The Prince Albert II of Monaco foundation and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) have joined forces for the protection of the planet.

There has never been a time in history when the natural environment has been under greater threat. Given humanity’s dependence on the natural world, we are in dire need of new ideas and innovations to help us as we strive to protect our planet.

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation is therefore pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI). CCI aims to create and deliver solutions to help protect the world’s biodiversity by fostering collaborations between leaders in conservation research, practice, policy and education around the world. The Initiative brings together the University of Cambridge’s multidisciplinary biodiversity conservation scholarship with practitioners and advocates from the largest cluster of conservation organisations in the world.

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation is active within the fields of climate change and renewable energies, biodiversity, water and the combating of desertification and supports projects that promote the preservation of the environment and sustainable development.

 “I am optimistic that by working together with the Prince Albert Foundation, CCI will be able to tackle new issues in innovative ways, with a goal to help transform how society values and invests in nature”, Dr Mike Rands, Executive Director of the Cambridge Conservation. “We are looking forward to focusing on ensuring that nature is viewed as a vital asset in Earth’s natural capital, which makes it possible for all of us to thrive.”

“The protection of biodiversity and therefore of endangered species is an issue to which I attach a great deal of importance (…) It is together that we will be able to save our biodiversity.  This is a principle of effectiveness. But it is also a principle of humility: none of us can act alone. And here, there is above all a need for openness”, said HSH the Prince Albert II of Monaco.

CCI and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation have joined forces with the belief that by working together they can have a more positive and targeted impact on the issues that they both care about and that working in partnership with others will provide a more powerful platform to protect biodiversity than trying to tackle it alone.

Notes to editors

1. The Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI; www.cambridgeconservation.org) is a unique collaboration between nine conservation organisations and the University of Cambridge seeking to transform biodiversity conservation.

2. The CCI partners are: BirdLife International, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Cambridge Conservation Forum (CCF), IUCN, Fauna & Flora International (FFI), RSPB, TRAFFIC, Tropical Biology Association (TBA), UNEP-WCMC, University of Cambridge

3. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation: In June 2006, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco decided to establish his Foundation to address our planet's alarming environmental situation. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation is dedicated to the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development. The Foundation is active internationally, mobilising citizens, politicians, scientists and economic players around the protection of nature – humankind’s shared heritage.

The Foundation focuses on three priority fields of action:

- To limit the effects of climate change and promote renewable energies.

- To safeguard biodiversity.

- To protect water resources and combat desertification.