Breathe Marbella

CARBON-FREE DINING AT BREATHE

Breathe has been defined by a commitment to sustainability and well-being since its opening four years ago, but with the Breathe GiftTrees initiative it takes community involvement

to the next level. WORDS MICHEL CRUZ PHOTOGRAPHY KEVIN HORN

Focused upon offering a delicious yet healthy breakfast, lunch and dining option from the beginning, Breathe is the main hospitality venue in Marbella that has shown the way forward in terms of a sustainable approach to business and a commitment to health and well-being. Enter the atmospheric restaurant garden and you find yourself surrounded by 7,000 new plants created as part of this private space at the point where Puerto Banús and Nueva Andalucía meet. It’s a haven of ambient relaxation, but

Aguilene Benicio and her team have not been sitting still.

“I have always been passionate about nature, as I think we take so much out and give nothing back,” says Aguilene.

“We’ve long since broken the cycle of sustainability, the balance that allows nature to heal itself, so it’s important for our own safety and well-being to start nurturing our environment again.”

This was part of the thinking that inspired the concept of Breathe, designed around the four elements and expressed through its name. “Call it coincidence, but while thinking of ways to do more, I met Marvin Baker at the restaurant in 2018, and we have had the pleasure of working together since, supporting the Carbon Free Dinning initiative and over time we came up with the GiftTrees idea.”

BREATHE GIFTTREES

British-based, Marvin is the CEO of an organisation that has been committed to planting trees in areas of the world where nature has become decimated and local communities increasingly vulnerable. Partnering in 2009 with the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Plant For the Planet, he and his team have been the driving force behind the planting of millions of trees in 14 countries around the world.

“In the first ten years, we planted one million, within the following two years we’d reached two million, and by next year we will have reached a momentum of one million newly planted trees per month – and we’re hoping to reach one billion by 2030.”

The species in question are carefully chosen, so that the forests created by this process have the optimal impact when it comes to sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. But there’s more to it, for as Marvin says, this is a two-dimensional process. “Our project revolves around an effort to restore natural environments and reduce carbon in the air, but it is also designed to help local rural communities and give them the means with which they can lift themselves out of poverty. What we’re working hard to do is to break the negative cycle and turn it around.” ›

Currently, the organisation’s main efforts are focused upon the Usambara Mountains in Northern Tanzania, where a whole selection of trees and plant species are selected to create a viable, self-sustaining ecosystem. “We use the Moringa ‘miracle’ tree to extract carbon, raise the water table and restore the soil’s nutrients, create a live flora fence to keep cattle out, and others that provide a variety of crops for local communities as well as a natural insecticide that draws bugs away from the productive plants.” This apart from the local jobs created in the nurseries and the planting operations on site.

What does it all have to do with Breathe? Well, for some time now diners in the restaurant, bakery and cocktail bar have had the option to gift a tree through a small contribution of €1,49 that’s added to their bill, much like an ‘environmental tip’, and in this way Marbella guests alone have been responsible for the planting of over 40,000 trees. “We call it the ‘Breathe Forest’, says Marvin with a grin, “and we’ve created the world’s first platform where newly planted trees are geotagged and photographed, allowing individuals and brands to establish their own GiftTree forests, while also providing donors and sponsors with monthly impact videos.”

COMMUNITY ACTION

Aguilene believes that, rather than waiting for governments and organisations, we should contribute at grassroots level and undertake our own initiatives, and in doing just that she hopes that more residents and businesses will follow.

“A lot of our guests and friends are committed to doing something to contribute, and the Breathe GiftTrees initiative is a convenient way to ‘gift’ trees to parts of the world where a small action on our part makes a real difference. If enough of us do it,

g www.breathetrees.org www.breathegifttrees.com www.breathe.life/blog/ breathegifttrees the positive impact can be huge. Ours is a long-term commitment and has no commercial purpose: in fact, we use Breathe as a vehicle to promote it. I believe in the power of small things implemented by a large number of people, so we’re keen to keep building it as a community collaboration.”

The Breathe GiftTrees project will also be aiming to promote businesses that contribute to the initiative. How? – by using their extensive network of contacts, website, social media and all the tools available to promote collaborating brands and businesses and make the Marbella community aware of the support and its impact in terms of numbers of new trees planted.

If we all applied the solution-based thinking of Aguilene and Marvin, things could be quite different, as they make it easy for us as local residents to contribute. Just pledge a gift when you’re dining or having breakfast at Breathe, or go onto the GiftTrees website and select how many trees you would like to see planted in your name – from a single sapling to 1,000 or more!

Let’s come together as a community and help those with the vision to restore the balance to our environment. e