6 MARCH 2003
Veteran actor Harrison Ford has been honoured at a gala evening held by the Natural Resources Defence Council in New York. Sigourney Weaver and Bobby Kennedy Junior also attended the event, which paid tribute to Harrison's long-running efforts to protect the environment.

The actor has taken part in many of the organisation's conservation projects including, most recently, their campaign to stop a controversial dam being built in Belize.

Harrison worked in the impoverished Central American country for several months when filming The Mosquito Coast and says he developed a love for its exotic wildlife. Environmentalists say the Canadian-funded dam project is an environmental timebomb, however, and threatens to wipe out several endangered species.

The 60-year-old has become increasingly outspoken on social and political issues in recent years, most recently launching an attack on the policies of President George Bush. After newspapers reported that he was in favour of war in Iraq, the Indiana Jones star said he was "appalled by the idea", adding: "What I'm for is a regime change on both sides."

He has also made it clear he doesn't think much of the president's environmental policies. After receiving Harvard University's Environmental Citizen Of The Year award last year, he said: "Our health relies entirely on the vitality of our fellow species on Earth."

"When we protect the places where the processes of life can flourish, we strengthen not only the future of medicine, agriculture and industry, but also the essential conditions for peace and prosperity."