Deutsche Bank's Middle East Foundation announced its partnership with the Emirates Wildlife Society in association with World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF) by supporting its Marine Turtle Conservation Project.

Launched in 2010, EWS-WWF launched a three years project to track the migration patterns of post-nesting Hawksbill turtles tagged with satellite transmitters at designated nesting locations across 4 countries in the Gulf region.

This allows EWS-WWF to locate key foraging grounds and engage governments and relevant decision makers with the development of effective conservation plans to protect the areas essential to the Turtles' survival. 

This year's project will tag another additional 31 Turtles so that the project will be able to gather data from a total of 75 Hawksbill turtles living in the region. Deutsche Bank is sponsoring the tagging of two of those turtles, which will also participate in Great Gulf Turtle Race organized by EWS-WWF to increase the interest around these beautiful creatures and the plight they face as an endangered species. These Hawksbill turtles will be competing to be crowned Furthest Travelled Turtle and the Most Popular Turtle. The race can be followed on www.gulfturtles.com. 

Commenting on the partnership, Philippe Vollot, Chairman of the Deutsche Bank's Middle East Foundation and the Bank's regional Chief Operating Officer, said, "We are really delighted that we have established this partnership with EWS-WWF through our Middle East Foundation. We are looking forward to working together with the EWS-WWF team on this initiative. This project has already shown substantial results with many data points gathered from the tagged turtles, and EWS-WWF is sharing this data with their key partners from government agencies and NGOs to help guide the development and implementation of effective conservation measures to safeguard the survival of these ancient creatures." 

Lisa Perry, Director of Programmes at EWS-WWF, said, "The aim of the EWS-WWF Marine Turtle Conservation Project is to identify key migratory routes and behaviors of the critically endangered Hawksbill turtles that reside in the area in order to fill data gaps and missing links within the region. We are grateful for the generous support of organizations such as Deutsche Bank through its Middle East Foundation, who make it possible for us to acquire the necessary equipment and fit satellite transmitters to these turtle to collect important data which will help us to conserve key habitats that are essential for the turtles' survival." 

Established in 2008, Deutsche Bank's Middle East Foundation is one of the Bank's foundations around the globe such as Asia, Africa and the Americas. In addition, Deutsche Bank has active CSR programs across Europe and the UK. Deutsche Bank's Middle East Foundation focuses on funding investments in arts, education, community development, sustainability, and volunteering in the Middle East North Africa region.