World Tourism Day, an initiative of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), is now in its 37th year and is aimed at promoting responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism.
The World Tourism Day event on Wednesday (Sept 27) presented an opportunity to showcase the Marriott’s award-winning Sustainable Tourism Practices, “Best CSR - Social Impact Partnership” at the 2017 Rockefeller Social Impact Awards, curated by The Resource Alliance and showed a premiere screening of “Black Crab Community”, a short documentary film produced and directed by social impact film director Alan Compton (see video here).
As part of the event, Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong and other dignitaries dropped by at the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation and visited the black crab (“Pu Dam”) community at Moo 3 Mai Khao, and sampled some of the black crab dishes served at the resort for which the black crabs are provided directly by the villagers living in Moo 3, Mai Khao.
The IUCN and Marriott have been in partnership since 2013, and have worked together to protect the environment and support Thailand’s local communities through mangrove restoration, the use of sustainable seafood sources and local procurement practices in Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui and Rayong, noted a release issued this week.
To date, the partnership has restored over 16 hectares of mangrove forests, purchased over B5.5 million of sustainable seafood and handicraft from local communities and contributed to improving the livelihoods of over 70 families.
More than B9mn has also been raised through the dollars for deeds programme to support conservation activities implemented by IUCN.
The Pu Dam community, where black crabs are sourced for JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa restaurants, was previously supported by Mangroves for the Future (MFF), a regional grant-making facility spanning 11 countries across Asia and the Indian Ocean.
With MFF’s support, capacity-building programmes on community waste management and coastal resource management were launched and mangrove areas were restored as part of a community reforestation initiative.
Under the “Hunting and gathering livelihood of Mud Crab Community, Mai Khao, Phuket” project, Marriott has moved to secure the financial security of the entire village by supporting the villagers traditional livelihood of crab fishing, but only if the village upholds fully sustainable fishing practices.
Fishing has been a livelihood that has been passed on for generations at the village. Fishers live close to the shore and anchor their boats in canals. Mangrove forests are a natural shelter to protect boats and properties from storms as well as produce food, explained release by Marriott Worldwide Business Councils (MWBC), which identify their global presence and purpose as “to perpetuate culture, strengthen communities, advocate for Marriott’s business interests and lead cross-brand, market-driven initiatives.”
The livelihood of the mud crab village relies heavily on the harvest of mud crabs. Mud crabs are the most mangrove-dependent of sourced seafood. Small-scale fishermen catch mud crabs in mangrove estuaries.
“The sweet-meat crustacean is a highly valuable resource for local economies. The mud crab spends its whole life cycle in and around mangrove forests,” the MWBC noted.
“To ensure the safety, quality and freshness of seafood products, Marriott Chefs source raw ingredients daily from local small-scale artisan fishers. This promotes sustainable and low impact fisheries, and reduces by-catch species and ecological footprints. To support a healthy ocean, eating species lower down the food chain (crabs, squid, oyster, mackerel, sardines, mussels) which are managed and caught responsibly are encouraged.
“The fact that in the fishing culture, men work at sea while most women stay at home and manage the household and take care of children, which means men contribute significantly to family’s income. To provide additional income, IUCN and Marriott work together to develop and identify opportunities for sourcing of sustainable souvenirs and gifts from local communities,” the MWBC added,
Marriott hotels have also sourced welcome bracelets from local women artisans at the Mai Khao Handicraft Group.
“The Marriott welcome bracelet connects the hotel, community and guests. Housewives gather to weave bracelets during their free time. Several thousand of the bracelets have been given to guests of the nearby hotels. To raise awareness of marine and coastal resources conservation, the bracelet is decorated with iconic marine species shape varied by hotel’s location,” the resort explained in its release.
The move for Marriott to join the IUCN’s efforts highlights the hotel chain’s focus in the global nature of the sustainability issues at hand.
The IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to the most pressing environmental and developmental challenges, and as such its work focuses on valuing and conserving nature, ensuring effective and equitable governance of its use, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food and development.
The world’s oldest and largest global environmental organisation with more than 1,200 government and NGO Members and almost 11,000 volunteer experts in some 160 countries, the IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice.
The IUCN’s work is supported by over 1,000 staff in 45 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world.
Meanwhile, Mangroves for the Future (MFF) is a partnership-based regional initiative which promotes investment in coastal ecosystem conservation for sustainable development. MFF focuses on the role that healthy, well-managed coastal ecosystems play in building the resilience of ecosystem-dependent coastal communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
The initiative uses mangroves as a flagship ecosystem, but MFF is inclusive of all types of coastal ecosystem, such as coral reefs, estuaries, lagoons, sandy beaches, sea grasses and wetlands. MFF is co-chaired by IUCN and UNDP, and is funded by Danida, Norad, Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Thailand.