The World Savers Awards recognize companies that are innovating in five key areas: poverty alleviation, cultural and/or environmental preservation, education, wildlife conservation, and health. This morning at the World Savers Congress, six companies were named winners. They include:

* Campi Ya Kanzi (Kenya), for Poverty Alleviation. The solar-powered safari camp is a joint partnership with the Masai community and is staffed primarily by local tribesmen.

* Cristalino Jungle Lodge (Brazil), for Environmental Preservation. The owner of this lodge, Vitoria Da Riva Carvalho, in one of the most biodiverse areas of the Brazilian Amazon, has almost single-handedly saved more than 25,000 acres of threatened rain forest.

* Journeys Within (Cambodia), for Health Initiatives. The tour operator's non-profit arm has added more than 180 water wells to the landscape around Siem Reap, helping nearly 4,000 Cambodians to escape water-related disease. They also offer scholarships for university students, hold free English classes, and provide micro-loans for small businesses in Cambodia.

* Montage Laguna Beach (Laguna Beach, California), for Education. The hotel's employee-driven outreach effort supports marine and language education as well as arts programs in the local school district.

* Phinda Private Game Reserve (South Africa), for Wildlife Conservation Programs. Phinda has implemented an animal restocking program that added more than 2,000 animals to the reserve's land. Eighteen years ago, nearly all of the animals on its 57,000 acres had been killed by farmers, ivory hunters, and a misguided government tse-tse fly-eradication program.

* Vail Resorts (Vail, Colorado), for Environmental Preservation. The company offsets all of its electricity usage by supporting the development of wind farms which have cut CO2 emissions by 211 million pounds a year--the equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the road. It also has implemented company-wide energy effiiciency efforts that will reduce electricity consumption by 10 percent in two years.

Further reading:
* 2008 World Savers Awards
* Make a Difference: Your online guide to responsible travel