UN ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY TEAMS UP WITH KEY EUROPEAN TRAVEL GROUP TO SAVE DOLPHIN

UN ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY TEAMS UP WITH KEY EUROPEAN TRAVEL GROUP TO SAVE
DOLPHINS
New York, Dec 4 2006 5:00PM
With 2007 declared the "Year of the Dolphin," the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) has teamed up with TUI, Europe's leading travel group, to
<" http://www.cms.int/news/current_news_page.htm">launch a major public
awareness campaign on various threats to the marine mammal's survival such
as entanglement in fishing nets and the degradation of their habitats.

"The United Nations often lacks sufficient resources to undertake global
public awareness projects; thus the need to join forces with others," said
Robert
Hepworth, Executive Secretary of the Bonn
<"http://www.cms.int/news/current_news_page.htm">Convention on Migratory
Species, an intergovernmental treaty concluded under UNEP's aegis that seeks
to conserve wildlife and habitats on a global scale.

"We are very pleased to welcome TUI as our corporate partner of this
campaign and rely on their established communication network to spread our
message," he added.

Activities promoted though this partnership include the publication of
information on dolphins in brochures and travel catalogues, in-flight
magazines, a dedicated website (<" http://www.yod2007.org/en/Start_page/index.html">www.YoD2007.org) and the
development of a 'dolphin diploma' for children. Multilingual dolphin
manuals will also be developed and distributed to young travellers and their
families in TUI destinations and passed onto local schools.

"We believe that our tourists and managers could contribute to an important
cause while enjoying their holidays or doing their work," TUI Director of
Corporate Environmental Management W. Michael Iwand said, adding that the
alliance with the Convention "is a smart way to conjugate business needs
with outreach and communications on important environmental and social
issues."

TUI will also assist with the organization of an important meeting in the
Canary Islands in late 2007 to develop an international agreement for the
conservation of small cetaceans in West Africa, by providing logistics and
assistance to developing country participants.
2006-12-04 00:00:00.000