Eco Safari Lodge first to be Biodiversity Conscious®
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A ground breaking milestone in the eco tourism industry took place recently when the Palpatha Eco Safari Lodge, became the first of its kind in the industry to be certified as a BiodiversityConscious® Lodge.
The certification issued by The Carbon Consulting Company, was based on the camp meeting the requirements of the BiodiversityConscious® guidelines developed by the company, to recognize entities that go out of their way to ensure the protection and enhancement of their surrounding biodiversity, which is very often compromised by the entity’s operations. To meet these rigourous requirements demanded that Palpatha submit to an independent biodiversity assessment by CCC, with independent validation carried out by its external consultant.
The assessment quantified the species and faunal biodiversity that encompassed the Lodge. The initiatives taken by the Palpatha team to safeguard as well as add to this biodiversity was also assessed. The Lodge cemented it’s undertaking to further enhance and protect the biodiversity by developing the project which is to be carried out over the next two years.
Speaking on the occasion, Jeevaka Perera one of the founding partners of the Lodge said ‘Palpatha Eco Safari Lodge is the brainchild of 3 school friends, who founded the property as a family getaway. But we soon realized that this gift was one that should be shared with the larger community, especially those who love to be in touch with wild life and nature; and therein was born the idea of a fully fledged Eco Safari Lodge’.
‘The aim of the brand mark is to recognize that the entity being awarded has not only had the vision, foresight and drive to assess the impact of their operations on the situational biodiversity, but has also taken suitable steps to minimize future impacts as well as setting up appropriate compensatory mechanisms to offset their impacts’ said CEO of Carbon Consulting Company – Sanith de S. Wijeyeratne.