Note to Correspondents

Study on Sustainable Wealth Creation from Natural Resources to Be Launched

at United Nations International School, 19 September

Using Luxury Tourism, Science to Rethink Potential of Knowledge Economy

An international effort to link environmental conservation and scientific research with luxury tourism, with the aim of empowering nations to create immense wealth from the knowledge held within their natural resources, will mark a milestone on Sunday afternoon with the launch of a study, “The Economic Power of Wonder: From Oil Wealth to Knowledge Wealth”, at the United Nations International School (UNIS).

Led by Pangea World, a California-based corporation representing Government, science, academia and the corporate world, the programme positions the international resort industry as the pivotal link in saving enormous swathes of delicate, endangered ecosystems around the globe, and creates a sustainable, vibrant economic base for the world’s poorer nations.

Speakers at Sunday’s launch will include: George B. Dymond, Executive Director, UNIS; Satya N. Nandan, Chairman, UNIS Board of Trustees; Sylvia Howard Fuhrman, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for UNIS; Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, President of Fiji; Anote Tong, President of Kiribati; Winston Thompson, Ambassador of Fiji to the United States; Michael T. Clegg, Foreign Secretary, United States National Academy of Sciences; Adam S. Wilkins, Editor, Genetics; and Hana Ayala, President and Founder, Pangea World.

The event’s opening reception takes place from 2-2:30 p.m., and the closing reception from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the United Nations International School, 24-50 F.D.R. Drive ( 25^th Street), in New York City. More information is available at http://www.unis.org/admissions/campus_info__maps/directions_to_manhattan/index.aspx.

The Pangea World-authored study asserts that through scientific research and discoveries, biodiverse sites offer the potential for enormous wealth comparable to the riches generated by petroleum in the twentieth century. Since the realignment from oil to “knowledge ore” will require a substantial economic investment, at least initially, the programme argues that the hospitality industry — which often is already geographically tied to these precious ecozones — can provide that boost. The study’s road map for implementation includes a blueprint for a “hospitality-science alliance” that can fortify the competitive advantage of poorer nations in the global economy, benefit the international community by sharing the knowledge stored there, and rewrite the standards of sophistication and purpose in world travel.

Pangea World’s first attempt at establishing this new economic model, and its first foray into the biodiverse natural heritage sites across the Pacific Island States along the envisioned “Pacific Bridge to Noble Wealth”, is expected to take place at a launch site in Fiji. The multinational approach underscores that resources available in the area can only be fully assessed, harnessed, valued and protected in the context of evolutionary, ecological, and other relationships across geographies and political boundaries. It represents an unprecedented opportunity to fortify a knowledge bank with incalculable value to strengthen and sustain the emerging global knowledge economy, one that could elevate the conservation of the planet’s most exquisite and vulnerable places into an economic imperative.

Contact—Don Lehr, The Nolan/Lehr Group, Public Affairs Consultant for Pangea World, tel.: +1 212 967 8200/+1 917 304 4058 (mobile); e-mail: dblehr@cs.com/www.pangeaworld.com.

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