Bonn, 4 December 2006. TUI, Europe’s leading travel group, will support the United Nations Environment Programme, through the Bonn Convention, to undertake a major public awareness campaign on various threats to dolphin survival such as by-catch and the degradation of their habitats.
      The Convention on Migratory Species, widely known as the Bonn Convention, which has given its focus on wild animals crossing national boundaries, has declared 2007 the “Year of the Dolphin”, and invited private sector companies, as well as other international organizations, to join forces to spread the message on the urgent need to protect these marine species.
      “The United Nations often lacks sufficient resources to undertake global public awareness projects; thus the need to join forces with others. 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”, says Robert Hepworth, Executive Secretary of the Convention.
      Activities promoted though this partnership include the publication of information on dolphins in brochures and travel catalogues, in-flight magazines, a dedicated website (www.YoD2007.org) and the development of a ‘dolphin diploma’ for children. Multilingual dolphin manuals will also be developed and distributed to young travelers and their families in TUI destinations and passed onto local schools.
      “TUI will be an effective partner and Ambassador of the CMS message on Dolphins. We believe that our tourists and managers could contribute to an important cause while enjoying their holidays or doing their work. This alliance with CMS is a smart way to conjugate business needs with outreach and communications on important environmental and social issues”, says Dr W. Michael Iwand, Director of Corporate Environmental Management at TUI.
      Given its outreach and the alternative educational means utilized, UNESCO selected this campaign to be part of the activities of the UN Decade for Education on Sustainable Development. The campaign is also a tangible contribution towards meeting targets to reduce the loss of wildlife by 2010, which Governments have agreed through the UN.
      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.
     In addition to TUI, other organizations have joined the initiative including the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), CMS specialized Agreements on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS), as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
      The international launch of the campaign took place in Monaco on the 17th September 2006 with H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco as Patron. "The Year of the Dolphin gives me the opportunity to renew my firm commitment towards protecting marine biodiversity. With this strong initiative we can make a difference to save these fascinating marine mammals from the brink of extinction,” said the Prince on that occasion.