Coral Lab Demonstrates Iberostar Group’s Commitment to Wave of
Change Movement
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ahead of World Oceans Day (June 8), Iberostar Group is opening a new
land-based coral lab in the heart of the Caribbean. It will help protect
essential ocean life from rising global temperatures in the future—and
defend against a new fast-moving coral pandemic today.
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) has cut a ghostly wake of
bleached-out coral bones from Central Florida, where it first appeared
in 2014, to Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, and now the
Dominican Republic, where it suddenly arrived in March.
Dr. Megan Morikawa, Iberostar’s Director of Sustainability, who is a
Marine Biologist with a PhD in coral restoration, saw this underwater
white plague coming as she and her team hatched plans for the new coral
lab in the Dominican Republic. Moving at an unprecedented pace, a band
of people from the scientific community, Iberostar, the Dominican
government, NGOs and others finished the lab in a year, just as the
coral disease started infecting local reefs—eight months sooner than
expected.
“We didn’t realize it when we started the project, but we were building
Noah’s Ark for coral,” Dr. Morikawa says.
The coral lab, which opens Saturday, will house 10 species initially—180
individual corals (most facilities only contain a few species). Built in
the footprint of a former yoga palapa, the center operates under
rigorous scientific standards but is open to visitors, including
children in Iberostar’s Star Camp entertainment program.
“This is much-needed science in an unexpected location,” Dr. Morikawa
says, adding that corals represent just 1% of the world’s surface but
hold about a third of the world’s biological diversity.
The lab is the latest effort in Iberostar’s Wave
of Change movement, a three-pronged approach to protecting oceans
and encouraging responsible tourism, that includes:
-
Moving beyond plastics in all Iberostar’s 120 hotels by 2020 through
reimagining every use, from straws and coffee pods to employee
uniforms in an effort to establish a circular economy. -
Promoting sustainable seafood consumption; among other efforts,
Iberostar has partnered with the WWF, FishWise and local fish
suppliers to ban entire species from hotel restaurant menus. -
Improving coastal health, including mangrove restoration in the
Dominican Republic, assembling a team of scientific experts in coastal
conservation including Dr. Morikawa and others from Stanford
University and UC Santa Barbara, and more.
With 32,000 employees serving 8 million clients per year, Iberostar has
the unique power to educate and inspire people and its industry peers to
drive broad change.
“As a family business who has been part of the community in the
Dominican Republic for more than 25 years, we are establishing a tourism
model that is every time more responsible and allows for a better legacy
for the future generations of this country. We have to acknowledge this
responsibility and keep taking bold steps,” says Gloria Fluxa,
Iberostar’s Vice Chairman and Chief Sustainability Officer, a
fourth-generation leader in the 100% family owned tourism business.
The onshore lab will serve as a haven for threatened Caribbean coral. It
is a genetic bank, protected from increasingly destructive hurricanes
offshore where most reef farms live. Plus, it pulls saltwater from
wells, not the ocean, making it safe from fast-moving, broad reaching
coral diseases such as SCTLD.
Among its features, the lab has four 1,200-liter tanks, four more
500-liter tanks and four control systems that will allow researchers to
accurately simulate future ocean conditions, so they can develop and
grow heat-resistant coral strains that could one day replenish the
ailing reefs that sustain entire fish populations and protect coastal
livelihoods.
Putting all of this together on such a tight timeline and on land was a
Herculean effort that required innovation and collaboration, Dr.
Morikawa says. Iberostar’s hotel staff pitched in on construction and
design. Government officials helped navigate permits. Engineers and
aquarists were flown in to consult on the design, and a spa company
built controls for the tanks. “Everyone was pitching in. It gave us a
beautiful local perspective,” Dr. Morikawa says, “I never would have
expected that we would build a lab facility in a year, but we had no
choice, we were running out of time.”
Iberostar plans to open more coastal health facilities in other
locations within the next two years and hatch a number of offshore
nurseries.
Importantly, the lab was designed to give clients and local community a
one-of-a-kind, indelible ocean experience on land and expose them to an
environmental challenge they might otherwise never know about.
“I think what is most important is that hotels can contribute to
protecting our oceans in ways we didn’t quite expect,” Dr. Morikawa
says. “Ironically, we as a scientific community have been working for
years on building an economic case for saving coral reefs. What hooked
Iberostar was purely wanting to protect them.”
For photos and a video, click here.
About Iberostar
Iberostar Group is a 100% family owned, Spanish multinational company
headquartered in Palma de Mallorca (Spain), which has been involved in
the tourism industry since 1956, but whose origins in business date back
to 1877. Iberostar has a presence in 35 countries, employs more than
32,000 people and serves more than 8 million customers every year. With
hospitality as the company’s core business, its portfolio includes more
than 120 4- and 5- star hotels in 18 countries on three continents.
There are three further business units in addition to hotels: a travel
and inbound agency, holiday club and estate agency.
Iberostar Group belongs to the Fluxà family and is headed by Miguel
Fluxà Rosselló, founder of the current hotel business of the Group and
of the Iberostar Hotels & Resorts brand. His daughters Sabina and Gloria
hold the two positions of Vice President with the company. Sabina is
also the Group CEO and Gloria holds the position of Chief Sustainability
Officer.
Contacts
Edelman Press Office
Yazmine Esparza
Iberostar@edelman.com