Conservation group commits to protecting the environment
ONE of the tourism industry’s biggest conservation groups has taken a stand to ensure the protection of the environment in the Mamanuca Group.
Consisting of 15 tourist properties and operators, the Mamanuca Environment Society has been around more than 30 years paving the way for sustainable tourism.
MES Board chairman Geoffrey Shaw explained that the secret to their longstanding effort to protect and conserve the Mamanuca Island’s pristine environment was transparency and community engagement that involved every member of the organisation.
“We are a nonaligned and a non-profit society and we want to be inclusive with our members and all of our interested parties,” he said.
“It is important to us that we absolutely underscore transparency in everything that we do.
“We are very happy to have built a strong community that ensures sustainable development and protection of our environment.
“We currently have 15 members that are resorts like Vomo Island, Mana Island, Castaway Island and we also have South Sea Cruises.
“The more people that we have on board, the more viability that we have because we have these commercial operators that bring weight to what MES is trying to do and that is to protect our environment.”
He said the Society was also very firm in its stand to ensure future developers were responsible and adhered to environmental laws.
“The overall concept is what we need to adhere to the laws as a business.
“We are 100 per cent behind tourism development as long as it complies with the law and the protection of the environment.
“We are 100 per cent against the inverse of that which is people who do not comply with the law and who start to engage in something that is not sustainable.
“At the day every business in this area and in Fiji has to have some sort of business plan.
“The business plan for resorts in the islands has a key focus which is to keep the health of our environment protected.
“We have to be aware of what we have and maintain it.”
Mr Shaw said they did not want to turn into popular tourists sites in other countries that have allowed pollution to destroy the environment.
“We don’t want to become certain areas in Vietnam and Thailand that have become trash repositories in recent years.
“This is all because there is waste being pumped into the sea and that is not happening here.
“Garbage being dumped illegally and inappropriately is all actions that we don’t want happening here and we don't want floating islands of trash in our backyard.”