The Reef-World Foundation – the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme's Green Fins initiative – is encouraging people to nominate the charity to win £1,000 as part of specialist insurer Ecclesiastical's Movement for Good awards.*
It’s quick and easy to nominate Reef-World online. Nominations are open until Sunday 24 May and you can vote for Reef-World (charity number 1157096) online at movementforgood.com. Winners will be drawn at random and the more times Reef-World is nominated the more chance it has of being selected.
Reef-World is working to make sustainable diving the social norm through Green Fins; an initiative it runs in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to help dive and snorkel operators become more sustainable; as well as educating tourists about best environmental practice. The initiative also provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for snorkelling and scuba diving and enables policy makers to identify areas of high environmental risk within the industry. This means they can work with business owners to find a suitable solution to local threats.
If Reef-World wins the Movement for Good awards, the £1,000 funding would go towards educating the marine tourism industry about the simple things they can do to improve their sustainability and protect coral reefs. So, the charity is encouraging everyone to use their social media channels to ask people to vote for them to give the charity the best possible chance of winning.
Samantha Craven, Programmes Manager at The Reef-World Foundation, said: “We’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who nominates Reef-World in the Movement for Good Awards. The more nominations we receive, the higher our chance of winning a £1,000 grant – so your nomination really counts! As a small team running the Green Fins sustainable diving initiative in 11 countries around the world, we know how to make a little go a long way. If we’re lucky enough to win this funding, we will make sure the donation helps maximise our conservation impact for coral reefs.”
Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, says: “We’re delighted to announce the launch of Ecclesiastical’s Movement for Good awards for the second year running. The coronavirus is having a major impact on charities and many are facing financial difficulties. Our Movement for Good awards will continue to help charities at a time when they need it most and we know that for many charities, £1,000 can make a real difference.
“We were thrilled to receive so many nominations from the public last year and this year we are encouraging even more people to nominate a good cause. Ecclesiastical is a unique financial services group. We are owned by a charity which means all available profits can be given to the good causes that are so important to our customers. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of our business.”
- Ends -
* Nominations for the Movement for Good awards can only be made by UK residents
For more information about sustainable marine tourism, supporting images or an interview with a spokesperson from The Reef-World Foundation, please contact: Melissa Hobson on press at reef-world dot org
About Reef-World
The Reef-World Foundation is a registered UK charity which delivers practical solutions for marine conservation around the world. The charity promotes the wise use of natural resources - particularly coral reefs and related ecosystems - for the benefit of local communities, visitors and future generations. It is dedicated to supporting, inspiring and empowering governments, businesses, communities and individuals around the world to act in conserving and sustainably developing coastal resources.
Reef-World leads the global implementation of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative, which focuses on driving environmentally friendly scuba diving and snorkelling practices across the industry globally. As such, the charity provides low cost and practical solutions to local and industry-wide environmental challenges associated with the marine tourism industry. It provides education and capacity building assistance to empower environmental champions (within the diving industry, local communities, authorities and governments) to implement proven coastal resource management approaches.
Please visit www.reef-world.org to learn more or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Green Fins
Green Fins is a proven conservation management approach – spearheaded by The Reef-World Foundation in partnership with the UN Environment Programme – which leads to a measurable reduction in the negative environmental impacts associated with the marine tourism industry. The initiative aims to protect and conserve coral reefs through environmentally friendly guidelines that promote a sustainable diving and snorkelling tourism industry. It provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for the diving and snorkelling industry and has a robust assessment system to measure compliance.
Green Fins encourages and empowers members of the diving industry to act to reduce the pressures on coral reefs by offering dive and snorkel companies practical, low-cost alternatives to harmful practices - such as anchoring, fish feeding and chemical pollution – as well as providing strategic training, support and resources. By reducing the local direct and indirect pressures tourism puts on coral reefs, it helps make corals healthier and more resilient to other stresses such as the effects of climate change. Look for the Green Fins logo when booking your next dive trip.
Please visit https://www.greenfins.net/ to learn more or follow the initiative on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Ecclesiastical
Owned by a registered charity, Allchurches Trust, Ecclesiastical is a specialist insurer of the faith, heritage, fine art, charities, education and private client sectors
Ecclesiastical is one of the UK’s top five company givers to charity according to the 2017-18 UK Guide to Company Giving. After donating £50m to charity in three years, Ecclesiastical launched a bold vision in 2016 to raise £100m for good causes by the end of 2020. In March 2020, the Group announced it had already raised £96million towards its target. Find out more at www.ecclesiastical.com/ourstory
About the Movement for Good awards
Ecclesiastical’s £1 million giving programme, the Movement for Good awards, will help charities change lives for the better. Phase one will see 500 charities receive £1,000 while the other £500,000 will be given away later this summer
The £1,000 awards launch on Wednesday 6 May and is open to all UK-registered charities. From 6 May to 24 May anyone can nominate a registered charity for the chance to receive one of 500 £1,000 awards. The winners will be announced between 1 June and 12 June. For more information visit www.movementforgood.com