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Canon Europa becomes first WWF 'Conservation Partner'

June 9th, 1998



Gland, Switzerland: WWF -World Wide Fund For Nature has chosen Canon Europa as its first Conservation Partner. The union will bring significant benefits to nature and Canon. WWF reserves the title of Conservation Partner for its major corporate sponsors.

A major element of the sponsorship is the transformation of WWF's Photolibrary, located in Gland, into a state-of-the-art electronic resource that will be a strategic support to WWF's communications.

"With our shared vision of harmony between humankind and the environment, Canon is a natural partner for WWF," says Dr Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International. "Now Canon technology and financial support will apply that vision towards increasing WWF's effectiveness, helping to leave our children a living planet."

WWF gets its message across worldwide through its range of print, television and Internet publicity. Its comprehensive stock of nature slides are used extensively through its network of organisations and by commercial users. "Canon's help in digitizing its images, so that they can be instantly available electronically, will be crucial in raising environmental awareness and encouraging conservation.

"In fact, the Canon sponsorship goes beyond the photolibrary. In practical terms, this means that WWF's activities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will receive funding from Canon over the initial three-year term of the sponsorship.

"Visual communication is of course an obvious common interest for WWF and Canon," explains Mr Hajime Katayama, President of Canon Europa. ABut as we develop our relationship with WWF, we recognise that we can also further its conservation work in other ways, which fit well with Canon's corporate philosophy and business activities."

But nature is not the only beneficiary - Canon too will reap important publicity advantages as a WWF Conservation Partner. Every WWF-owned image will include the word 'Canon' in its accompanying photo credit. The partnership will be featured on WWF's award winning website, PANDA.ORG, along with a WWF-Canon 'photo gallery' showing a selection of WWF's nature slides.

Canon Europa will also have access to one of the world's most recognised symbols B WWF's Panda logo -in a newly-created Conservation Partner format, to indicate its special relationship with WWF. The partnership will be launched later this month and is likely to be followed by other high-profile associations between WWF and leading companies.

For further information, please contact Steve Drayton at WWF International Phone : +41 22 3649317

Notes

Sponsoring

Canon's sponsorship of WWF adds a new dimension to the company's long established sponsoring programme. Dating back to the mid 1970s, Canon has sponsored the world's leading sports events, such as Formula One motor racing, the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the PGA Golf Tour and the Wimbledon and French Open Tennis Championships. In the field of education and culture, Canon supports the World Press Photo, the Royal Concertegebouw and the Canon Foundation academic exchange programme.

Canon

Canon is a $21 billion company and recognised as one of the world's leading companies in business machines, including imaging systems and computer input/output devices, cameras and optical products. With its European headquarters in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Canon posted sales of $6.0 billion in Europe in 1997.