Regeneration
Our Live Ningaloo team loves our ocean environment and want to protect it for future generations to enjoy. It’s our pleasure and duty to contribute locally and globally in efforts to conserve and protect the beautiful environment and wildlife of Western Australia.
We’re privileged to have been awarded a licence to conduct oceanic tours on the Ningaloo Reef, and take our responsibility to protect the marine environment seriously.
Why Regenerative Tourism means so much to us
In 2019, Sonia introduced the idea of “Regenerative Tourism” to Murray. If this is a new term to you, it’s a revolutionary idea about leaving a place better than you found it. We knew at the heart of Live Ningaloo we wanted to do our part to protect the environment, especially considering our vessels consume fuel and create carbon emissions. We understood we couldn’t eliminate our impact completely, but we wanted to make up for it. For a simple per-seat charge, you can choose to offset as many seats from your tour with us as you like.
Instead of hiring an expensive consultant for our small business, we found a template on the Eco-Tourism Australia website hosted by Carbon Neutral, a company Murray had heard extensively about that always piqued his interest. We used the template to figure out our carbon footprint, looking at our financial records and tax information to get the exact numbers. We did all the work ourselves, just like a consultant would. Once we had that information, the next step was to develop a concept that would allow us to give back to the environment and create a better world.
With our guests’ journies always in our minds, we thought about how they could help us too. Linking in with Carbon Neutral, we created an initiative where you can now support three verified global projects, picking ones that hold sentimental meaning for our crew and us. For instance, we included an African project to honour Murray’s heritage, a Borneo initiative inspired by our photographer Brooke’s recent trip, and a program in the Yarra Yarra, Western Australia, that focuses on farming and land rehabilitation in collaboration with traditional owners, reflecting Sonia’s passion.
While we can’t claim complete carbon neutrality at this stage, Live Ningaloo is dedicated to providing our guests with the opportunity to make a positive impact. By offering the option to offset their journey, we empower individuals to contribute to environmental initiatives and support projects that align with our values. It’s about fostering a memorable experience for our guests while promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship. Our efforts aim to inspire others to join us in creating a better and more sustainable world for future generations.
98% Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard Rating
At Live Ningaloo, we love what we do. More importantly, however, we love where we do it!
And that’s why we’ve gone through an assessment program called Strive 4 Sustainability with Ecotourism Australia.
The scorecard measures where a business or tourism operator is on their sustainability journey at a point in time and assesses the following four pillars of sustainability:
- Environmental impacts
- Socio-economic impacts
- Cultural impacts
- Sustainable management
We are proud to announce we’ve received a score of 98%
Environmental Sustainability
The small actions we take every day impact our environment and we make a conscious choice to reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible.
We strive to purchase ‘green’ products and buy in bulk, reducing packaging. We also use chemical cleaning alternatives such as plant-based products as well as water and vinegar solution.
Coral Reef and
Climate Change
The Ningaloo Reef is the largest fringing reef in Australia and recent studies have shown it’s thriving and we want to keep it that way.
Coral reef is the building southwesternmedcenter.com block of life. It’s been dubbed, ‘The rainforest of the sea.’ Coral reefs all around the globe are facing the threat of bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures (climate change).
Whilst on tour with us you will learn about the reef, why it matters, what we can do to keep it healthy. Resources we encourage you to check out are listed below (credit: Exposure Labs and Chasing Coral)
- NOAA Coral Comeback. Great educational materials on coral.
- HHMI Interactive science education materials: A resource for a host of free science education resources from coral bleaching activities to biodiversity in the age of humans.
- Smithsonian Ocean Portal. An interactive and educational web platform about corals, coral reefs, symbiosis with educational tools and resources for educators.
- Coral Seed Banks. Science Friday podcast: Marine biologist Mary Hagedorn aims to bank as many corals as possible for future restoration and research.
- National Marine Sanctuaries. Take a virtual dive.
- Coral City. Watch this mesmerizing video about corals in Miami by Coral Morphologic.
- Reviving the Ocean Economy: The Case for Action, WWF. This definitive report by the World Wildlife Fund examines the economic value of the world’s oceans putting the value of $24 Trillion on ocean assets and function.
- 50 Reefs. Continue on Richard’s journey. A new initiative dedicated to the protection of coral reefs through conservation and investment with an eye toward repopulation of coral reefs over time.
- TNC Reef Resilience. The Reef Resilience Toolkit provides the latest information, guidance, and resources to help managers address the impacts of climate change and local threats to coral reefs.
Renewable Energy
To minimise the use of non-renewable energy and increase renewable energy use Live Ningaloo has put in place a list of procedures and protocols.
These are:
- Minimising the use of hydro-carbon based fuel. Throughout the trip Wave Rider drives slowly and is kept at ‘low revs’ reducing in fuel consumption.
- Servicing and maintenance work is carried out regularly and service and maintenance reports are kept on board.
- Natural light is used where possible both on land and at sea and air conditioning is only used when essential.
- Staff are encouraged to walk or ride to work, with storage provided for bicycles. We provide group transport in one vehicle for all crew to the boat launching facility. Guests are also encouraged to use our complimentary transfers.
- Aiming to only purchase energy efficient appliances for both the office and the vessel if the need arises and run all electronics from the inverter rather than generator. All electronic equipment is shutdown when not in use.
- Renewable energy initiatives are continually investigated and implemented where possible.
Education
Education is central to our activities. We’re not just about delivering tourist experiences.
We’re motivated to help our guests experience the raw beauty of Ningaloo Reef and the Cape Range National Park so they can understand the importance of our coexistence with nature in this fragile ecosystem. Each Live Ningaloo guided small group tour is led by a passionate crew, including a marine biologist, to help us deliver our message.
We understand that for our message of conservation to spread, we need to reach more people and we are always using our influence and platforms to sing this message out to the world.
Industry Partnerships
Live Ningaloo are proud members of the Ecotourism Australia and we hold an Advanced Ecotourism accreditation.
It’s an internationally recognised accreditation program tying in with GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) whom establishes and manages global sustainability standards for the tourism industry with the aim of increasing sustainable tourism knowledge and practices among public and private stakeholders.
We closely adhere to all Department of Parks and Wildlife licensing rules including proximity to Whale Sharks and Humpback Whales. Field work, contributing to vital scientific research programs, is conducted on each cruise.