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How can you experience 'sustainable luxury' in the Maldives at Soneva Fushi?


From the design and build of the resorts, to the day to day operations, then reaching further out into the communities surrounding them, Soneva has built sustainable luxury into its very core for 25 years. Each guest at Soneva Fushi makes a positive impact on conservation, the environment and the lives of local people.

This is why Soneva is arguably the only - or one of the few - hotel companies to have won the equivalent of the Oscars for both sustainability and luxury in travel and tourism more than once.

The owners of Soneva Fushi describe their 25-year sustainability journey (so far) as akin to an onion. They have worked on layers of sustainability, making changes in manageable steps, always looking to the next layer and what they can do to uncover it. In this way they have built a Foundation that supports sustainability projects not just in the Maldives but further afield and in the wider communities around their properties, too.

First, they worked on making their own on-island operations more sustainable, and so introduced:

  • A no-no list of food that doesn’t meet their ethical and sustainability standards including Caspian Sea caviar and blue fin tuna.
  • Buildings designed to use local sustainable materials rather than tropical rainforest timbers and they blend in with, and make space for, the local vegetation.
  • A solar farm to power their electrical operations.
  • A ban on branded water bottles, switching to their own glass water bottles on site.
  • An innovative, state of the art glass factory that invites some of the world’s leading glass artists to come and work with waste glass to create works of beauty.
  • A waste management programme which included building ‘Eco Centro’ and hiring a Waste to Wealth Manager to work with the local communities to recycle waste. The combination of the above has resulted in a 90% reduction of waste.

How have the Soneva Foundation contributed to sustainability?

After achieving success with their first ‘layer’ of local operational sustainability, Soneva Fushi and the Soneva Foundation introduced Scope 3, which aims to reduce the carbon involved in their offsite operations such as transportation of guests and supplies, which accounted for 85% of their entire footprint.

To counteract this they introduced a non-negotiable carbon levy to all guests, which goes directly to the Foundation and funds more widespread carbon reduction and sustainability programmes:

  • It funded a 1.5 megawatt windmill in India.
  • 500,000 trees were planted in the north of Thailand.
  • Cook stoves have been provided to communities in Darfur and Myanmar. These dramatically reduce smoke and there is a 50% reduction in firewood, which is important for these families as firewood is scarce. There's also a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions!
  • The financial savings from onsite sustainability practices have been used to co-found 400 projects in 50 countries which have given 800,000 people access to clean water.
  • Soneva also realized that their destinations were perfect locations to convene brilliant minds that were focused on and passionate about protecting our planet. Many initiatives have come out of these Soneva SLOWLIFE Symposiums.
  • Soneva Namoona Baa is a more recent programme, comprising a partnership between Soneva Fushi and three neighboring Islands. There are three pillars. Recycle, Reduce and Inspire.
  • ‘Reduce’ has involved installing glass water bottling center on one of the islands and avoiding 80,000 plastic bottles. ‘Recycle' involves building Waste to Wealth Centers on these islands. ‘Inspire’ kindles the love and passion for the sea.

A simple approach to sustainability can have big impacts

What we love about the Soneva Foundation is that just by staying at Soneva Fushi, you are making a difference and contribution to an amazing ongoing project at the forefront of sustainability in tourism. However, if you want to get more involved and make even more of a difference, there is the opportunity for this, too!

Soneva themselves are always striving for more. Recently they decided to work with nature to eradicate mosquitos. They set a target to be the first island to be completely mosquito free. They caught mosquitoes by studying their habits and creating natural traps instead of using toxic spray from exterminators. The mosquitos on the island have now reduced by more than 95%!

In addition, in 2021 they tasked their chefs to make the menus both more healthy and more sustainable. They targeted significant reductions in the consumption of white flour, processed sugar, dairy and beef. As a result, beef consumption has reduced by 75% and dairy has reduced considerably as well. In addition to being good for guest health, this approach is also good for the environment.

How will the Soneva Foundation continue to make a difference?

Sonu Shivdasani says of their plans for the future:

We will not rest. We know many more skins of the onion that need to be peeled.

Our future projects include a factory that will convert waste plastic and waste aluminium into useful and beautiful objects. As I speak, Soneva Jani is adding 3 MW of solar capacity and batteries. More than 50% of the Soneva Jani energy will come from solar. We will propagate coral that has a resistance level and a scale that has not been seen before in the Maldives.

We all have a huge challenge ahead of us. Over the next 25 years we will continue to redefine and break through the boundaries of sustainability in travel and tourism.”

For further information, please do feel free to contact us for further inspiration and unforgettable safaris and holidays to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Or if you would like to just keep dreaming for now, you can watch some more videos in our Video Library.

 

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