OREANDA-NEWS. January 27, 2016. Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest travel and leisure company, will welcome representatives from leading conservation, science and sustainability organizations Jan. 26-27 to its Miami headquarters for The Nature Conservancy's Mapping Ocean Wealth annual forum. Carnival Corporation, in partnership with the Carnival Foundation, awarded a \\$2.5 million gift over five years in 2014 to support The Nature Conservancy's work on Mapping Ocean Wealth and global marine protection priorities, and hosting this week's summit at the company's headquarters underscores its commitment to a healthy and sustainable environment.

The Mapping Ocean Wealth initiative is designed to create a new kind of knowledge about how and where ocean benefits are produced – and mapping those areas.  Coral reefs and mangroves, for example, provide numerous benefits, including fish production, flood mitigation, erosion control and recreation.  The project will be transformational to ocean management and will improve investments in conservation, restoration and economic development by identifying and mapping the areas where these benefits are produced.

The meeting will also highlight updated research in the areas supporting tourism, the coastal ocean's CO2 sequestration capacity and coastal protection specific to coral reefs and mangroves, which are present in ports around the world and whose health is an important environmental priority for Carnival Corporation and its 10 cruise line brands operating in more than 700 global ports.

Along with Carnival Corporation, representatives from The World Bank, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), World Resources Institute (WRI), University of British Columbia, Duke University, GRID-Arendal and others will join The Nature Conservancy at the meeting.

"The Nature Conservancy's Mapping Ocean Wealth project will identify the most critical areas for public and private action in support of our oceans, as well as help showcase the latest research on issues such as tourism, coastal protection and fish production," said Elaine Heldewier, sustainability director for Carnival Corporation.  "As the world's largest cruise company, we have 11 million guests a year sailing with our 10 global brands, and many of our 120,000 employees work and live for extended periods of time on our oceans and seas. So it is a top priority for us to protect and sustain the environment, and supporting leading conservation groups such as The Nature Conservancy and many others underscores our commitment to sustainability. We look forward to two days of learning how new research and specific initiatives can further our joint goals."

"Our annual meeting will advance the discussion of how ocean habitats benefit us all, and how well-informed conservation initiatives can yield lasting, measurable outcomes," added

Rob Brumbaugh, director of ocean mapping and planning for The Nature Conservancy. "Mapping Ocean Wealth demonstrates what the ocean does for us today so that we can maximize what the ocean does for us tomorrow."

Supporting the 2016 Mapping Ocean Wealth meeting is the latest example of Carnival Corporation's ongoing support of The Nature Conservancy. In June 2015 the company announced that its first year of supporting The Nature Conservancy helped the conservation organization further some of its critical preservation activities. Highlights included:

  • building new coral nurseries in the Caribbean
  • transplanting 20,000 corals in the Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands
  • installing new pilot reef enhancement structures to provide greater habitat for fish and a potential area for future coral growth in Grenada'sGrenville Bay