Maldives marine conservation project
Are you looking for an adventurous trip with a purpose, or on a gap year or career break? If you want to make a difference in some of the world’s most important conservation areas - and in community projects - then volunteer trips are for you! Volunteers tend to have a sense of adventure, and come from a range of different backgrounds and from all over the world.
Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'.
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
The environment and its protection are at the very core of all that we do, hence our programmes are geared around the education of the indigenous communities to ensure that the marine life and our surrounding eco system are protected for generations to come.
Our Save the turtle campaign has run successfully through 2011 and as a result we have been contacted by many environmentalists to aid with the protection of many other marine life that face daily threats through exploitation, pollution and overfishing etc. Such as sharks, corals and many reef fish. Our new programme will involve data collection on species of shark such as the harmless black tipped reef shark along with other species, collecting data on reef fish, coral cleaning and surveying and of course turtle walks and data collection.
All of these activities are run along with community based education such as conservation clubs (Earth warriors), Recycling programmes where by we try to come up with innovative ways to educate the community about the dangers of marine pollution. We also conduct regular community beach and coral cleaning etc.
We aim to leave uninhabited islands and beaches in a better condition than we find them. We have a constant issue here in the Maldives with litter and in particular tourist safari boats throwing litter directly into the sea whilst tourists sleep. Of course litter and waste comes from many sources, but as an environmentally conscious organisation, we clean all of the uninhabited islands that we use. For example we have a small island located very close to Naifaru which we have been granted sole use. On a regular basis our volunteers, plus island volunteers travel to the island and sweep the beach of litter bringing it all back to the main refuse collection point in Naifaru.
Our group sizes are small, helping to minimise the cultural and environmental impact. We always abide by site specific guidelines pertaining to marine conservation, for example our volunteers will all be given training on starting our programmes on how safely to swim through the reef causing no damage as well as learning effective ways to help preserve the reefs.
One of the core objectives of our volunteers is to lead by example and keep our own house in order. Our staff are aware of the importance of the need to reduce, re-use and recycle. Everyone is encouraged to follow a set of guidelines, which cover simple but important measures such as conserving energy, minimising waste and reducing our carbon footprint. At present there are no recycling facilities here in the Maldives so we, at the marine centre, try to encourage all to waste as little as possible. Throughout the centre we use energy saving light bulbs and our large sea station was made entirely from recycled island waste materials. Our marine staff are also currently working on building a filtration system made entirely from recycled materials and water power. We have recently taken possession of the old fire building which has been converted into our Marine Centre and one of the points of the buildings proposal was to add solar panels to the building by the end of 2011.
Community
Following our huge success on other islands in the Maldives this new Marine Conservation programme is geared to not only protect local marine life but at the same time we understand that without educating the community and encouraging their assistance this practice would be futile. We have an island run NGO that also runs along other island NGO’s to ensure that the community decide on the direction of our programmes as well as ensuring that they also get to take ownership of the amazing results and benefits our programmes have produced to date.
We recruit and involve local people wherever possible. Currently we employ full time staff at the Marine Centre (previously unemployed Naifaru island residents), one island lady to assist aerobics part time and two part time island males to assist with the football as part of our island Youth Development Programme. We also provide a vital place for unemployed island youths to obtain vital job skills and participate in all of our volunteer programmes. Local community volunteers are vital to ensure the longevity and success of our programmes.
We support and prefer to work directly with NGO's, local businesses, services and individuals. We have worked alongside proven island lead NGOs for the past year providing them with volunteers from overseas to support vital roles within the community such as teachers, doctors, sports coaches and marine biologists etc. Through the funding provided by the volunteer programmes, we provide accommodation through either home stays or local island guest houses etc, this also enables us to support local island businesses by paying local small island restaurants to provide meals for the volunteers. We also are able to hire local small boats and utilise the local small ferry system to transport our volunteers to their placement island.
NGO's here in the Maldives work incredibly hard to provide better lives and opportunities for the islanders on very little funding, so additional donations such as money to provide sports equipment, goes a long way to keep a programme running. Last year, we funded the YDP football programme on Naifaru island which provided equipment plus 155 football shirts for participating youth, we sponsored volley tournaments and table tennis programmes etc.
60% of your fees will immediately go to the host island to ensure that all volunteers’ needs are met without taking any vital funding away from the island communities. 100% of the remaining profits generate are then fed back into our community lead programmes. This enables us to employ staff locally and also run vital community programmes such as Youth development, Conservation clubs, ladies fitness and nutrition, recycling programmes etc.
Fees that are paid to the island are spread to many different small island businesses and families as possible ensuring that many benefit such as small family run island cafes, fishermen, boat owners, accommodation owners and island shops and suppliers.
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