Grand Park Kodhipparu, Maldives Awarded Its First Green Globe Certification

Green Globe is one of the most prestigious certification and Performance Improvement Programme specifically designed for the travel and tourism industry. This certification rewards hotels who opted for an approach aiming to improve the environmental and social management of their activities and relying on values such as good governance, human rights, transparency, independent audits, respect of cultures and ethics in human resource management and in their operations.

The idyllic Grand Park Kodhipparu, Maldives has received its first prestigious Green Globe Certification this year, been recognized for the commitment to operating at the world’s highest environmental standards.

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The resort has been managing in a sustainable manner from its inception, and considerable steps have been taken to minimize the impact that operating the resort has on the environment. Thus, been awarded this certification designed specifically for the travel and tourism industry pronounces the commitment and the passion for sustainability been the main pillars of the resort to date.

“Protecting the desirable destination we belong to is utmost important to every one of us more so as Maldives stands at the frontline of the climate change battle been the 3rd most endangered destination to visit in the world. Our perseverance to retain the beauty and the natural habitat of the spectacular marine wildlife of this small island-nation is paramount. It therefore will always be the most significant aspect we endeavor to help,” a statement by the resort read.

At Grand Park Kodhipparu, each team member is armed with the necessary training and education on the resort’s environmental practices, policies and objectives to become a guardian of nature. A task reportedly done with compassion and eagerness at the resort. The resort also established a dedicated green team whose function is to oversee the implementation of the green globe standards, which was appraised by the Green globe ambassadors.

Few of the highlights and initiatives that are embraced by the resort with pride under its Sustainability Management Plan include:

– An ongoing plan to reduce the use of single-use plastics at the resort

• Plastic straws were replaced by biodegradable paper ones in September 2018, which has prevented between 7000 to 8000 pieces of plastic entering the resort’s waste stream on a monthly basis.
• Liquid bathroom amenities such as shower gel and shampoo are provided from bulk dispenser bottles to prevent the use of individual small plastic bottles and there are plans to replace the plastic packaging of other items such as toothbrush and vanity kits with paper-based packaging by the end of 2019.
• Paper laundry bags are used in place of ones made of plastic.
• An on-site bottling plant was installed during September 2019 to provide drinking water in glass bottles, which will eliminate the use of over 10,000 plastic water bottles per month when in full operation by the end of 2019.

– A food waste composer has been installed but is currently under further alteration. When fully operational it will recycle approximately 200 kg of the resort’s food waste per day.

– The resort increases awareness of its guests and staff towards ecological and sustainability issues in number of ways:

• Guests are provided with a “Save the Maldives” flyer in their welcome kit which lists ways in which they can reduce the environmental footprint.
• The resort has a Resident Marine Biologist who educates guests on the marine life living around the island and how to best access the islands coral reef, as well as providing guided snorkeling tours and presentations.
• International Environmental Awareness Days such as Earth Hour, Earth Day, World Environment and World Oceans Day were celebrated during 2019 with activities such as tree-planting and reef cleaning. An estimated 100 kg of litter have been removed in reef-cleaning activities in 2019 so far.
• A wooden starfish ornament is provided in guest rooms for guests to use to indicate whether they require a fresh linen change or wish to re-use to save water.

– The resort is in the process of reducing its environmental impact further in implementing a sustainable local seafood initiative that will see the current supplies of reef fish replaced with fast-growing oceanic species less vulnerable to being overfished.

– In 2020, the resort forecast to install solar panels in the back-of-house area to provide an additional 900 KWH of renewable electricity for use in resort operations, and infrastructure to capture rainwater from roofing for use in the resort operations will also be installed.

“At Grand Park Kodhipparu, Maldives, pursuing our commitment towards Environmental Management System and efforts towards Sustainable Tourism”, more to be announced gradually, as soon as we lay down practices and projects in pipeline enhancing green and eco driven initiatives for everyone’s benefit.” Raffaele Solferino commented, General manager of Grand Park Kodhipparu, Maldives.