The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, in partnership with Reefscapers Maldives, celebrated World Earth Day 2023 by organizing First-Ever Local Resort and Community Coral Restoration event in the Maldives in collaboration with Dh. Kudahuvadhoo Council and Dh. Atoll School Eco Friends Club. The event aimed to spread awareness among the youth and local community on the emerging threats to coral reefs and the importance of protecting this vital ecosystem in the Maldives.
The event included an awareness session conducted by the resort’s Marine Biologist Ms. Hazel Araujo for a group of 17 students from Dh. Atoll School. The students participated in preparing two coral frames with 130 fragments of corals, which were then deployed in the house reef of Dh. Kudahuvadhoo.
“We are delighted to have collaborated with Dh. Kudahuvadhoo Council and Dh. Atoll School Eco Friends Club for this meaningful event. Through this event, we hope to inspire the next generation to become stewards of our oceans and to take action to protect our coral reefs.” said Mr Mohamed Athif, Director of Human Resources of The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort.
I truly believe the youth in the Maldives has great potential to help restore the coral reefs in Dh. Kudahuvadhoo, they are creative, smart and committed to participating in environmental issues and it is our job then to give them the opportunity to do it. It was an honour to meet these young ocean leaders and I’m excited to continue this project and see local collaboration take action for the coral reefs” -Hazel Araujo, resident marine Biologist at The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort.
The event also included a beach cleanup activity, where participants collected and disposed of plastic waste to reduce the negative impact of plastic on the marine environment.
“This is one of the many initiatives that has been planned by The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort in our sustainable journey. We recently launched Fen, our signature in-house bottled water, our coral restoration partnership with Reefscapers and a 2-tonne composting plant. We are excited and looking forward to extending similar partnerships with other islands and hopefully start a larger movement” as per Harish Nair, Resort Manager, The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort.
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort is committed to sustainability and has been actively involved in coral propagation and conservation efforts in the Maldives. The resort has deployed over 40 coral frames with over 3000 coral fragments in the resort’s house reef.