The Nature Conservancy Photo Contest Award Ceremony Cancelled

Donation to be Made to Affected Communities

Beijing, China — May 14, 2008 — In response to the recent tragedy in Sichuan province, The Nature Conservancy’s China Program announced that it has cancelled a photo contest award ceremony that had been planned to promote China’s nature reserve systems. Instead, the Conservancy will contribute funds from the cancelled award ceremony to the conservation partners, nature reserves, and communities affected by the earthquake, in a manner consistent with the non-profit and tax-exempt status of the organization. The Conservancy China Program employees are also giving individual donations towards disaster relief.

“The devastating, unimaginable, impact of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan continues to increase in scale. The lives and welfare of our neighbors in Sichuan – a region of both high population density and biodiversity – are of utmost importance at this time”, said Rose Niu, Deputy Region Managing Director, The Nature Conservancy Asia-Pacific Region. “Relief efforts so far have been less successful in reaching the remote areas where these nature reserves are located.“

The Nature Conservancy is part of a coalition of like-minded international and domestic NGOs, combining forces across China to provide disaster relief to earthquake-stricken areas. These NGOs are calling for donations of money, material goods, and blood from across the country and several are setting up relief funds for earthquake victims. “We are proud to align ourselves with like-minded NGOs by redirecting our resources to this area of urgent need” said Shuang Zhang, Director of The Nature Conservancy China program.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.