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The Mileage Company teams up with Rainforest Concern
The Mileage Company announces new Airmiles partnership with Global Concervation Charity Rainforest Concern
July 2010, The Mileage Company, operators of Airmiles, the UK's leading travel rewards scheme, is pleased to announce its new partnership with Rainforest Concern, the global conservation charity which protects threatened natural habitats and their biodiversity together with the indigenous people who still depend on them for survival.
Through its Airmiles travel rewards scheme, The Mileage Company is donating over £40,000 to support Rainforest Concern's project work. The money raised will go towards protection of the Choco-Andean Corridor Project in north west Ecuador, where the Charity has been working for the past 13 years to create a forest corridor to connect several vulnerable protected areas in a global ‘biodiversity hotspot’.
For the past 17 years the environmental charity has been raising awareness of the threat to tropical rainforests which are the richest and most diverse habitats on earth. They contain a wealth of ecosystems and wildlife with many species still remaining to be discovered. Rainforests are essential for the planet's wellbeing. Not only do they provide habitat for plants, animals and indigenous people, they help to regulate our climate and are the earth's major source of fresh water, acting like a huge sponge in which to store it. Rainforests also represent a vast reservoir of knowledge; as a ‘natural dispensary’ many modern medicines are derived from tropical forest plants.
The Mileage Company's donation to Rainforest Concern is the result of two of Airmiles' environmentally friendly customer initiatives: members send in their old mobile phones which are reconditioned and reused in developing countries, instead of ending up in landfill, and shopping via Airmiles Eco Shop for sustainable products like eco-kettles and organic beauty products. For both these initiatives Airmiles members collect miles and the profits are donated to two partner charities, Rainforest Concern and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT).
Andrew Swaffield, Managing Director, The Mileage Company, operators of Airmiles, said: “As well as travelling, we know our members want to make a difference and reduce their carbon footprint. Through our environmentally friendly customer initiatives - mobile recycling and shopping via Airmiles Eco Shop, Airmiles customers can now make a significant contribution to environmental projects carried out by the Rainforest Concern to protect threatened natural habitats and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.”
Peter Bennett, Executive Director and Founder, Rainforest Concern, said: “We are very pleased to receive such a generous donation from these two Airmiles initiatives. The funds will go directly towards protecting the fragile eco-systems of the Ecuadorian tropical cloud forests. The partnership also fits well with our Forest Credits programme - set up to enable individuals and businesses to address their impact on the environment by offsetting their carbon emissions through effective and long established conservation projects, whilst also protecting biodiversity and providing benefits for the local communities.”
To find out more about Airmiles commitment to the environment go to www.airmiles.co.uk/worldinmind and to learn more about Rainforest Concern's conservation work and the Forest Credits programme visit www.rainforestconcern.org.
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About Airmiles www.airmiles.co.uk
Millions of members collect Airmiles on their everyday spending and use them for completely free flights that include all airline taxes, fees and surcharges, Eurostar journeys, hotel accommodation, tour operator holidays, cruises, car hire, travel insurance and special days out including Legoland, Alton Towers and English Heritage Annual Membership passes. All bookings are subject to availability.
You can collect Airmiles using a Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo Credit Card account, shopping at Tesco and exchanging Clubcard vouchers, filling up with fuel at Shell and opting into Airmiles and over 200 popular online brands when accessed via airmiles.co.uk eStore - including johnlewis.com, debenhams.com, Apple store, eBay.co.uk, Comet, Currys, Boden, hmv.com and Waterstone's.
Airmiles members can offset the carbon from their flights using miles. In addition, members can collect miles when they recycle their old mobile phones and when purchasing sustainable products including clothes, homewares and beauty products via the Eco Shop at www.airmiles.co.uk.
About Rainforest Concern www.rainforestconcern.org
Rainforest Concern is the British based conservation charity established to protect threatened natural habitats, particularly rainforests and the biodiversity they contain, together with the people who still depend on them for their survival. Working closely in partnership with local organisations the charity currently works in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, India, Sri Lanka and Romania and since 1993 has helped secure protection for over 2.5 million hectares of forest. The charity works with indigenous communities to gain legal recognition of their ancestral forests and strongly believes that it is only by involving the local people can lasting solutions be found to protect the world's remaining native forests.
About the Wildfowl & WetlandsTrust (WWT) www.wwt.org.uk
WWT is a leading UK conservation organisation saving wetlands for wildlife and people across the world. With over 60 years experience of wetland conservation, WWT is committed to the protection of wetlands and all that depend on them for survival. WWT operates nine specialist wetland visitor centres in the UK that are visited by some one million people every year from around the world. The centres provide a place to walk, relax, learn, and get closer to nature. Over 60,000 children benefit every year from educational visits to a WWT centre.
For more information please contact:
Susan Barber
Head of Corporate and Consumer PR
The Mileage Company/Airmiles
Tel: +44 (0) 1293 722 252
Email: susan_barber at themileagecompany dot com
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