The "Save Miguel" campaign developed by CORTICEIRA AMORIM continues to pick up awards at international film competitions. After being awarded with the "Best Original Screenplay" and collected the "People's Choice Award" at the prestigious Oenovideo - International Grape and Wine Film Festival, it was distinguished with the Charles Darwin award at ART & TUR - International Tourism Film Festival recently held in Barcelos (Portugal).
At the presentation of this award ceremony Paulo Bessa, CORTICEIRA AMORIM's Corporate Sustainable Development manager, highlighted the importance of cork and of the business carried on by the Company in terms of biodiversity. "Cork oak forests rank among the top 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world. The economic viability of this absolutely unique ecosystem depends on cork harvesting and manufacturing. Therefore the business of companies such as CORTICEIRA AMORIM is a rare example of interdependency between industry and an ecosystem generating wealth and preserving biodiversity" said Paulo Bessa.
It should be borne in mind that the Countdown 2010 environmental initiative has recently pointed out cork and the cork oak forest as priority areas in biodiversity preservation. "Only drink wines with natural cork stoppers" is one of the 10 essential recommendations of the Countdown 2010 initiative aimed at tackling the loss of biodiversity.
Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have viewed the educational website (www.savemiguel.com) associated with the Save Miguel campaign, which has quickly secured a strong global presence. These people express thus their preference for natural cork.
Since August 2008 the Save Miguel online videos were viewed more than 500,000 times worldwide. A Facebook group on the Save Miguel campaign has attracted some 6,000 members from several countries worldwide united by their preference for cork.
The video starring US actor Rob Schneider might be light-hearted, but it has a very serious message about climate change. The film was designed to inform consumers of the social, environmental and economic benefits of using natural cork products and, in particular, the positive impact of purchasing wine bottles sealed with natural cork closures.
In line with this topic, the documentary titled "Cork: Forest in a Bottle", a BBC film by Mike Salisbury and Paul Morisson has just been awarded "The Green Screen Prize 2009" in Germany for the best environmental film. By demonstrating the natural relationship between a natural cork closure and wine, this documentary enlightens us how a simple decision by a final consumer may guarantee biodiversity conservation and a sustainable economic activity.
