DiCaprio warns of climate change threat as he accepts 'Siberian Oscar'

Leonardo DiCaprio expressed his heartfelt thanks to his fans who awarded him a people's Oscar to go with the official one. It was made from gold and silver jewellery melted down after being gifted by his mainly female fans in Yakutia. 

'Thank you to the people of Yakutia for this wonderful gift, especially all of the women who gathered and donated the materials that went into creating the statue,' said the US actor and environmental activist after the award was flown to him in the US.

'As they wrote in their letter, Yakutia is home to the coldest inhabited place not only in Russia, but also on Earth - and the region is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Rising temperatures pose a major threat to its people, their way of life and their natural habitat.'

At the real Oscar ceremony this year, DiCaprio - when he won the Best Actor award -  he used his acceptance speech to express his appreciation for the environment.

'Climate change is real, it is happening right now,' he said. 'It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.'

DiCaprio has Russian roots. His maternal grandmother is believed to have been from the Urals. 

Professor Oleg Anisimov from the State Hydrological Institute in St Petersburg has warned that by the end of the century, climate models an 8C rise in temperature rise in Yakutia.

'Warming here is two times faster, than globally,' he said. 'This is because of the so-called Arctic amplification. There is a reduction in snow and ice cover, which reflect much of the coming sunlight. With less snow and ice, the Arctic gets additional warmth.'