Travel and the Environment

I think there is a lot to be concerned about at the moment but the thing that worries me most is the damage being caused to our natural environment.

It is easy to forget that only a relatively short time ago it was not only very time consuming, but also, expensive to travel.   However,  today it is a completely different story and we can hop on and off flights that take us all over the world in just a matter of hours.  I think it’s wonderful we can visit and explore other countries, learn about their cultures and traditions, meet new people and create treasured memories.

I started my business because travelling is my passion and I feel very blessed to be able to make a living by putting together bespoke honeymoons and holidays that make dreams come true.  However, I am acutely aware that thanks to climate change and pollution the world is at a critical tipping point.  I, like everyone else, would hate to see our beautiful world destroyed, so I’ve been doing some research into charities that are working hard to help preserve our environment.   I believe that what they are doing is so worthwhile that I’ve decided to share my findings with you via a series of blogs over the next few months.

The first charity I have picked to write about is the Blue Marine Foundation who are based in London. The charity was set up to combat over-fishing and the destruction of biodiversity – arguably the largest problem facing the world’s oceans – by delivering practical conservation solutions, including the creation of large-scale marine reserves.  72% of the planet is water yet only 4% as write this is protected.  Blue Foundation is on a mission to put 10% of the world’s oceans under protection by 2020 and 30% by 2030. 

Over fishing is another huge problem and one that has devastating consequences for the fragile biodiversity of our planet.  A staggering 90% of global fish stocks are fully, or over exploited and around 90% of the large fish are gone.  This will have far reaching consequences.  Healthy oceans absorb half the carbon dioxide we produce but without the fish it won’t take long for them to become unhealthy.  Not only that, with a growing global population, fish is an essential food source that we can’t afford to loose.

The Maldives are a favourite destination for honeymoon couples and one of the more popular resorts, Six Senses Laamu, is working closely with Blue Foundation and the Maldivian government to protect and revive the population of Groupers.  Groupers are a large reef fish vital for keeping the reef ecosystem healthy.  Unfortunately numbers are badly depleted because large quantities get exported live to Hong Kong.  The project aims to identify specific sites for protecting Groupers during spawning while also providing key data to the Maldivian Government to improve Grouper fisheries management across the whole country.

This is just one of the many invaluable projects around the world that Blue Foundation is involved in and to find out more about what they are doing and how you can support them please click here.

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