The Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, won first place in the Environment and Climate Category of the global Green Destinations Top 100 Story Awards at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) Berlin in Germany March 5 (Manila time).
“This recognition is a testament to our unwavering commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship,” the Nature’s Village Resort, dubbed as a garden paradise, said in a Facebook post.
The resort’s entry was among the four from Negros Occidental, along with the cities of Bago, Sagay, and Sipalay, and the only entries from the Philippines that made it to the finals under the same category.
The Green Destinations Top 100 Story Awards showcase and celebrate the most inspirational initiatives for sustainable tourism development from stories submitted to the annual Green Destinations Top 100 Stories competition based in The Netherlands.
With its good practice story, “Nature’s Way: Fostering Sustainable Practices and Positive Environmental Impact”, the resort’s strongest gains have been the reduction of economic leakage by producing compost material through vermiculture, its eco-bricks program, reduction of electricity bills by installing solar panels, and selling excess food waste to local hog growers.
“We recognize Talisay City’s problems with pollution and waste management. Thus, reducing our carbon footprint by growing our own vegetables, eradicating the use of single-use plastics, consciously reducing greenhouse gas emissions while saving thousands of liters of water every month are among our strong interventions,” the post added.
Meanwhile, Bago City placed third in the same category for its “Regenerative Agritourism: Cultivating a Sustainable Future for Bago City – Going towards Bago City’s Climate Positive Tourism”.
“To support Bago City’s economic recovery, the local tourism and agriculture agencies launched the ‘Booming Green AGritOurism’ (BAGO) program,” its good practice story said.
The initiative transforms farmers into “agri-entrepreneurs,” maximizes farm resources, and promotes sustainable tourism, prioritizing the triple bottom line: planet, people, and prosperity, it added.
In second place is Saïdia Resorts, an eco-friendly beach resort located on the Mediterranean Sea and on the northeastern coast of Morocco, whose story tells of a project designed to address the persistent issue of mosquito proliferation while preserving the region’s biodiversity.
Meanwhile, Sipalay City’s story highlighted the Green Belt Eco Park and Critical Habitat (Green BEaCH) initiative, transforming a modest tree-growing effort into a vital mangrove and beach forest conservation area.
Sagay City’s entry on the Sagay Marine Reserve is about illegal fishers turned into sea guardians, involving them in sustainable livelihoods and co-managing protected seascapes. | PNA
