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Integrating Biodiversity into the Tourism Sector: Best Practice Guidelines |
Chapters 8 and 9
Site planning and design is a process which involves in an integrated way the issues of land use, human circulation, structures, facilities and utilities within the natural and human environment. In order to ensure harmony between tourism developments and environmental protection, it is indispensable to apply sensitive design of infrastructure, master site planning, ecologically and socially conscious site design, and landscaping.
Preserving the special characteristics of a tourism destination demands an in-depth understanding of the natural systems on the site, as well as an immersion into the time-tested cultural responses to that environment's opportunities and constraints. If we want to change the way we build traditional tourism facilities, we need a new way of thinking about site planning and design, which involves a holistic approach. Sustainable site planning and design can lead to a better integration of physical facilities for tourism and their site and surroundings and can indeed help to lessen the environmental impact of these facilities.
Site planning and design for any tourism facility must clearly indicate the process of ordering human actions and works in a specific tract of land. In addition to constituting a graphic representation (to scale) that shows location, layout, general size and shape, and orientation of the different elements of the project, site planning and design should indicate the sequence of activities that make up the project, clearly establishing a space-time interaction. Also, it should ensure that all on-site human activities should have a minimum negative impact on the natural and human environment.
The site planning and design for any tourism facility must be, first of all, an instrument that safeguards the sustainability and conservation of the surrounding natural and cultural heritage. Not only should it conserve the natural ecosystems but it must also contribute to repairing and restoring the environmental damages that may already be present in the site. The development of the site should strive to leave the site better off after development than before.
Zoning is a very important tool in the site planning and design process. It is the process of applying different management objectives and regulations to different parts or zones of a specific area (see section 3.2.2).
The success of any tourism facility (including ecolodges) often lies on the initial process of site evaluation and selection. Careful evaluation, in some instances, may reveal that the site is not appropriate for developing the facility. All considerations involved in selecting the most appropriate site will be essential in any forthcoming decisions dealing with design and construction.
Considering the increasing visitation to wilderness areas over the past decade and the resultant effects on the carrying capacities of the ecosystems, it would be prudent to select sites for developing ecotourism facilities that are situated just outside the nature preserves, although this is not always possible since some of the preserves are very large. As such, a well-conducted site evaluation can assist developers in finding alternatives to developing in protected areas. Selection of an appropriate site is critical for ensuring the sustainability and viability of an ecolodge. The selected site should support the lodge within natural and biophysical resource limits while offering ecotourists the opportunity to experience and enjoy the environment.
Frequently, in those sites which are more appropriate for ecolodge development there are limited or no infrastructural elements or public services, because of typical isolation and remoteness.
It is important to analyse how much infrastructure should be provided by the local authorities, and how much by the private sector. Since the extra service demand is often only used part of the year (seasonal), and takes precedence over use by local communities, tourism providers must invest in their own infrastructure needs. Both communities and tourism sector should benefit from infrastructure development.
Specific Examples of Best Practice from Selected Countries
1) Bolivia: Chalalan Ecolodge is located in a primary rainforest area and was developed with as little ecosystem disturbance as possible during the construction process. The lodge now boasts populations of monkeys, macaws and other flagship species that are a big attraction to clients.
2) Thailand: The Banyan Tree Hotel in Phuket was built on a site formerly used for tin mining. In order to restore the land, the resort did extensive landscaping and planted hardy native plants such as cassuarina trees and palms. Construction materials were chosen to minimise the use of scarce local forestry resources. Instead, all villas were built of bricks, with clay roof tiles. As a result of these efforts, wildlife has been returning to the area (Sweeting et al, 1999).
3) Nepal: Narayani Safari Hotel and Lodge were built on the periphery of the Royal Chitwan National Park (this was preferred to building within the national park), located in land of low agricultural value. At the planning stage, permission to build tourist facilities inside the park could have been obtained (seven tourist lodges were already located inside the park). However the company believed that the national parks should be set aside primarily for conservation and decide to site the facilities outside of the protected area and apply for permission to use the park only for wildlife viewing trips (IHRA/UNEP, 1996).
