Soneva Namoona - an introduction

[0:04]The small coral islands of the Maldives are among the most beautiful locations on our planet.

[0:12]But recently, they have been facing one of their toughest challenges to date, increasing volumes of waste, including the worst offender, single-use plastic. It's polluting our paradise. Just 1% of our nation is dry land. There's no space for landfill, and we don't have a national recycling system, which means islands resort to burning their waste to cope with the volume. Soneva Namoona is a unique partnership between sustainable luxury resort company Soneva and local islands that creates zero waste communities throughout the Maldives. We start by addressing how we can reduce the volume of single-use plastic items we most commonly find in our waters. Soneva water supports communities to reduce plastic bottles by delivering desalinated and mineralized drinking water to households and guest houses in reusable bottles from our plant in Maras.

[1:10]A recycle program enables local islands to dispose of their waste in a clean and environmentally sound way. In 2020, we celebrated a Maldives' first. Maros became the first island in the country to end the practice of burning its garbage in open bone fires. They achieve this by segregating waste and sending it to be recycled. Machinery can be costly, so the islands share some of the specialist equipment. Together, they recently achieved another Maldives' first, a collection boat that transported 50 tons of recyclable waste from seven Namoona islands. Whether it's through Fehimalasa or immersing children and adults in marine activities like swimming and surfing, we help foster a love for the natural environment. What started as a pilot on three local islands is now adopted on 11 islands and expanding across atolls.

[2:13]A green schools program, Fehimalasa, was developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, and will empower students across the Maldives with the knowledge and skills they need to become environmental stewards. Our water sports program has reached 400 young people through our passionate swimming instructors. Soneva Namoona demonstrates how islands can work together to preserve their paradise. These island communities are the Namoona changemakers, charting a course to a zero-waste Maldives.