Award Ceremony of PROMISE Sustainability Awards 2022

The first PROMISE Sustainability Awards 2022 event was held on the 08th of June, 2022, at the Maldives National University. With the theme “Innovative Waste Reduction Initiatives”, this event coincided with World Oceans Day. Various invitees from the government, tourism enterprises and international organizations joined this event.

The PROMISE Sustainability Awards 2022 recognizes the sustainable best practices of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from the tourism sector under Work Package 3 on Conceptualization and Initiation of a Zero Waste Alliance. Around 30 applicants from Maldives, Sri Lanka and India applied for the Sustainability Awards, and an expert panel identified 5 winners from the 3 target countries.

Dr. Abdulla Nazeer, project Manager from the Maldives National University initiated the event with an introduction to the project PROMISE and the Sustainability Awards. Afterwards, an introductory video of the award winners was showcased, highlighting their exemplary waste minimization efforts. Mr. Vikas Singh, Senior Consultant from STENUM Asia then proceeded to present on best practices that can be taken up by MSME’s in the tourism sector, for improved environmental sustainability and waste minimization.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of awards to the winners. His Excellency Mr. Faisal Naseem, Vice President of the Republic of Maldives graced the event with his presence and conferred the awards to the winners. Five recipients were among those who received the PROMISE Sustainability Awards 2022:

• Ocean Cottage, K.Thulusdhoo, Maldives
• Scubaspa Ying and Yang, Maldives
• Ravana Garden Pvt Ltd, Ambalantota, Sri Lanka
• Jetwing Lighthouse (The Lighthouse Hotel PLC), Galle, Sri Lanka
• Jellyfish Water Sports Pvt. Ltd, Kerala, India

In his speech, His Excellency Mr. Faisal Naseem elaborated on the government’s latest efforts in reducing plastic waste in the Maldives - including the single use plastic phase out plan and the recently introduced waste segregation initiative. He emphasized on how the tourism industry is at the forefront of coming up with innovative solutions to the issue of tourism related waste, which is one of the biggest sources of waste in our tourism reliant economy.

The next Sustainability Awards will be held in 2023, for MSME’s in the tourism industry of Maldives, Sri Lanka and India.