NIKA GREEN PATH
Nika Island Resort has created its own environmental sustainability protocol called Nika Green Path and has undertaken concrete projects that involve careful research of minimal impact in every department.
We start by raising our guests’ awareness through a guided tour that, from a visit to the museum as a starting point, continues to the back of the resort, during which we show everything that is put in place every day for sustainable hotel management.
We point out, by means of a small “vademecum” that we have in the room, 10 simple good habits to keep both in the resort and in everyday life, ranging from turning off the air conditioners when leaving the room, to changing towels on request to limit water consumption and the dispersion of detergents in the environment.
We show them some virtuous examples by providing ceramic bottles with shampoos and body lotions, thus avoiding plastic toiletries.
We are ambassadors of the Plastic Free Ngo association, which is active in Italy with more than 1,000 contacts and 250,000 volunteers; we have eliminated tens of thousands of plastic single-serving containers from our buffets, replacing them with glass containers; we take care of cleaning deserted islands and the seabed. The collected plastic is then recycled by Parley for the Oceans – with whom we collaborate – who deliver it for reprocessing to large sports shoe companies.
We have installed a system for the self-production of drinking water that allows, through the use of glass bottles, the elimination of 70,000 to 150,000 plastic bottles each year.
In our garden, right from the start, we have dedicated large ponds for the production of 0-km vegetables, both in traditional cultivation and in aquaponics, the latter technology providing a huge saving of fresh water.
Daily pest control, which helps rid the environment of mosquitoes and insects that are a nuisance to humans, is no longer carried out by spraying the vegetation with chemical products, but through real mosquito traps and effective all-natural products.
Similarly, we use environmentally friendly and 98% biodegradable products for room cleaning.
Waste management is one of the biggest challenges in the Maldives and the facilities for collecting, separating and recycling materials are still very limited. This is why we have a composting plant for organic waste which handles 250 kg of wet waste per day producing about 35/50 kg of compost, which is mixed with soil and used to fertilize our plants.
We have a biological wastewater purification plant that returns water suitable for irrigation and fertilizing sludge, and we have installed a state-of-the-art two-chamber incinerator to eliminate exhaust fumes.
Added to all this is the care of our coral garden, located on the island’s reef.
Since the beginning of the tourist settlement, a bold and forthright interpretation of the contrast between the tourist presence and the powerful presence of Nature has been consistently made.
The permanence of the same family, participants and observers of the place, produces a plan that manifests itself over time, beyond the individual action. Consequently, the trajectories of tourist development and consequent environmental balancing have always replicated, in their operations, the attention paid to this.
The spirit of adventure, when it takes root in a chosen environment, triggers a new consideration of the fruit of one’s work, of one’s interaction with places and people. The pioneering spirit then expresses itself in new environmental attentions, nurturing technical explorations for the protection of the beloved place and those who live there.
The Nika workshop opens its doors, as much as its museum, to future explorations.
In the case of the scientific and environmental program, the raids are not artistic or artisanal, at least not in the proper sense of the term, but more technological and industrial. Adaptation to Nature, applied ecology is demonstrated. One constantly opens oneself up to new ideas, technologies, partners, ‘mestizo’ contributions, which do not belong to one branch of study, but interpenetrate them.
Collaborations arise between biologists and architects, designers and agronomists, architects and craftsmen, engineers and divers.
In the case of the green path undertaken here at Nika, it is about not sacrificing Nature to us humans, but using every means to learn, humanly. This translates into a path that intends to embrace neighboring islands, educate people and make informed communities to participate, reflect and celebrate new and old good practices.
All so that change is not just mind and investment, but heart, hands and legs, that speaks of ‘how’ to do and not just unapproachable goals.