As the Director of the Department of Tourism & Foreign Investment appointed in 1979, Mujuthaba is one of the pioneers who laid the foundation for sustainable tourism. "The regulations that actually impact greatly on environmental preservation came in 1986. And Ahmed Zahir who was in charge of the Tourism Department then (now the Hon. Minister of Justice & Islamic Affairs) worked zealously to ensure a fruitful result", Mujuthaba is quick in his praise of colleagues.

"Environmental preservation is a concept that is very much linked with our way of life. I can remember when I was growing up as a boy, the lady who sweeps our compound would look for dead leaves and twigs and things that fall off trees as rubbish. For her, an empty paper box or an object made of plastic would not be rubbish as they are clean, in her opinion. Of course, so many well-packaged consumer items as are available today would not have been part of her life".

"Back in the 70's the thinking was that, burn whatever you can instead of dumping into the sea". Mujuthaba quite humorously explains the introduction of the incinerator which was made a mandatory item for each resort from 1979. Under Mujuthaba's guidance, a team of Maldivian government officials were sent to Norway, whose government donated the very first batch of incinerators. "But that was a superb beginning. Very quickly were experienced that some items incinerated required more energy than others to be reduced to a state where they can safely be integrated with the environment whether at sea or on land. This revelation introduced a whole dimension of environment awareness for us and led to the search of ways for recycling and energy-efficient methods of preservation". Mujuthaba muses enthusiastically.

"It is a philosophy that we have to maintain", explains Mujuthaba. Today he practices what he preached then. As the Managing Director of Ihuru Investments which manages Ihuru Tourist Resort, he is fanatic about the philosophy which is maintained rigorously at Ihuru. And Ihuru has done very well indeed. Ihuru has gained national as well as international recognition as the country's showpiece for environmental preservation. In 1996 Ihuru was awarded the prestigious national Green-Leaf award by President Gayoom the first time ever a resort was given such an accolade. Just recently, Ihuru was given the ECOTOURISM award by HotelPlan of Switzerland. Over 2000 hotels around the world are assessed by HotelPlan for adherence to criteria that promotes environmental conservation. Ihuru was one of less than 30 hotels that qualify.

Asked how long it took for the staff to be well-versed in the philosophy, as "a way of life", he said that it was easy that they had many long-standing staff with some over 20 years experience. Even so, it took them well over a year to be really ingrained in the philsophy, says Mujuthaba.

At Ihuru, the philosophy is observed at a number of different levels.

"Sorting out the rubbish at every point is the clue. Bio-degradable and degradable. At Ihuru the senior management personally ensures and enforces the regulations at all times. When the guests are taken on picnics to other islands, all garbage has to be brought back all neatly sorted out." Mujuthaba says they often pick stray rubbish bags floating by from other islands and dispose of them. "It is challenging that we have to regard ourselves (Ihuru) somewhat as a different country with different rules. Once this notion is overcome it will become very easy". Mujuthaba is of the view that one national regulation should be enforced for all areas of the country.

Energy-saving measures are observed strictly at Ihuru. Solar energy is used for water-heating and air-conditioning is used only in some areas. "Ihuru has plenty of foliage and vegetation cover. So it is very cool. Besides our guests appreciate and admire the fact that we are trying to do the right thing by the environment". Guests are known to cooperate happily in carrying items such as used batteries (used both by themselves and the resort) and other plastic wrappings and empty bottles that they bring onto Ihuru with them back to their country when they depart.

"Airlines could do a lot to help our environmental preservation efforts. I am appreciative of BALAIR and their ecobag which is distributed to tourists coming to the Maldives. It is done in a most appropriate manner and an announcement is made prior to landing to explain that Maldives being 99% sea do not have adequate means of disposing the plastic bottles and the various containers that the arriving visitors may well use and discard of while on holiday. Hence the use of the ecobag is encouraged to dispose of any such rubbish that could be brought back with them. This is a concept that the visitor can relate to very well and most people are very eager to their bit to the environment while on holiday".

"When we buy bottled drinks and cans we try to look for the largest containers available and look to reuse them for other purposes at Ihuru. It is very heartening that the Aquarius mineral water company would take empty bottles back to be recycled. So we purchase most of our mineral water from them as well as soft drinks".

It is no secret that Mujuthaba as ardent when it comes to preserving the undersea life. Mujuthaba says he is irked by the casual attitude of some people when snorkeling, in touching and standing  on coral. "Coral growth takes hundreds of years to form. Just standing on the coral resting your feet in between snorkels can do irretrievable damage". Snorkeling courses are taught free of charge at Ihuru, with instruction on how not to tread on coral and control the leg movements to ensure one's legs do not get tired and therefore find their way on a coral bed.

"Awareness creation on the fragility of the environment is the most important facet of the philosophy for guests and visitors". Ihuru has an in-house marine biologist who conducts lectures and classes for guests and the classes are received warmly.

"The use of knives and gloves when at sea and collection of shells or any material from the sea is illegal at Ihuru. We are encouraged with the support from the government as well as international sources in maintaining our principles. Recently we have had an Italian guest sent off due to non-adherence to our rules, with no refunds given. We give a first and second time warning and the third time we will ask him or her to leave the island. This particular guest went back to Italy and field a case to sue the tour-operator. The Maldivian government was referred to. They were told that the government is supportive of any measured adopted by individual resorts to preserve the environment and therefore there was nothing that could be done and eventually this case was lot."

From 1997 Ihuru has pioneered successfully the artificial induction and acceleration of coral growth using solar energy. In collaboration with Dr. Tom Garreau and the GLOBAL CORAL ALLIANCE which is one of the world's leading authorities on coral growth Ihuru has experimented with a technique involving man-made still structures. "We call them Ihuru BARNACLES. Steel cages of (dimensions) are left at ....... depth for the coral polyps to grow and charges with a little electricity". The technique has been successful and "assidha garu" the reproductive substance emanated by coral settles on suitable crevices of the coral placed within the barnacles. With the energy generated the observed coral growth is much faster". Of course, the practically of using this technique on a larger scale still has to be researched into.

"The interesting thing is that this is a fantastic devise for awareness creation". Mujuthaba is vehement in his enthusiasm about teaching the young people of the country through practical experiments. "I think having exhibitions and practical displays of what could happen within our very own environment is very important. For children to see and feel for themselves the fragility and the diversity of life undersea will immediately strike a chord as to the necessity for preserving the natural resources we have been bestowed with".

"Of course, it would be ideal to incorporate environmental awareness into the schools curriculum as a separate subject. I am very happy with some of the national campaigns that are being conducted today for environmental preservation. The million tree programme is a wonderful initiative. With the reef preservation, however there is still a tremendous amount of awareness creation that needs to be done on a national scale. We have to reach a situation where it is understood by everyone that preserving the reefs and coral growth is of extreme importance for our very sustenance. Then conservation measures will follow on their own".

Research into coral growth and reef formation should be collected on a regular basis, says Mujuthaba. There is some concern about coral being bleached and possible coral mortality that could occur in Maldivian waters as the result of the EL Nino weather phenomenon. "The little sister of El Nino, known as the La Nina which is known to bring cooler conditions is said to be just around the corner. But this year it looks like we have had warmer conditions a lot longer than we have experienced before. Which is why continuous research is important. This data should be analyzes and where possible, appropriate action taken".