Mustique - Conservation & Luxury

Our work gives us the opportunity to look at the world through many different perspectives. We’re lucky enough to be immersed in a diverse range of projects from documenting expeditions to building environmental education curriculum and everything in between.

The real benefit of working on multiple projects means we’re constantly exploring multiple solutions, and reminded almost daily that there is no one way to solve the challenges that our planet is facing.

Our latest project, Cloud & Dirt is an environmental education curriculum that blends design thinking with the Sustainable Development Goals. About a year into the project we were introduced to UK based tutoring company, Enjoy Education. They were keen to run a pilot for Cloud & Dirt whilst they were based in Mustique for the summer.

We did some homework and found out that the Mustique Island Company have a pretty impressive approach to sustainability, which made us all the more curious to go check out their work. We based ourselves in Britannia Bay for our ten days on the island, with mornings spent teaching both local & visiting kids Cloud & Dirt and afternoons exploring the island, it’s beautiful reefs and learning more about about a new way of reframing luxury.

Luxury travel is more often than not synonymous with excess. An exclusive & lavish lifestyle only affordable to the ultra rich - celebrities being flown in on private jets, with ridiculous amounts of luggage loaded into expensive cars and every need catered for by a team of seemingly invisible but vital staff. More for the sake of more. Guests enjoying their chilled (plastic) bottle of Fiji Water after a workout in the air-conditioned gym overlooking the ocean. Ordering Argentinian steak whilst on holiday in the Maldives or taking Instagram worthy selfies with elephants - totally oblivious to the impact of any of their actions.

Some might say that the blame doesn’t sit squarely at their feet. That the entire experience has been created for them by the industry itself. Reckless & irresponsible with its approach to sustainability. It smacks of irony. Spending thousands of pounds on a holiday that will undoubtedly do harm to the very thing you came to enjoy.

Thankfully, and not a day too soon, the growing awareness of environmental issues is impacting the industry. Perhaps not as fast as we would like, but still, things are changing. It’s near impossible for any traveller to avoid the reality of our times - whether that’s climate strikes, Amazonian fires or devastating stories of plastic pollution in our ocean. Suddenly the idea of the perfect luxury trip leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth.

The way we travel needs to change dramatically, and of course we can’t avoid the inevitable conversation about flying, but added to that is the question of where we choose to go & where we choose to stay. We often forget how much power we have as consumers in the decisions we make and the impact they will have.

So what does good look like ? And how can we tell the difference between tactical green-washing and genuine impact ? One thing we know for sure it that it's not as simple as removing miniature toiletries and swapping out plastic bottles for glass ones.

I’m not sure that anyone is doing it perfectly. In fact, I’m not sure that it’s even possible. The more we learn about the issues our planet is facing, the more we recognise where we’re screwing up. But there are a number of places that are taking significant steps. Resorts, hotels & even whole islands that are committed to changing the very way they operate in order to reduce their footprint. Whose management teams believe that it’s time to change what ‘luxury’ looks like.

Mustique has long been known as the Caribbean’s best kept secret. A small private island in the Grenadines that has become a hideaway for the rich & famous - renowned for wild parties, rockstars & royals.

The island’s contemporary history begins in the late 1950s, when Colin Tennant, later Lord Glenconner, bought it for £45,000. Tennant was a flamboyant, wealthy Scot who quickly went about establishing the island’s glamorous reputation. In 1960, he presented Princess Margaret with a 10-acre plot of land as a wedding gift and later built her a villa. In 1968, Tennant formed the Mustique Company, privatising the island with the permission of the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

But here’s the interesting thing about Mustique - when you arrive on island, by private charter (from St Lucia or Barbados), you find yourself walking through a pretty basic bamboo building disguised as an airport. The plane you landed on is the only one on the airfield - there are no private jets or helicopters to be seen. And once you’ve grabbed your bags and head outside you see the odd 4x4, but predominantly ‘mules’ (the affectionate name given to the golf carts that everyone uses as transport on island).

There’s a relaxed energy about the place. It seems as if, the folk lucky enough to stay here are beyond worrying about how they are perceived, and are most definitely not interested in impressing anyone. For those of us who aren’t accustomed to these kinds of trips, it’s actually quite a relief.

The island itself is beautiful - with much of Mustique undeveloped and seemingly unexplored. The terrain is hilly, with hiking paths following the rugged Atlantic facing coastline and the more serene west coast dotted with calm lagoons & protected bays.

We’re taken on a tour of the island by Nakita Poon-Kong, the Environmental Manager for the Mustique Company. Originally from Trinidad & Tobago, she’s been working in Mustique for the last two and half years. She jumped at the chance to work on a private island, knowing that her background in environmental management & communications would enable her to make decisions, see tangible outcomes & have real impact.

She explains that the island’s shareholders see themselves as custodians and are deeply committed to its long-term conservation for future generations. In 1989 an act was passed declaring the island of Mustique, together with its beaches, foreshore and surrounding waters to be within the Mustique Conservation Area. It’s a designated ’no-take’ zone and a protected area for all animals and plants, including coral, fish, birds and reptiles.

A specially formed Environmental Programme and Committee was created to protect the Conservation area and the pristine environment of the island. The committee, made up of villa owners and the island management, oversees the establishment and implementation of marine and land based conservation projects, from turtle tagging and monitoring to responsible fishing, and most importantly educating future generations about the importance of island conservation.

