Earth Hour is an annual worldwide movement to encourage individuals,
communities, and businesses to conserve our resources. Celebrating it is a
symbol of our commitment to our planet.
At
Gili we celebrated Earth Hour on March 24th with the rest of the
world, we hosted a Coral Conservation themed day with multiple events leading
into each other. For each event, all
guests and hosts were invited to attend and take part.
Our
first event was a coral workshop hosted for Marine Biologists and enthusiasts. In attendance were three participants from our local island
Himmafushi who have a keen interest in protecting their reef and inspiring
locals. Additionally, Marine Biologists from Four Seasons Resort, Bandos Resort,
Atoll Marine Centre and Hurawalhi Resort attended. Jinah, a journalist from
Hotelier Maldives covered our event celebrations.
Our
coral lines project launched in 2014 and currently has 190+ lines, each
containing around 50 coral fragments. The aim of the project is to rehabilitate
our degraded house reef through direct transplantation of mature corals and
through indirect coral spawning from the nursery. The project was the first
low-tech and high efficiency coral recovery project that involves rope in the
Maldives.
Due
to the optimal location and care that goes into the project we had 68% survival
after the El Nino event and the crown of thorn starfish outbreak. Due to the
success of our project, many Marine Biologists are interested in learning more as
they want to launch their own projects or further their current projects in
other locations. This is why we invited them to join us in celebration of Earth
Hour.
We
felt that hosting a coral conservation themed day would create a platform for a
discussion on possible project improvements and new project ideas. Overtime the
coral line nursery will contain heat tolerant coral species, fragmenting these
species and planting lines could lead to natural spawning of more heat tolerant
species which will increase survival rate in future warming events. This will
lead to the creation of more healthy reefs decreasing the pressure of predation,
providing a healthier habitat, refuge and nurseries for marine organisms like
turtles, juvenile fish and other fish species as well as conserving a key
ecological ecosystem.
On
the day the visiting Marine Biologists arrived at 14:00pm and a land based
presentation was carried out, topics included an in depth overview of the
project, project creation, management, challenges and future plans. This was
followed by a practical demonstration of making a coral line, monitoring the
lines and general maintenance including cleaning and removal of invasive
species. To view the coral line made by the Marine Biologists click here. To conclude there was a group discussion on possible project improvements
and a question and answer session.
Following
the success of the coral workshop together with guests, Marine Biologists and
hosts we designed and created a coral shape in the sand on Library Beach. In
celebration of the official Earth Hour which is between 20:30 – 21:30 we turned
off none essential lights and filled the coral shape with sustainably sourced
candles – coconuts and used cooking oil. During the official event our coral
shape was beautifully illuminated by flickering candle lights and guests, Marine Biologists and hosts were able to enjoy this display whilst attending our Earth Hour cocktail
evening.
To conclude our Earth Hour celebrations we hosted the documentary Chasing Coral in our Jungle cinema and Host Village. Chasing coral is a fantastic documentary about a group of divers, photographers and scientists who set out on an ocean adventure to discover why the reefs are disappearing and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world. They found that coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate and documented their discoveries and explained them in a way that is accessible to everyone.
Overall the event was a huge success with all participants learning something new and being inspired to help conserve our resources. We hope that you will join us in celebrating Earth Hour next year!