Azamara® Unveils World Wildlife Fund Guest Speaker Series
Cruise Line Helps Global Conservation Organization Protect and Conserve the Ocean
MIAMI (September 16, 2016) – Azamara, the upmarket cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL), is teaming up with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as part of its parent company’s commitment to help protect and conserve one of the world’s most precious resources – the ocean. The company is unified in the mission to reduce its environmental footprint, further ocean conservation, help marine life thrive and engage the global community to raise awareness about the importance of marine and environmental conservation. Azamara will be hosting an onboard World Wildlife Fund Guest Speaker Series and will also be selling plush on board based on the organization’s iconic panda with 100% of the net proceeds going to support WWF’s global oceans conservation work.
The Series kicked off in June, with WWF’s Dr. Nikhil Advani, a Senior Climate Change Adaption Expert, joining Azamara Journey and speaking with guests about the impact of climate change. The Series will include leading experts covering a range of topics and providing guests with insight into nature’s value to people, business, governments, and biodiversity, wildlife and marine conservation, and food waste and sustainable agriculture. Each WWF expert will share stories of the places and species WWF serves to protect, and the people whose lives the organization serves to improve.
World Wildlife Fund Speaker Series guests will include:
- Nilanga Jayasinghe, Program Officer, Wildlife Conservation – Jayasinghe’s focus on Asian species conversation, particularly elephants, rhinos, tigers and snow leopards. She is part of the WWF’s core team working on wildlife conservation.
- Cassie O’Connor, Manager, Foundation Relations – O’Connor works with the foundation to staff to provide support to conservation projects throughout the world.
- Pete Pearson, Director of Food Waste - Pearson works on food waste prevention and food recovery, helping businesses understand the intersection of agriculture and wildlife conservation. For almost a decade, he has worked as a change agent within various businesses and non-profits on regenerative agriculture, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
- Dr. Sybille Klenzendorf, Senior Biologist, Wildlife Conservation – Dr. Klenzendorf leads wildlife conflict mitigation and Arctic species conservation issues for the WWF network.
- Michael Osmond, Senior Program Officer - Osmond works on fisheries improvement projects, fisheries technology innovations and bycatch reduction efforts across World Wildlife Fund and manages a collaborative program that brings together the fishing industry, research institutes, universities and governments to inspire and reward practical, innovative fishing gear designs that reduce bycatch.
- Nicky Sundt, Consultant on Energy and Climate Change Issues- Sundt has more than 35 years of experience in government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. He most recently served as WWF’s director of Climate Science and Policy Integration, having previously worked as WWF’s director of Climate Communications.
“We created a World Wildlife Fund Speaker Series as part of Royal Caribbean LTD’s broad partnership because our team and our guests seek out opportunities to learn through experience. Hosting these experts onboard to conduct educational sessions on our ships about ocean conservation while at sea allows our team and guests to be deeper connected to and engaged in the cause,” says Larry Pimentel, President and CEO of Azamara. “As we sail from port to port, it’s imperative to appreciate the bodies of water that make our travel possible and protect the ocean life that inhabit them. This partnership will be a meaningful one for our guests and all employees here at Azamara.”
“To conserve and sustain our oceans requires first that we understand them and the threats they face,” says Brad Ack, Senior Vice President, Oceans at WWF. “As we work with RCL’s family of brands on committing to and achieving measurable sustainability targets, we hope to engage and inspire passengers to participate actively in ensuring the long term health of our planet’s oceans.”
For more information about the partnership and to learn about Azamara and RCL’s 2020 sustainability targets, visit https://www.azamara.com/discover/world-wildlife-fund. Connect with Azamara on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter, or follow President and CEO @LarryPimentel.