Our first stop, of course, was to jump in the ocean and see for ourselves the incredible work Nakita and her team have been doing to protect the marine ecosystem. We grabbed masks & fins and jumped off the dock for a closer look.

In 2015, Ken Nedimyer, founder of Coral Restoration Foundation International visited the island with his team to set up two coral nurseries, one in Endeavour Bay and another in L’Ansecoy Bay. Since that time, 7500 fragments of three different types of coral have been outplanted - elkhorn, stag horn & a small amount of fire coral. Elkhorn & staghorn are particularly important when it comes to reef building initiatives.

The results of this work have been outstanding, with a dramatic increase in biodiversity & improvement in the health of the marine ecosystem. And it’s easy for guests to experience, with one of the coral nurseries situated just off the jetty at Endeavour Bay, giving Nakita the opportunity to take residents, homeowners & guests on snorkel tours to see what can be achieved when an island commits to protecting it’s natural capital.

During our time on Mustique we’re lucky enough to spend a good amount of time in the waters of Britannia Bay, floating on the surface & watching the turtles grazing the sea grass beds below. Nakita shares more about the turtle project that is running on island, on collaboration with WIDECAST, which protects & monitors sea turtles both on and offshore.

We jump back in the mule, and head south to learn more about how the island is managed from an operational & logistics point of view. There are one hundred villas on Mustique and a commitment to not allow any further development. It’s this promise that protects the wilderness of this island, and ensures that vital ecosystems, such as their mangrove reserves (the second largest in the Grenadines) are safeguarded.

In 2017 the company installed Tesla Batteries, which capture 1000 KWh. They have an ambitious renewable energy plan to be 75% reliant on solar & battery storage by 2024. A baseline study in 2017 determined the island’s carbon emissions and have committed to reduce the footprint by 22% by 2025, in line with the St. Vincent & The Grenadines commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. And these commitments aren’t just talk - last year’s report showed a reduction in carbon emissions by 8%.

Small islands are always faced with challenges when it comes to waste management, and Mustique is no exception. They have a recycling program where all recyclables are sorted on island and then sent on a ferry to neighbouring St. Vincent. The island also has an incinerator where they burn their non-recyclable waste. There’s always room for improvement, and the company are shifting to cleaner incineration technologies - fitting a scrubber on their incinerator to capture any toxins released into the air.

Nakita says her biggest challenge right now is shifting away from single use plastics & providing good tasting, good quality, desalinated water for both guests and local residents to enjoy. They’ve installed a desalination plant and water purifying system so that the island has its own fresh water supply and are in the process of banning single use plastic both within the company offices as well as hotel & bars & restaurants, with the aim to ban single use plastic across all the villas next year.

Next up we stop to eat West Indian cherries, picked straight off the tree from the beautiful permaculture garden situated on the north of the island next to the horse sanctuary. They've planted lots of fruit trees, vegetables & herbs that are maintained by ground staff. Most importantly - it’s open to the entire community and enables everyone to pick their fruits & vegetables and have a true farm to table experience. This is reflected within the restaurants on island who also work with Spring Valley Farm, a smallholding located on neighbouring St Vincent, which is actually owned by some of homeowners - providing organic fresh produce to the island.

Later that day we take part in a tree planting workshop near the airport with local kids & homeowners alike. It’s interesting to talk to some of the parents, undoubtedly influenced by their kids, who are more attuned than ever to the issues our planet is facing.

It was something we noticed when teaching each morning. We ran two classes each day, one for the local kids whose parents work on island whilst they live & go to school on St. Vincents, and a later session for the visiting kids, whose parents either own & rent property on Mustique. Needless to say they live almost incomparable lives - but it soon became obvious that despite all their differences, they are speaking the same language when it comes to protecting our planet. It’s incredible the barriers that fall when we’re all working towards the same goal.

The kind of people who holiday in Mustique have influence. They are well-known entrepreneurs, celebrities, executives, artists & royals. The impact of a conversation about sustainability with Nakita, a snorkel tour or their kids sharing what they learned about ocean conservation that day could create a significant ripple effect on their return home. There’s also an opportunity here for Mustique to influence the luxury travel industry as a whole, in sharing their journey in sustainability and showcasing what is possible.

Our tour comes to an end as Nakita takes us back over the hill to Britannia Bay, just in time for a cold beer and an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned. Here’s what impresses us most - the tour we were taken on ? It wasn’t something put on especially for us. Nakita runs environmental tours for guests & homeowners almost daily. She’s mindful that all this work needs to be shared, and that education & outreach is as important as the conservation work on the ground.

"Mustique has always been sold as a luxury island, but it’s nice to know that we’re also a green island, and that those things can go hand in hand. The guests are encouraged and excited about being green and having a lower footprint when they’re here. It should be very much all encompassing.”

Nakita would be the first to point out that they haven’t got everything right. She’s constantly exploring new opportunities to not only lessen the environmental footprint, but also to restore & improve the natural ecosystems, on island and in it’s surrounding waters.

But there’s a definite shift happening in Mustique. Gone are the days of luxury experiences at all costs.

There’s a sense that perhaps this is what Luxury 2.0 looks like. Thoughtful, engaged & committed - understanding that this is a long road, and one that will come with many challenges, but, if we care deeply about this planet, the only one worth taking.