an occupational
therapist with autistic children, discovering that when she
mimicked the primates and became submissive, they would
respond better to her. By the time she began her work in
Rwanda in 1967 and founded the Karisoke Research Centre,
Fossey was entirely devoted to protecting the animals and was
horrified by the practice of poaching in the area, despite it
being illegal. Over the next 18 years, Fossey would help arrest
several poachers, who went on to serve lengthy jail sentences.
She even founded her own poaching patrols, and in 1978
tried to prevent two infant gorillas, Coco and Pucker, from
being exported to a zoo in Cologne, Germany. Naturally, her
incredible efforts caused tension among the local gangs and
poachers, and in 1985 (aged 53) Fossey was found bludgeoned
to death in her cabin on the outskirts of the camp.
The story of Dian Fossey is so extraordinary that little embellishment
was required. Even her relationship with National
Geographic photographer Bob Campbell was based on fact.
Weaver was dedicated to bringing to life the tale of the woman
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Global Compact International Yearbook 2016