Around 40 plus RBC Volunteers gathered in the early morning at Guana Bay to start the first of a series of RBC volunteer beach clean-ups, aimed at helping make the turtle nesting area on that beach more accessible for the endangered Hawksbill, Leatherback and Green sea turtles which nest at Guana Bay. These sea turtles have made it their nesting beach in the period from March to November each year.
The beach clean was organized in conjuction with Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFS), ACE for cleaning equipment & B&C Beverages for refreshments, Public Works and other collaborating organizations. The Beach clean up is initiated in connection with the "RBC Blue Water Day 2012 Project" which is the environmental priority program for RBC Royal Bank focusing on the preservation of the world’s most precious natural resource: water. RBC in St. Maarten is committed to clean Guana Bay periodically for the duration of the turtle nesting season from March till November each year and committs to support with buiklding awareness on sea turtle nesting
The clean up delivered approximately 350 kg of garbage with dead sea grass, plastic debris and litter. Many of the bags of seaweed were collected by individuals who will be using the seaweed as fertilzer for thier gardens. RBC Royal Bank supports with the awareness on the topic of turtle nesting and the preservation of a clean beach for humans and turtles specifically. This project of cleaning up the beach for the turtle nesting season fits perfectly into RBC’s philosophy on the sustainable development of the environment. RBC Royal Bank firmly believes that it is the responsibility of the bank to positively influence the social development of the community in which it operates by maximizing its contributions to the state of environment of the island.
The Nature Foundation would like to commend and thank RBC and especially the volunteers for the hard work they did on Saturday morning. St. Maarten is one of the few territories in the Caribbean where turtles come up the beach to lay their eggs. Due to the large amount of seaweed which has been washing up on Guana Bay and the plastic the seaweed brings with it nesting was very difficult for some of the turtles. Through the excellent work done by RBC volunteers the beach is now clean for nesting turtles to lay their eggs.
By means of this environmental initiative RBC Royal Bank moreover wants to add value to its environmental footprint in the St.Maarten community and most importantlty demonstrate the bank’s commitment to the development and preservation of the environment of the island through the active engagement of its employees.