Elephant Crisis Fund Launches Global Campaign to End the Ivory Crisis

NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Elephant Crisis Fund, one of the most powerful mechanisms combatting the ivory crisis, in partnership with leaders across the fashion industry, the Clinton Global Initiative, and Tiffany &Co, is launching the #KnotOnMyPlanet campaign on September 9^th to raise millions to support ending elephant poaching and stopping the global trafficking and demand for their ivory.

#KnotOnMyPlanet pays homage to one of the key characteristics of elephants – their memory. We like to say "elephants never forget" and yet we seem to have forgotten them: between 20,000 and 30,000 are killed every year for their tusks because of nothing but human greed. The campaign asks people to never forget elephants by donating to the Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF), and symbolically tying a knot then sharing it on social media with the tag #KnotOnMyPlanet.

"We lost 100,000 elephants in Africa in just three years as a result of the illegal ivory trade.  This problem is too big for any one organization to solve, and so we created the Elephant Crisis Fund to support the most urgent projects with the most effective organizations around the world. In my 50 years of work with elephants, the ECF is the most significant initiative for these creatures I've experienced," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Save the Elephants founder.

To raise the funds needed to save elephants, #KnotOnMyPlanet is launching during New York Fashion Week, with support from top models and celebrities including Doutzen Kroes, Joan Smalls, Miranda Kerr, Cara Delevingne, Adriana Lima, Robin Wright, Pearl Jam, and Adrien Brody, among others. Partners include Tiffany & Co., the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Clinton Global Initiative, DNA Models, The Clymb, Ivory Ella and Snapchat, which is creating a custom lens for the launch.

"The #KnotOnMyPlanet campaign is unlike any other that I have been a part of, it has passion and purpose. As a mother, I don't want my children to live in a world without elephants and as a model, I knew that we could rally the fashion community to save the elephants at time when they need it the most," Doutzen Kroes, model said.

At the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, members of the Clinton Global Initiative Elephants Action Network (EAN) will feature the #KnotOnMyPlanet campaign as part of a multi-stakeholder CGI Commitment to Action with the fashion industry to stop the demand for ivory. This commitment is aimed at the drivers of elephant poaching – consumer tastes for ivory luxury goods and trinkets – and aims to shift attitudes against ivory products and decimate demand for them. Members conducted consumer research and identified collaboration with global cultural tastemakers as pivotal to curb ivory demand. The #KnotOnMyPlanet campaign is a central part of this commitment, as it unifies and galvanizes one of the world's most influential industries to raise support for elephant protection and to tackle the fact that ivory demand is leading us to a world without elephants.

"The CGI Elephants Action Network members share a belief that a world without elephants is morally and ecologically unacceptable," Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation said. "We know most people want to do the right thing for our wildlife and yet many people still don't know the huge threats facing elephants. It's clear that one of the most important things we can do to help stop the killing of elephants is to raise awareness about those threats and reduce consumer demand for ivory by stigmatizing its purchase - something we can only achieve by working with partners to whom consumers look and listen. We're deeply grateful to all involved in the #knotonmyplanet campaign for coming together to champion this message."

About the Elephant Crisis Fund

The Elephant Crisis Fund is a joint initiative of Save the Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network. It is the most effective and innovative way for people who care about elephants and the future of wild Africa to stop the killing of elephants and stop the trafficking and demand for their ivory. It supports the best ideas, rather than a single institution – for it will take the most critical actions of all to save elephants. To date the ECF has supported 114 projects implemented by 59 organizations across African elephants' range and in demand countries.  One hundred percent of every donation goes directly to the ground and none to organizational overhead.

CONTACT:  Lee Alman, [email protected]

SOURCE Elephant Crisis Fund