Best Practice Guidelines
- Ensure that your site plan is environmentally-friendly, minimising negative impacts on the natural landscape, local biodiversity and any existing cultural features found nearby.
- When selecting a site for any tourism facility, analyse the local availability of the following infrastructure elements and public utilities and services:
- Conventional systems for providing electricity, drinking water, sewage, telephone line, public lighting.
- Communication means: highways, roads, trails (tracks), airport, landing fields, railway, docks, etc.
- Postal service, refuse collection and disposal, medical services, schools, commercial facilities, etc.
- Local means of transport: land motor vehicles (bus, taxi, rent-a-car, etc.); regular commercial, charter, or private flights; motor boats, cruise ships, yachts, ferries; railway (schedules of nearest railway station), etc.
- Carry out a feasibility analysis for each site option before the particular site is selected. This analysis should include biophysical features of the site (climate, land, vegetation, wildlife, etc.) as well as socio-cultural features (local communities, traditional villages, archaeological sites,, etc.), and business aspects (comparative analysis of the different possible sites, suitability of location, market niche, profitability, long-term economic sustainability).
- In the case of an ecolodge, select a site which is within - or sufficiently near - a natural area of great ecotourism potential (i.e., an area with high flora and fauna values; perhaps supplemented by important cultural values). The ecolodge itself should not directly affect the focal (or flagship) ecotourism attractions of the area or visually compete with these attractions. In other words, a balance must be struck between easy accessibility to outstanding natural areas and minimisation of negative biophysical and cultural impacts (including visual impacts) of the environs.
- Consider travel distances as a siting criterion and the natural and cultural features that can be accessed from the site.
- Consider proximity of the lodging facility to airports and major transportation routes in the region. However, in the case of an ecolodge, it should not be too close to airports or major transportation routes due to the excessive noise and pollution.
- Analyse what benefit the local people will receive from the development of a tourism facility.
- Study possible environmental and cultural impact for each site for both the construction and operation phases of the development of the ecolodge. Consider both mid- and long-term scenarios for development impacts.
- Contract appropriate professionals to develop your site plan. The site plan should prominently include an analysis of the site in regards to its major biophysical characteristics and measures to minimise impacts.
- Every site plan should carefully consider existing and future vegetation. Tree preservation and reforestation are key elements. Regarding trees, always keep in mind the quadruple principle: remove, relocate, replace, restore.
- Carry out your landscaping using native plant species. Exotic plants are always out of place in a natural environment.
A new approach to architecture and physical facilities planning is needed, not only in tourism, but in all human activities, if we are really going to stop the irreversible damage to the environment, further pollution, and depletion of energy sources. This new approach should be based on the concept of ecodesign, which may be defined as "any form of design that minimises negative environmental impacts, by integrating itself into the surrounding ecosystem" (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1997b).
Tourism facilities should be particularly designed in an environmentally-friendly way, since they are frequently located in areas of great scenic beauty and ecological significance. Application of appropriate waste treatment methods and the use of alternative energy sources (especially in remote locations) are especially important items to be considered. Physical facilities should be technologically viable and adequate, and also socially acceptable and economically feasible. Joint ventures, communication and working with funding agencies can assist with addressing the expense of technologies. Physical planning and building (planning for expansion) should always be long term endeavours.
It is important to remember that economic benefits come from environmentally-friendly facilities and technologies.
Ecolodges are often located in remote and wild areas, and therefore very few typical infrastructural elements and services found in more traditional settings are available, such as access by paved highway, public transportation services, electric and telephone lines, piped potable water, public drainage and sewage, refuse collection and disposal, nearby school and medical services, shopping areas, etc.
For this reason, a totally new and different approach to physical planning is required, one based on a high level of functional, energy and food self-sufficiency. Before designing and building an ecolodge, realistically and clearly identify the specific characteristics of isolation and difficulty of access to infrastructural elements and public services and define beforehand the level of self-sufficiency you wish or need to attain.
