With some of the best beaches and natural attractions in the Caribbean, Aruba is undergoing a strong campaign of maintaining the island’s cleanliness and preserving beaches and reefs through a series of yearly events. Aruba’s largest event of this kind, the annual Reef Care Project, is a volunteer event in which locals and tourists gather to clean the underwater sites and the island’s beaches. The event this year takes place July 3 and 4, along the coast from Baby Beach all the way north to Arashi Beach beyond the high-rise hotels.
Each year, more than 40,000 divers explore Aruba’s pristine waters and over one million vacationers come to Aruba to enjoy its white-sand beaches and natural attractions. Therefore, the island places a high value on protecting and preserving its marine environment. This project, along with other island-wide environmental initiatives, celebrates the efforts being made to ensure that locals and tourists alike can continue to enjoy Aruba’s picturesque beaches and turquoise waters for years to come.
Recently, the Aruba Reef Care Project held an interesting lecture for staff and personnel of the Holiday Inn Reach Resort. The lecture, given by Castro Perez, was to make the attendees aware of the importance of keeping our white sanded beaches, reefs and the whole island in general clean. During the lecture, different aspects that can have a bad influence on our environment were discussed, among others, vision and principle reason to start with this project, what is marine life and the importance of it for our island.
Also discussed were the economic aspects and how it affects our marine life, what can be done to protect and keep our beaches and reefs clean, and what the benefits are for our island.
Apart from the yearly Reef Care Project, Aruba is closely undertaking a series of environmental initiatives, which help contribute to a green island, as part of a larger Sustainable Economic Development program. The reforestation of Arikok National Park is underway, with the planting of native fruit trees to re-populate the flora and fauna. A vast majority of Aruba’s beaches are part of a $6 million dollar project to receive the ‘Blue Flag’ certification, with phase one already completed and the beaches of Arashi, Baby Beach and Mangel Halto to be certified this year.
