Conservation & Eco C-R-E-A-M

We then offset their carbon footprint and our own operational footprint, enabling us to remain carbon neutral as an organisation. We in turn enable the customer to have no carbon footprint in the component that we provide in their holidays.

We have purchased a bank of UN certified carbon credits or CERs (Certified Emissions Reductions) and hold it in one of the carbon registries. We have ensured that the credits we have purchased have an ethical value addition. For example, the project activity that produced the credits will be from an activity that has enhanced communities or the environment, as opposed to the destruction of industrial gases. We are retiring the credits in blocks of 10 tonnes of carbon (10 credits at a time).

Our preparedness as a supplier will enable us to adapt quickly and efficiently to required levels of disclosures on Green House Gas (GHG) emission levels by international customers and tour operators.

The world is converging on adopting operational models that minimise Green House Gases much sooner than anticipated due to global accountability to climate change risk. Therefore, early adoption will preclude inconsistent modifications and allow us to remodel our existing capacities and build our future operations and new products in line with emerging climate compliant customer requirements.

• Operational action will translate into bottom-line returns.

• A competitive and efficient operational model will eventually benefit and increase our profitability.

• Influencing our suppliers to integrate into our climate change strategy, will add value to our products. This will be an important mandate that we think will pay for itself, as becoming a pioneer in the climate change action space within the industry enables us to influence our customers and seek to establish potential alliances with supply chain partners who will also want to leverage off our early mover advantage.

All holidays and travel itineraries sold by MCCS will have an individual carbon footprint audited in accordance with internationally recognised standards.

MCCS will be able to introduce competitive low carbon products to its customers as a result of:

Implementing efficient energy switching mechanisms

Implementing recommended energy saving measures

A quantifiable emissions footprint on each holiday and activity, enabling offset

The earth’s atmosphere naturally contains greenhouse gases that absorb infrared energy that warms the earth’s surface. However, over the past few decades, increased human activity has resulted in increased emissions from sources such as industry and travel, adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere making the earth warmer, leading to changes in climactic conditions around the world.

The Earth’s atmosphere contains many chemical compounds that act as “greenhouse gases”. These gases displace the layer of Ozone that protects the earth, allowing more sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some of it is reflected towards space as infrared radiation (heat). Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat within the atmosphere. As a result, it causes extreme weather conditions and unexpected atmospheric changes that affect our livelihoods and lifestyles in many different ways. Increased incidence of death and serious illness caused by pollution, increased heat stress among livestock and wildlife, and damage caused to crops are among the problems caused by a change in climate. Climate change is already causing a shift in visitor numbers for some tourist destinations, increased electric cooling demand, and reduced energy supply reliability. All these show the global impact climate change has on tourism and other industries.

Climate change has the potential to have devastating consequences for the future of the planet. However, if all of us make small changes in our lives and businesses, we will be able to reduce this impact and ensure that the earth is preserved for future generations.

Climate change action is now taking place globally with almost all developed nations committing to cut down greenhouse gas emissions through a global treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol. The apparel brands that are part of our service are essentially a part of this agenda, and early action by our organisation will help increase our competitiveness and market share in the global eco-tourism arena.

Mahoora is conscious of the negative impacts of climate change and also recognises the need to comply with international regulation to ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of our business. As such, we have initiated a programme to measure our own climate change contribution and to improve on our climate change impact.

The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive global amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted due to human activity or accumulated over the full life cycle of a product or service.

In business:

• Businesses tend to lose their competitive edge if they are ignorant with regard to climate issues.

• Increasing regulation of businesses will mean increasing regulatory risk for businesses who fail to comply.

In your personal life:

• Impacts job security if business competitiveness is threatened due to regulatory risk and failure to comply.

• Extreme weather conditions that could cause damage to homes and businesses.

• Severe impacts on agriculture, food, and water availability due to prolonged droughts.

• Increased prevalence of disease and illness due to the warmer climatic conditions.

How will action on climate change be beneficial to us?

Business:

• We will be more competitive in the global tourism industry, as we will be visible as a carbon-neutral organisation.