Many nature tourists do not expect, in a poor rural area, the facilities found in rich cities and beach resorts. Some enjoy roughing it for a while, and are even prepared to pay more for the privilege. Certain standards will always remain non-negotiable though - especially security and basic hygiene.
For additional specific guidelines regarding architectural design and building of conventional mass tourism facilities, see Section 3.1.2.
Specific Examples of Best Practice from Selected Countries
1) Peru: Manu Lodge, located in the Amazonian rainforest, is a rustic facility using local building materials (wood, palm leaves, bamboos), designed in such a way that it is practically hidden in the deep forest, its building height well below the tree line. Situated in Manu Biosphere Reserve, one of the areas of major biodiversity in the world (1,100 species of birds), the lodge attracts ecotourists from around the world (especially US bird watchers), who are willing to pay US$200 per night, without having such conventional amenities as electric light (kerosene lamps are used instead), air conditioning or jacuzzi.
2) St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands: As an example of how apart from conventional materials (sand, gravel, wood), other materials recycled from other sources may be used, nearly all building materials at the Harmony Resort are made of innovative products from the waste stream of other industries, such as sawdust and plastic. The resort is now attempting "close the loop" on its own waste stream, by recycling bottles on-site into products such as glasses and tiles and recycling aluminium cans into table legs.
3) Costa Rica: As an example of "small is beautiful", currently, 65% of all hotels in Costa Rica have less than 40 rooms (46% of the total offer of available rooms in the country) and 75% of tourist ventures are in rural areas. This scale of facilities means providing a well distributed tourism benefit in many areas of the country, in many cases fostering family businesses. Research has shown that nature-oriented tourists prefer smaller, intimate accommodations than big, multi-storey hotels.
4) Nepal: In the Narayani Safari Hotel and Lodge, located just outside of the Royal Chitwan National Park, wooden beams, door and window frames from derelict houses on the land were reused for building the single-storey cottages of the hotel and lodge. Cottage roofs are made of locally-made tiles. Solar panels are used for water heating, lighting is provided through kerosene lamps.
Best Practice Guidelines
- Always endeavour to harmonise tourism facilities with the surrounding environment (both natural and cultural). Use architectural forms in harmony with the natural landscape (vegetation and land forms), designing with long-term environmental criteria. A tourism facility should always possess a sense of place.
- Ensure that your tourism facility minimises impacts on the natural and cultural environment and also acts as a tool for biodiversity conservation and to enhance natural ecosystems.
- Whenever possible, use local building materials and local hand labour.
- If local building materials are not available, bring materials from elsewhere, ensuring ease and economy of transportation and on-site assembly.
- Ensure that your design allows for possible future expansion, modifications and retro-fitting.
- Minimise negative environmental impact on site during the construction process. Clean up when you finish building each phase.
- Apply life-cycle assessments of all building materials to ensure that the best environmental and cost options are chosen.
- In the case of ecolodges and other tourism facilities located in natural areas:
- Create the most appropriate access to your ecolodge, striking the right balance between ease of approach and minimisation of negative impacts on the natural environment. Limit the number of entry points to your site (preferably only one) in order to facilitate surveillance control and management.
- Remember that paved highways are usually an invitation for all kinds of human settlement and that they stimulate branching effects. If there is no existing access paved highway and the distance from the tourism distribution points is a considerable one, sometimes there is less impact in developing a landing field for light planes than to build a paved highway.
- Keep in mind that construction of highways, roads and other motorways within a natural area or near to it causes negative impacts to the natural resources that one wishes to protect. Consequently, they should be strictly limited and justified only if there are no other viable solutions.
- Avoid building highways or motor roads with a width of more than 5m within a protected area or ecotourism destination. Wider roads become veritable barriers for wildlife mobility and also mar the natural landscape.
- Whenever possible, use waterways (fluvial, ocean or lake), ensuring the use of boats with minimum negative impact. Avoid the use of internal combustion motors as much as possible within fragile areas such as mangroves or marshes. Consider the use of electric-powered boats. For short distances and wildlife-watching excursions it is best to use a rowboat, with good stability. These waterways are often crucial to local fishermen and hence the local economy. Thus, their use is a sensitive issue and needs to be negotiated.
