Is this the future of sustainable island tourism?

Words: Maria Shollenbarger Producer: Louise Starkey

An outdoor-education initiative that uses lessons from nature and culture to explore alternatives for a sustainable future is being implemented in the Maldives.

Jean-Michel Cousteau flew from Southern California to the Maldives to inaugurate the latest iteration of his Ambassadors of the Environment program.

Since 2005, it has operated an exclusive partnership with Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts to create actual field sites for the programs, at locations ranging from Grand Cayman to Santa Barbara (where Cousteau lives much of the year). Ritz-Carlton Fari Islands First multi-resort development with the group

You see it in the temperature of the water, the quality of the coral reefs. I just saw it. I’m very concerned about those.

Jean-Michel Cousteau French oceanographic explorer, environmentalist, educator and film producer “ “

Tourism accounts for almost 30 per cent of the Maldives' GDP. About 50,000 of its population of up to 540,000 people are employed in the industry, supporting families that likely account for many times that number.

But the high-profile, high-gloss escapist experience that's the currency of this place sits increasingly uneasily alongside the environmental crisis the world faces — food importation, waste management, and damage to the natural environment.

The good news: the best Maldivian resorts increasingly take integrating legitimate conservation programs and sustainability practices into their operations very seriously.

Many now grow much of their own food, and rigorously quality-control the sustainable sourcing of what they don't; they educate their staff and their staff's families.

They conscript marine biologists to survey, and endeavour to improve, the health of the immediate environment; they build on energy-conserving, light-footprint lines.

The Ritz-Carlton here is part of Fari Islands, a multi-use development that aspires to be among their number.

It's the first multi-resort development with a full-service marina, retail hub, restaurants and beach club that are open to guests from anywhere else in the Maldives that's accessible by power boat or sea plane.

Swipe up for more information on the Ambassadors of the Environment program in the Maldives. Learn more