• The ability to approach new markets and gain early specialisation in “low carbon” products.

• Ability to effectively use cost-efficient and sustainable processes in delivering experiences to our customers.

• Greater compliance with expected future regulations by local and international bodies.

For our team:

• Better working conditions.

• Healthier and therefore happier lifestyles.

• Creating a better environment for the future.

How you can contribute to lower your carbon footprint

Small lifestyle changes can have a significant impact on GHG emissions and can go a long way in reducing your carbon footprint. Listed below are some practical steps.

At home and at work

• Save electricity:

• Turn off lights, ceiling fans, and air conditioners when not needed.

• Use energy-efficient lighting. Compact fluorescent lamps last 10 times longer than ordinary incandescent light bulbs and use only a small proportion of the electricity.

• Make it a habit to turn appliances off rather than leaving them on standby. It is a common misconception that appliances on standby consume a very small amount of energy. It has been shown that a television on standby can use up to half as much as electricity as it does when it is switched on.

• Dry clothes using natural sunlight and wind instead of using a dryer.

• Only boil the amount of water needed when making hot drinks.

• Reduce travel:

• Avoid using your car for short or unnecessary journeys.

• Take public transport whenever possible.

• Travel with one or more people going the same way, which will take their cars off the road. Car Pooling is highly recommended.

• Use less congested routes and avoid rush hour.

Recycle:

Recycling glass and paper saves a lot of energy and raw materials, and cuts down on pollution and causes less of an impact for the environment.

Mahoora contributes 1% of its revenue to the Sri Lanka Wilderness Foundation to work on selected projects such as minimising leopard deaths due to the human leopard conflict.

We at Mahoora aim to lead by example, and we ensure that our business has long term benefits for our local communities, the environment and our customers. The philosophy of Mahoora is to develop and promote, ethical, responsible and sustainable luxury tented holidays, thereby creating jobs and income for our communities, whilst minimising our impact on the environment and our planet’s natural resources. We have developed our own Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy, as a guide to our continuing journey.

We recruit and train staff from the locality we work in and purchase locally produced goods and services.

We build products around the local community knowledge in fauna, flora and farming methods.

We support community tourism initiatives by incorporating community lifestyles seamlessly into our programmes, such as picnic stops in village homes and fishing with local fisher communities etc.

We work towards capacity building in schools, communities, in entrepreneurship, knowledge farming and value additions.

We, along with our clients, contribute financially to uplift the standards of the underprivileged schools, children’s homes, homes for the elders, hospitals and places of worship.

We protect endangered species in line with the red list issued by the ICUN.

We actively educate our communities and campaign against animal abuse of all forms. We educate and invest in protecting our fauna and flora whilst supporting development projects including environment education, wildlife conservation and reforestation as we work closely with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Foundation.

We discourage the collection, removal or cutting of any plant or plant parts (seeds, roots or leaves) by our customers, staff and communities.

We participate in programmes that involve the removal of invasive species such as cactus and lantana, whilst setting up our operations with scientists in and around the National Parks for reforestation activities.

We have launched conservation programmes for the protection of endangered species. Our clients are also welcome to actively participate in these endeavours.

We avoid using products packaged in plastic, in keeping with our plastic-free philosophy. The biggest challenge that we face is the lack of an alternative to the PET water bottles used. However, all empty bottles are being collected and sent to the Balangoda Town Council Recycling Centre.

We convert all organic waste into compost waste.

All paper, cardboard, aluminium and metal waste is collected separately and recycled through the Balangoda Town Council Recycling Centre.

We recycle used coconut shells for BBQ’s and campfires. Wood for the campfire is collected from the surrounding area, no trees are cut for this purpose. At our frequented camps, LPG gas is used for hot water while all the camps are run on Solar Energy (Nett Metering). At our less frequented camps, we use rechargeable fans, and illumination inside the tents are done using solar lamps.

Mahoora Safari Sri Lanka actively supports minimising human leopard conflict in the border areas of the parks, and the active participation of soloist clients. At the end of a safari, our clients fill a research document on their own sightings and this data will be used for important planning and conservation activities.