- Minimise impermeable surfaces when possible to reduce runoff and maximise groundwater recharge.
- Not all protected areas should have built facilities inside their boundaries. Sometimes these facilities are preferably placed in the nearby community or in the buffer zone. Always proceed according to the management plan of the protected area (if it exists).
- Interpretative centres (as part of a broader interpretative programme) are needed in most ecotourism destinations, including protected areas, but each case should be carefully analysed.
The management of waste is a crucial conservation problem in both urban and rural areas, including natural areas (legally protected or not). The basic premise of a tourism facility operation is minimising waste generation, since this is one of the main causes of degradation of the surrounding environment. The best attitude towards trash is to avoid it as much as possible, instead of finding ways of treating it.
Try to use biodegradation practices as much as possible. In the process of biodegradation, microorganisms break down the products of other living things and incorporate them back into the ecosystem. Biodegradable or bioconvertible material includes anything that is organic. Plastics are not considered includable in this category, despite industry contention that they are.
A material doesn't become waste until it is thrown into the dust bin. If a material can be reused it is a resource, not waste.
Specific Examples of Best Practice from Selected Countries
1) Hungary: Through recycling initiatives and compacting non-recyclable waste, the Budapest Hilton's overall waste volumes were reduced by more than 30% (IHRA/UNEP, 1996).
2) Sweden: The Sanga Saby Conference & Study Centre has set up a waste separation programme that ensures the separation of paper, aluminium, organic waste from kitchen and garden , glass, batteries, and other hazardous waste substances. A waste water treatment plant, located on site, was entirely renovated and now includes a 3-stage water purification system. The water first passes through mill strainers and then purified by oxygenation using air compressors. At the final precipitation stage PAX 21 (a substance free from chloride aluminium) is added to sink sludge. Residues are destroyed by bacteria before water is transported to the municipal sewage treatment plant. Waste water from the kitchen goes through a separate cycle where fats enter a separating tank before reaching the sewage plant for further treatment (IHRA/UNEP, 1996).
3) Australia: At Great Keppel Island Resort in Australia, paper, cardboard, garden waste, sewage sludge and some food scraps (no oils, fats or sauces) are shredded, composted for several weeks, and the fed to the worms at the resort's worm farm. Within several months, the worms produce a rich product that is used in the resort's gardens instead of fertiliser (Sweeting et al., 1999).
4) Australia: the Rainforest Habitat n Port Douglas also set up a worm farm, into which it dumps a large portion of wood scraps, leaf litter and animal droppings from the property. The worms eat the decomposing material, creating excellent fertiliser. The worms themselves are fed to both birds and mammals on the sanctuary. The worm farm produces no odour, is easy to care for, reduces disposal costs and reduces environmentally destructive waste (Sweeting et al., 1999).
5) India: The Taj Jungle Lodge at Thekaddi, wastewater is discharged into the root zone at a subsurface level of sturdy plants with tubular roots, the plants purifying the wastewater by feeding off the organic material.
6) Thailand: The Phuket Yacht Club donates organic wastes for a different productive uses, including 400 litres of organic waste per day to a local pig farm.
7) Canada: To avoid pollution from water discharge, the Hotel Vancouver in British Columbia, replaced chlorine with a baking soda and salt solution in its pools, saving US$1,300 per year in the process.
Best Practice Guidelines
- As regards waste management, always apply the quadruple principle: recycle, reuse, refuse, reduce.
- Reuse wastewater (both grey and black) as much as possible. Create systems in which water goes through several uses before being disposed of, utilising it for flushing toilets, and as irrigation or fertiliser for cultivations (whenever possible). Always avoid using potable water for irrigating. In case you re-use both grey and black waters, separate lines and septic systems must be installed.
- In general, use products that minimise waste and are not toxic. Whenever possible, convert biodegradable waste to compost, utilise the biomass or submit the waste to digestive anaerobic systems.
