Sleep better knowing you saved a life

Sleep better knowing you saved a life

By Danielle Bray

JAKARTA (JP): Concern over endangered species, the loss of
habitat and illegal trading in wildlife have prompted partnership
between the Bass Hotel & Resort group, and the World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF) Indonesia.

A small crowd gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jakarta
Thursday to learn more about the dangers of extinction facing
Indonesian wildlife, and how the hotel patrons can support this
cause.

A five-month campaign, from July 1 to Nov. 30, 2000, entitled
Sleep Well, You Just Saved a Life, was launched among 33 Inter-
continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels & resorts in 10
Asia Pacific countries.

During this time, guests staying at participating hotels will
receive information about this campaign located on tent cards,
which are placed along with a WWF poster in each room.

Occupants are informed that an equivalent of US$1 will be
added to their bill, which at their approval, will be donated
directly to the WWF. All proceeds will go to the funding of their
on-going wildlife conservation work in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the 1960's, the WWF has become one of the world's
leading private international conservation organizations. The
preservation group has over five million supporters in five
continents, and has played a major role in the evolution of the
international conservation movement.

Hana Hoed, marketing services manager at the Crowne Plaza
Jakarta said, "Since the launch of this campaign two weeks ago,
we have collected Rp 4.9 million, which we are very happy about.
The ideal goal is to raise Rp 50 million or more."

Stefan Voogel, the general manager of the hotel, kicked off
the awareness campaign by discussing the positive partnership
between the WWF and Bass Hotel & Resorts. He said there has been
a very encouraging response from the guests."

WWF's communication and education awareness manager Desi Polla
stated that in Indonesia there are two main problems which are
causes for concern. "One is the loss of natural habitat, the
other is illegal trading."

She stressed how important it is to educate the local society
of the urgency to protect Indonesia's wildlife and natural
surroundings. She added, "Conservation awareness is not high in
Indonesia... there needs to be an understanding of the need to
protect the wildlife for our children and the generations to
come."

Agus Purnomo, executive director of WWF Indonesia said, "We
are pleased to see the pivotal role Indonesian tourism can play
in helping to secure the future of our endangered species and
their habitats, subsequently extending our eco-tourism
initiatives in selected major tourist destinations."

Participants of the discussion were silenced by a moving video
that displayed the harsh reality behind Indonesia's endangered
species, held captive in cages, waiting to be sold on the black
market.

The audience also reacted strongly to the dim reality of the
staggering amount of elephants that are killed in order to
support the demand of the ivory trade. Ivory continues to be sold
for large quantities of U.S. dollars.

Some of the world's most unique and threatened animal species
are located in the Asia-Pacific region. These include the giant
panda, the tiger, the Asian elephant, the Asian rhino, orangutans
and marine turtles.