UNESCO Rating for Four Seasons Maldives
Posted 02 August 2011, by Chris Bradley, CompareAway Travel News, compareaway.co.uk
The Baa Atoll in the Maldives, which contains a Four Seasons site, has been named a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. This means that it is an area where man and nature are in harmony and is among only a few other sites such as Yellowstone National Park, Galapagos Islands and the Central Amazon. Baa Atoll has some of the richest waters in the Maldives. The team at the Four Seasons worked hard with others on the island to help the government reach its goal of UNESCO status. They worked on the Atoll Ecosystem Conservation Project where research was done which established manta ray and whale shark feeding sites and protected them. They also developed a coral propagation project, a Marine discovery centre and a youth project where young people were made aware of the conservation efforts going on. There was also a waste management project to stop waste being dumped at sea.
The island was recognised as having ‘a great potential for demonstrating sustainable development throughout the Maldives and the region, while relying on a green economy’ during the 40th anniversary UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program in Dreden in Germany. The designation as a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO is bound to increase the popularity of the area as visitors will know that they will be seeing something quite rare, which is natural areas for animals and plants and seeing local communities reacting well towards them. They will also know that the money they spend in the area will be helping towards keeping this place green because of their green economy.
http://www.compareaway.co.uk/news/2011/08/02/unesco-rating-for-four-seasons-maldives/
