Edward Norton Named UN Goodwill Ambassador

Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton has been named the UN goodwill ambassador for biodiversity.

UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon said, "Edward Norton has brought global star power to global issues -- community development and conservation, causes that are clearly close to his heart."

"It is an issue that I've been engaged with on many different levels for a number of years," Norton said at UN Headquarters in NYC on Thursday. "But it's very, very exciting to be asked to engage with it on the level of the UN with its incredible capacity and reach."

Norton is a board member of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and the actor ran the New York City Marathon last year, helping raise over $1 million for the trust and the communities in Kenya who rely on the group's support.

Norton added that he would be "increasing people's focus on the fact that human well-being is intertwined fundamentally with biodiversity. I think catastrophic events like what's happening in the Gulf with the oil spill do highlight for people that there is enormous ramification for human well-being through a loss of biodiversity."