- Whenever possible, use constructed wetlands treatment systems, which are engineered systems that have been designed and constructed to utilise the natural processes involving wetland vegetation, soils, and their associated microbial assemblages to assist in treating wastewater. They are designed to take advantage of many of the same processes that occur in natural wetlands, but do so within a more controlled environment.
- Compost biodegradable wastes and make use of the resulting fertiliser or sell it.
- In order to save water, use dry toilets (and pit latrines, in cases of extreme isolation and budget restrictions), always designed to minimise negative impacts on the environment.
In every type of tourism facility and operation saving energy, water and other precious resources by applying the most appropriate available technologies, should occupy the highest priority.
There are various methods for meeting the energy and vital resource needs of a tourism facility. The most common practices around the world involve recurring to conventional methods, such as public utilities (electricity, water, gas, telephone), conventional fossil fuels, and fuelwood. But there are many alternative practices that should be advanced in all types of buildings, including tourism facilities (both in urban and rural settings), since they are more environmentally friendly, minimising impacts and also reducing costs. Some of these alternative practices involve design techniques that allow for natural ventilation, heating, lighting, and rain water catchment, while others use energy sources such as solar power, wind power, low-scale hydroelectricity, geothermal power, natural gas and biomass. Solar energy especially has an enormous potential (both for heating water and for generating electricity) but so far is not exploited to its full potential in the majority of countries and regions (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1997b).
Tourism facilities, including ecolodges, should make use of this wide spectrum of alternative technologies. The extra energy that could be made available through the use of various conservation techniques is one of our most underused and invisible resources. Low-energy lighting should be widely preferred over conventional, incandescent bulbs. Water use in toilets and showers must also be drastically reduced and this can be achieved in many ways, including such easy techniques as placing bottles filled with sand in the flushing tank, flow-reducing shower heads, etc.
Specific Examples of Best Practice from Selected Countries
1) Australia: J's Bay YHA Hostel in New South Wales, has designed all rooms to maximise the natural ventilation from the prevailing winds, and external screens have been fitted to shade windows from direct sunlight. Ceilings are well insulated to minimise heat transfer into the rooms. No air conditioning is required to cool the rooms. A single ceiling fan, which requires a fraction of the energy to operate, is enough to keep the rooms comfortable cool throughout the year (Sweeting et al., 1999).
2) Hungary: By using energy-saving light bulbs, the Budapest Hilton has reduced the energy bill by 13%, or US$40,000 per year. Low flush toilets have been used in the newly restored bathrooms. Guests can choose to re-use towels or have them changed daily, which reduces water and laundry detergent use, and effluent (IHRA/UNEP, 1996). 3) Malaysia: River tours from the Sukau Rainforest Lodge in Sabah make use of quiet electric motors when viewing wildlife, since it was recognised by the owner that electric motors can significantly reduce disturbance and increase the likelihood of seeing wildlife, apart from minimising pollution effects.
4) India: The Hotel Guestline Days in Tirupati is designed in a Y shape to optimise the use of natural light. The ceiling on the top floor is lined with a 75mm thick layer of expanded polysterene which acts as a heat insulator, keeps the indoor temperature at a lower level and brings down air conditioning costs. Showers are installed instead of baths. Rain water is collected (especially during the monsoons) and used for many purposes, including toilet flushing.
5) Canada: By simply putting sand-filled bottles in toilet tanks to reduce flush volumes in 25% of its rooms, the Hotel Beausejour in New Brunswick saved 100,000 litres of water per year. 6) Australia: At the Frogs Hollow Lodge in Darwin, up to 50% of hot water requirements are met by solar water heaters on the roof.
Best Practice Guidelines
- Apply bio-climatic design criteria, which means understanding the physical setting of your facility, the local climate, including prevailing winds, solar radiation, appropriate local materials, biodegradation, surrounding vegetation, etc., and applying simple physical and biological principles.
- Consider the sun's positioning when choosing the orientation of your tourism facility so as to maximise use of natural light and trap incoming solar radiation to heat interior spaces, taking note that in the northern hemisphere the sun is mainly shining from the south and in the southern hemisphere the situation is reversed. To maximise your "solar window", the slope of the roof (in degrees) should be roughly equal to the latitude of your site.
