Tribe Wanted - an interview with Ben Keene!

by Catherine Baker

Candid interview with Ben Keene, co-creator of TribeWanted: an ecologically sustainable village on Vorovoro Island in the far away South Pacific.

So, Monday night found me in a very swanky London bar awash with Hawaiian style flowery shirts, young men in sarongs, and an extremely large bowl of Kava.

Ahh... more fancy dress! I hear you cry, but no, not an extension of the fancy dress club night craze sweeping London of late, this was the opening party of the TV Documentary series "Paradise or Bust". The series is about British entrepreneur Ben Keene's dream to build an ecologically sustainable village on Vorovoro Island in the far away South Pacific.

Very "The Beach", but with a little bit more forethought and based around green ideals. Everyone who has ever dreamed of doing this sort of thing, and I'll count myself in that bag, has been watching with intense interest.

The seriously new age difference with this project, is that using the internet, tribe members who have stayed on the island can continue to have input into the community. Members vote online on issues like compost toilets, and so the tribe continue to participate via the internet, from the comfort of their own homes anywhere in the world.

I dropped by the Sway Bar for the screening to find out more, and spotting the dynamic young Ben, dragged him off down the corridor to put the environmental thumbscrews on him for a few minutes, and see whether he could stand up to a bit of awkward questioning off screen.

Is it really love's green young dream, or just some schoolboy's pratting about with campfires and scout knots in the sun? Having had experience with this sort of project in the past, I don't always think they are quite all they're cracked up to be.

As well as talking to Ben I had a chat with some of the other guests, and can't say I came back without finding any cracks at all. Something about some turtles, that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like the sound of if I heard the full story. But as I haven't heard the full story I won't judge in its absence.

Ben studied politics, as oppose to the environment, which might lead some to question his green credentials when it comes to a project of this size. However he has enlisted the help of various others, including James Strawbridge who studied Environmental History, and is now the projects Sustainability Manger. You might remember James from the BBC's Series "It's not easy being green".

It's not easy being green...

All in all Ben stood up to his 20 questions from the green militia pretty well. Here's how it went...

First of all, congratulations on the project so far, you've obviously come a long way.

Thank you.

Has the project broken even yet financially?

That will depend on the sales this year, or even in the second year. We have loaned more money than I would have wanted to, and taken a huge risk However we've worked through enormous events such as a coup in Fiji, and other events in our own community. So I'm optimistic.

How many people do you currently have on the island right now?

We've got 12 tribe members and 3 members of the team. We've got 13 Fijians working there, so currently a community of around 30.

Do you have a waiting list to get on the island?

No, you can join today and go tomorrow. There is a capacity of 30 people on the island, so you do need to book up fast if you want to go, especially in the dry season which is from March to November.

How do you see the future for yourself on the island?

The future for me on the island and the project is really to prove to Tui Mali (the indigenous chief) and the community that what we're doing there is long term, in terms of sustainability, financially and the community that we've built. We've got a year and a half to prove it to him.

If we get it right then it's something that we're going to do for the rest of our lives.

Tell me about the concepts of responsible tourism which you apply?

In terms of the people, it's about protecting and empowering, and also making sure that they are getting fair trade and a fair wage.

In terms of the place, it's balancing the biodiversity with the self sufficiency, so perhaps not just clearing a lot of land so you can eat by yourself, but making sure you are fishing from the sea and using the other resources available.

What's your worst conflict and best achievement on the island so far?

The worst conflict would probably be over the fire. (The island suffered a serious bushfire in the early stages of the project, many, though not all of the tribe members evacuated, leaving the indigenous population to put it out by themselves.) I was off the island at the time, the conflict between members showed the fragility of the project. But we learnt from it.

The best achievement would have to be the friendships built between the tribe around the world and the community. You wouldn't get that in a resort. Vorovoro's unique in that sense.

How do you feel about people taking long haul flights to visit an eco friendly project?

Can we say we're doing something sustainable when you look at the carbon emissions? The answer is - it's hard to say.

What we can say is we're doing everything we can in our destination, the island, to be green, and I think we're doing a very good job. We're also learning things on line with the project and the ripple effect hopefully goes far beyond the physical site.

In addition, what we can't offset we are investing some money in to change. I'm not saying that's the future, I'm saying that's the best we can do now. Around 10% of the planet is involved in tourism, lets make tourism better, and then think about how we can clean up the air itself. So that where we're at, I'm young, I'm learning, and I think we're doing the best we can.

Tell me about the future of the project in the long term, is it just an eco gimmick or is there a full on Green Ethos behind it?

I think we need to be realistic in our lives about what green means. For most of us it's something that we've learnt in a very short space of time. We've realised what's important is to change our behaviour, and that's a big big deal in terms of the mainstream of the general public.

On Vorovoro we've built a great model for change. We're using things like the internet, and the BBC to spread that change. The fact is that we're learning this as enthusiastic amateurs rather than experts. So I think the futures bright as long as you keep trying to do something different. Keep trying to bring people together, which is what we're doing on Vorovoro.

...

So without having visited the island what we can deduce is: If you are, as many of us are, going to take a carbon spewing flight to the other side of the world, (please do not be fooled even for a moment by that carbon offsetting rubbish).

Well if you are going to, (and I did fly last year too, yes me!) This eco resort is excellent value starting at £180 for 7 nights. You will in fact probably spend a lot less than if you lounge around by the poolside for a couple of weeks, and I should guess you will learn a whole lot more.

If you want more information you can catch Ben down at Sway Bar in Holborn watching the documentary as it goes out every week. You can watch on BBC 2, Mondays at 9pm for the next 4 weeks, or visit www.tribewanted.com

Oh, and you can read our first Tribe Wanted interview here... where we nearly joined the island!

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