04 June 2010

Jakarta (04/06)- Nugie, musician-cum-activist who is WWF-Indonesia Honorary Supporter, gave his special performance at the event “Sumatra Forest-Indonesian Culture and Nature” in Agora Globe Hall, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Friday (04/06). Organized by Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Open Academy, the event is a collaboration between WWF Japan, WWF-Indonesia, and Wonder Eyes Project.
Not only giving musical performance in Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Nugie also promotes tens of photos by Indonesian children photographers through Wonder Eyes photo exhibition. The exhibition is conducted for 21 days, starting on 22 May 2010 to 11 June 2010 at Agora Global Prometheus Hall, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Konica Minolta Plaza (gallery A) Shinjuku Takana Building 4F, Tokyo. Nugie’s activities in Japan is supported by Garuda Indonesia, marking its support for nature conservation and cultural exchange between generations and countries.

The Wonder Eyes photo exhibition held in Tokyo is a follow up event continuing nature photography exhibition by Sumatra children particularly those living in Tesso Nilo National Park (Riau) and Bukit Barisan Selatan NP (Lampung) surrounding areas. The same exhibition has also been conducted in some places in Jakarta. The photos then will be exhibited in several places in Sumatra as part of the series of event for Year of Tiger campaign 2010.
As WWF-Indonesia Honorary Supporter, Nugie acts not only as a spokesperson for the project, but also assisted the Wonder Eyes participants during Wonder Eyes project in Sumatra (Oktober and November 2009).
“Through this project, we combine communication, art, and documentation. Children living near Bukit Barisan Selatan and Tesso Nilo will benefit from this event. For instance from the ecotourism sector point of view, the photos will be able to introduce Sumatra points of interest to public. It’s an effective promotional media,” said the musician who has also supported WWF’s conservation efforts for 14 years. Furthermore, he expected that other relevant activities can also be done in other places.
Besides singing his songs about nature and environment, Nugie also talked about Sumatra biodiversities and Indonesian culture. Moreover, he shared his experience during his time with the Wonder Eyes Project in Sumatra. “I believe that honesty and sincerity of children interpreting nature and its surroundings make the photos more “lively”, representative, and honest. “
For further information, contact:

• Nugie, WWF-Indonesia Honorary Supporter, email nugiemusic@gmail.com
• Desmarita Murni, Communications Coordinator, WWF-Indonesia Forest Program, Mobile: +62811793458, email: dmurni@wwf.or.id

Note for Editor:
About WWF
WWF-Indonesia is an independent member of WWF, the global conservation organization, a network of WWF organizations and affiliates operating in close to 100 countries worldwide. It is an independent foundation registered under Indonesian law. In carrying out its conservation work, WWF-Indonesia has 25 project offices in 17 provinces. This organization works with local governments through practical field projects, scientific research, advising local governments on environmental policy, promoting environmental education, empowering communities, and raising awareness on environmental issues. More info about WWF-Indonesia, visit http://www.panda.org; or our local sites www.wwf.or.id and WWF-Indonesia supporter website in www.supporterwwf.org
About Wonder Eyes
Wonder Eyes is a creative, educational, and non-profit activity for children through photography. Initiated by Japanese photo journalist Hikaru Nagatake on 2000, the activity has provided opportunity for children in Brazil, Japan, Kenya, Cuba, Mozambique, Uzbekistan, Russia, Taiwan and Timor Leste to share their life through photographs.
In Indonesia, the photography workshop conducted on 23 Oktober 2009-3 November 2009 in the heart of Sumatra. It involved 174 students from Elementary School and Junior High School living near Tesso Nilo NP (Riau) and Bukit Barisan Selatan NP (Lampung). For more info about Wonder Eyes, visit www.wondereyes.org . Wonder Eyes Project in Sumatra can be viewed at www.wwf.or.id or facebook ”Wonder Eyes project in Sumatra.” For further information regarding Bukit Barisan Selatan NP and Tesso Nilo NP, and Year of Tiger Campaign 2010, visit www.wwf.or.id/savesumatra
About WWF-Indonesia Honorary Supporters
WWF-Indonesia Honorary Supporters are public figures officially appointed by WWF-Indonesia as WWF supporters for one year period. They have great concern and commitment to helping WWF-Indonesia’s conservation efforts. They are involved in public events and WWF campaigns voluntarily. Honorary Supporters are public figures from various professions such as musician, actor/actress, model, and presenter.

About Nugie
Musician Agustinus Gusti Nugroho , or better known as Nugie, is a well known Indonesian singer/songwriter with a special concern about the environment. He has been positioning his activities and music to urge public to care about the earth since her early career in the 1990s. His trilogy album entitled Bumi – “Earth” (1995), Air – “Water” (1996) and Udara – “Air” (1998) have succeeded to promote environment-theme music to record industry and music business in Indonesia.
Nugie is an active participant in environmental conservation campaigns with WWF-Indonesia since 1995. The first hit with WWF-Indonesia was “Bumiku Satu, ” (literally means ‘My Only Earth’) a television show hosted by Nugie himself. Taking his part as the Ambassador for The State Ministry for Environment, in 2007, Nugie and “The United Voices of Indonesia”, a special one-off grouping of Indonesia’s 50 top singers, musicians and performers, launched a song and video entitled “Dunia Berbagilah” (World, Let’s Share Together). The song was written by Nugie and introduced as the theme song for the United Nations Conference for Climate Change (COP 13) held in December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. Nugie wrote the song, as he wanted to inspire and provoke people to do something to tackle climate change, and to raise awareness about the United Nations Climate Change Conference.