- Analyse in each case the convenience of applying solar energy for heating water and for generating electricity (photovoltaic systems), as well as other alternative, environmentally-friendly energy sources, such as wind power, biomass, geothermal energy, etc.
- A good option in isolated areas with no access to a conventional power grid is the use of photovoltaic cells (based on the use of silicon) for converting solar energy in electric energy (usually 12 volts DC). Some models offer both options of 12 volts DC and 110 volts AC (using the second alternative, the battery obviously drains down faster). There is presently a choice in photovoltaic cells between four technologies: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, semicrystalline, and amorphous silicon. The four technologies are now available commercially (fundamentally Japanese, German, and U.S. producers) and all have different comparative advantages. Typical monocrystalline silicon cells have an efficiency of about 10-20%, but are quite more expensive than polycrystalline cells (which have an efficiency of 4-5%). Amorphous cells are even cheaper but also less effective. In every case, electric storage is by lead-acid deep-cycle batteries, similar to those used in golf carts.
- Use techniques such as the so-called Trombe wall, which consists of storing solar energy in a sun-facing wall, made of heavy masonry material, such as brick, stone, block, or earth, with a dark-colored surface toward the sun. As the sun's rays shine on the wall, generated heat is stored and circulated passively (especially during the evening) through wall vents into the living areas.
- The architect should pay special attention to water management when planning a tourism facility, especially given the critical water situation in some nations, which at times experience severe droughts. Use water catchment methods whenever possible. At all times, maintaining the drinking quality of this scarce commodity is of paramount importance.
- In the design of your lodge or other tourism facility apply cross-ventilation, which implies placing openings in opposite and parallel walls so as to induce natural air flow from outside and cooling interior spaces. In this way you will be contributing to the elimination of air conditioning systems, which consume enormous amounts of electricity and also cause damages to the ozone layer. As is well known, increasing the air movement helps evaporation from the skin and makes humans feel fresher and more active. Fortunately, in many hot areas there are prevailing winds that can cool facilities by natural ventilation.
- Whenever possible, apply "zero emission" and other environmentally-friendly technologies.
Overview
Since frequently there are not clear facilitators between tourism and biodiversity conservation, there is an important role for non-profit organisations to promote the connection between the decision-makers of these two sectors. For this reason, more and more conservation NGOs around the world are developing specific programmes in their agenda, seeking to link in a practical way biodiversity conservation endeavours with sustainable tourism activities. These NGOs require clear signals as to where they need to move towards if they are to assist in appropriate conservation/biodiversity interaction.
A number of conservation NGOs with an international scope, such as IUCN, WWF, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy, are carrying out specific activities attempting to provide this symbiotic link between biodiversity conservation planning and tourism. The agendas of these NGOs include: carrying out research in linking both fields, developing national and regional ecotourism strategies, applying a local capacity building approach, acting as liaison between local communities and the sustainable tourism industry, carrying out ecotourism product development, endeavouring to involve mainstream tourism in conservation practices, and developing international marketing for ecotourism products and destinations.
NGOs working at the different national and local levels are also in a position to actively assist in carrying out research attempting to achieve a symbiotic interaction between biodiversity conservation and tourism.
