Citi Foundation

Since 1996, Citigroup and CI partnered on efforts to promote sustainable community-based management of natural resources and support environmentally friendly small businesses in Peru, Brazil, South Africa and Vietnam.

At the beginning of 2004, Citigroup and CI embarked on a new project designed to determine if ecotourism can play an effective role in conserving critically endangered primates in Northern Vietnam.

In 2003, Citigroup committed to support CI's work in the Succulent Karoo in South Africa. In the Succulent Karoo, CI and other stakeholders are developing a pilot test to curtail the over-harvesting of the endemic plants of the Succulent Karoo. Nurseries alleviate stress on existing wild populations and produce plants for local use and the ornamental plant trade—creating employment opportunities while protecting the delicate ecological balance of the Succulent Karoo.

In 2003, Citigroup also committed to continue supporting CI's work in Brazil. CI and Citigroup will work with local entrepreneurs by establishing the Fundo de Capital Semente para Mata Atlantic. This fund will compliment previous partnership efforts to foster organizational capacity building and planning for ecotourism enterprises and agricultural cooperatives, as well as the development of business and marketing plans for these ventures. As part of these efforts, CI-Brazil and Citigroup Brazil created a volunteer program in support of conservation activities in Southern Bahia, in Brazil.

In 2001, Citigroup supported CI's efforts to promote sustainable entrepreneurship and community-based management of natural resources in communities bordering the Tambopata-Candamo National Reserve Zone and Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, part of the Tropical Andean Hotspot in Peru.

For more information on Citi Foundation, please visit www.citigroup.com/citi/foundation/update_vol1_2010.htm.