Film star Michelle Yeoh is playing an altogether different role, away from the glamor and glitter of Hollywood. The UN Goodwill Ambassador has teamed up with two baby pandas to pitch a public-engaging call for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals that seek economic uplift of all as well as protection of the planet’s biodiversity.
On Tuesday, the award-winning actress set into motion the Pandas for the Global Goals campaign, encouraging people to get involved in the fun of naming the cubs realizing the targets set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The initiative invites public to nominate names by visiting pandas.undp.org, with the winning names to be announced in Chengdu on July 23
The UN says Entrants can also win a trip to see the pandas by picking their favorite of the 17 Global Goals and uploading a creative video explaining the Goal, and why it matters.
Yeoh, who starred in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and Ang Lee’s Academy Award-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was appointed as UN Development Program Goodwill Ambassador earlier this year.
The development organization has also appointed the two panda cubs, born at the Chengdu Panda Base in China last year, as its first-ever animal ‘ambassadors’ to help raise awareness of the new Goals.
“I have joined forces with these two adorable, fuzzy panda babies to get the public interested and engaged in supporting the Global Goals – because who doesn’t love pandas? Protecting their future and our shared wildlife is a responsibility for us all,” Malaysia-born actress said during her visit to the Chengdu Panda Base, according to the United Nations.
“Our aim is to show that each and every one of us can play an active part in reaching a globally shared vision of a future without poverty, inequality or climate change,” she added.
According to UNDP Administrator Helen Clark the pandas symbolize the plight of the world’s diminishing wildlife in the face of climate change and the loss of natural habitats. Addressing the loss of biodiversity is one of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We hope the pandas will help inspire people to become aware of these goals, engage with them, and help to implement them in their own country,” she said