Specific Examples of Best Practice from Selected Countries
1) Costa Rica: A number of Costa Rican NGOs, apart from being dedicated primarily to environmental research and education and the building of awareness on the importance of biodiversity, also carry out sustainable tourism activities (many of these with emphasis on ecotourism), which tend to foster biodiversity conservation, such as the Tropical Scientific Center (CCT), the Monteverde Conservationist Association (ACM), the Biodiversity National institute ( INBio) and the Neotropic Foundation. INBio, for example, has training programmes on topics related to biodiversity, as well as on environmental education and interpretation. Currently, INBio aims many of its training activities at tour operators, nature guides, protected areas (SINAC) staff and members of rural communities throughout the country. Currently, this non-profit organisation is carrying out a series of ongoing courses called "Biodiversity, Safety, Prevention and Rescue", offered to ecotour and adventure guides from Costa Rica and other Central American countries. These courses are being organised in coordination with the Costa Rican Red Cross and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT). National level NGOs also have a fundamental role that complements and strengthens SINAC's work. There are strategic alliances between SINAC and non-profit organisations and companies in the private sector,
2) Canada: This country has a number of long-established NGOs which are active in advocating for parks and protected areas - the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), the Canadian Nature Federation (CNF), Sierra Club, WWF, and provincial/territorially based environmental NGOs, such as the Alberta Wilderness Association. As an example, the CNF is a non-profit conservation organisation with over 40,000 supporters and a network of more than 100 affiliated naturalist groups. The CNF's mission is: to protect nature, its diversity and the processes that sustain it. The CNF has a number of volunteer projects to help monitor the environment. Such NGOs tend to be supportive of appropriate forms of tourism, including ecotourism. NGOs have been instrumental in advancing biodiversity conservation efforts and contributing to related law and policy in Canada. These organisations have purchased land for conservation purposes, produced guides and training materials, raised public awareness and worked cooperatively with government and industry on joint ventures ranging from large ecosystem projects to local watershed planning and species-recovery programs. Research, education and conservation institutions have made critical commitments. Facilities such as zoos, aquariums, universities, museums, arboreta and botanical gardens are committed to biodiversity research and education, and direct such areas as the captive breeding of endangered species.
3) International: Conservation International (CI), a US-based NGO, has an Ecotourism Department which promotes ecotourism development in a number of countries around the world. CI's mission in ecotourism is to act as a liaison between local communities and the tourism industry in order to develop and support economically sustainable ecotourism enterprises that contribute to conservation and serve as models for other ecotourism initiatives; and to develop and disseminate tools for ecotourism that influence the broader tourism industry towards greater ecological sustainability. Main activities are: developing national/regional ecotourism strategies, capacity building, ecotourism product development, and international marketing. Specific actions in different countries have been: the Scarlet Macaw Trail in Guatemala, Train-the-Trainers Workshops in Brazil, assistance in developing the Chalalan Ecolodge in Bolivia, and the Ecotravel Center (an Internet home-page dedicated to providing information for the ecotourist). See: http://www.ecotour.org/ecotour.htm
Best Practice Guidelines
- Work with communities, acting as a catalyst, developing leadership training, technical advise and ecotourism training.
- Carry out ongoing and training and education programmes for tour operators and guides.
- Act as watchdogs, in vigilance of negative interaction between biodiversity conservation and tourism.
- Provide technical assistance to governments.
- Carry out fund raising for capacity building, ecotourism projects, and ecotourism product development.
- Carry out certification of tourism facilities and operations.
- Carry out joint planning strategies with local communities, particularly with rural and Aboriginal communities.
- Provide role models for sustainable tourism (including ecotourism excellence awards) and carry out demonstration projects
- NGOs need to have a transparent process where there are clear goals and these are fulfilled, thus avoiding disappointments and frustration from local communities.
- Promote the concept of what is an NGO and allow the concept of ecotourism business to permeate conservation activities.
- NGOs must not create dependence of communities.
- All projects undertaken by NGOs must be sustainable and long term ventures.
- Seek ways by which international or foreign NGOs can encourage development of local NGOs and local participation in foreign NGO activities, but always according to national objectives.
- Foster "indigenisation" of NGOs, transferring power to local communities (especially native groups).
- Strive to incorporate gender issues in NGO promoted activities.
Index: Integrating Biodiversity into the Tourism SectorNote. This is not an official UNEP document, but a report delivered to the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility and the Biodiversity Planning Support Progamme in June 2001. Hector Ceballos-Lascurain is the International Coordinator of the BPSP Study on Biodiversity/Tourism and Director General of PICE ( Programme of International Consultancy on Ecotourism) and is based in Mexico City. Email: ceballos@laneta.apc.org; Web: http://www.ceballos-lascurain.com
The Role of the Internet in Integrating Biodiversity and Tourism - Ron Mader/Planeta.com Exploring Ecotourism Education Resources Travel Resources
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