News Release

November 13, 2012

Former U.S. Interior Secretary to address conservation gathering in Toronto

Toronto, ON —

Bruce Babbitt, U.S. Secretary of the Interior in the Clinton Administration and two-term governor of Arizona will speak in Toronto Thursday evening at an event in support of the International Conservation Fund of Canada. Mr. Babbitt will speak on the importance of tropical conservation to Canadians and to the world.

The International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC) was founded in 2007 as a means to enable Canadians to support nature conservation in the tropics and "other priority areas", according to its co-founder Tom Welch.

Mr. Babbitt, who was Chairman of Word Wildlife Fund-US, is a director of the Amazon Conservation Association, which partners with ICFC in Peru. The two organizations signed a memorandum with Peru's minister of environment at a ceremony in Lima earlier this year to mark the creation of a $1M trust fund for the Los Amigos Conservation Concession. The conservation concession — Peru's first and one of the world's first — was created a decade ago by agreement between the government of Peru and the Amazon Conservation Association, and protects old growth Amazonian forest from illegal gold-mining and logging.

Thursday's reception will be held 6-8 pm at the National Club in Toronto's business district.

The International Conservation Fund of Canada has programs in seven countries in Latin America and in Indonesia and Mali. The organization hopes to expand its programs with increased support from Canadians.

About the International Conservation Fund of Canada

The International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC) is the first Canadian non-governmental organization to focus solely on conserving nature in the tropics and other priority areas worldwide. Tropical conservation is considered the most urgent priority due to ongoing loss of natural ecosystems and biodiversity and the crucial importance of tropical ecosystems for climate regulation and agriculture over an intercontinental scale.

ICFC has projects in seven countries in Latin America and in Indonesia and Mali. It works with experienced local field partners to carry out projects that are considered among the best current opportunities in terms of conservation benefits in relation to dollars spent.

Its largest program is in the Brazilian Amazon where it works with the Kayap¢ Indigenous people to enable them to continue to protect their 11-million hectares of legally ratified territories from illegal mining, logging and land clearing. Its most recent project involves taking effective action to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered hooded grebe native to Patagonia in Argentina.

ICFC is headquartered in Chester, Nova Scotia.

For further information, contact:

Tom Welch, Managing Director, ICFC 902-273-3456 / 902-980-0277 (cell)

Anne Lambert, Managing Director, ICFC 902-275-4860 / 902-440-5969 (cell)