We are pleased to share the news that Sting will participate in this year's NRK telethon in Oslo on Sunday, October 18. Funds raised from the telethon will go to the Rainforest Foundation, the non-profit organization founded in 1989 by Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler. Sting’s song "Fragile" will also be the soundtrack for the telethon.

Over the last 25 years, Sting and Trudie have devoted considerable time and effort to help preserve the world's rainforests and protect the indigenous people living there. The Rainforest Foundation, which will receive the funds raised from the Norwegian telethon in October, was founded after Sting and Indian chief Raoni traveled around the world with the alarming message about the deterioration of the rainforest and the Indians' struggle to save their homes.

Sting says, “Our planet is constantly exposed to great stress and climate change is real. It is still extremely important to focus on preserving the rainforests and with the generous support of the Norwegian people, we will help save some of the most important rainforest areas around the world.” He adds, “we have learned that the best way to do so is by supporting and defending those who live there with legal assistance and expertise, education, development of sustainable income opportunities and clean water so that they can continue to care for the forests they live in.”

Managing Director of the Rainforest Foundation in Norway, Lars Løvold, is very happy that Sting will support the Norwegian telethon by being present in Norway on October the 18th. “Since the inception of the Foundation, Sting and Trudie’s commitment to the rainforest and the 260 million people who live there is still very strong,” says Lovold. “The destruction of the rainforest has serious and dramatic consequences. It contributes to global warming and a more unstable and dramatic climate. Furthermore, we lose crops and genetic resources which might include helping to develop important medicines in the future.For people who live in the rainforests and who every day live off of the natural resources, there are immediate and dramatic consequences: They lose their homes. The funds from the Norwegian TV-telethon should help to preserve rainforests larger than the size of Norway and Denmark together, and make the future safer for those who live there,” adds Løvold.

NRK's telethon is the world's largest telethon, done by a whole nation. The first telethon was held in 1974. There is a separate advisory board which annually decides who will receive the funds that are collected. When an organization is awarded the telethon they hire a separate secretariat whose job it is to organize the volunteers who collect the funds from the whole nation. Each year they organize thousands of volunteers who walks door-to-door on behalf of the telethon. NRK uses much of the airtime on NRK1 (the main TV-channel) that day to a host the telethon broadcast.