If your personal listing appears below and you would like to suggest a change, please send me private email. - Ron Mader

Elisa Arraiz
Journalist
Caracas, VENEZUELA
- I live in Hacienda Aguasana, Peninsula de Paria, Estado Sucre, a ranch full of hot springs and visited by tourist from many parts of the world . I am new to ecotourism and very much interested in what you all say in order to learn. I write (opinion) every week in a Venezuelan newspaper and sometimes it is about reimagining the Earth.
Web: http://www.talcualdigital.com

Ray Ashton
Ashton Biodiversity Research & Preservation Institute
Newberry, FL USA
- We have semiretired from our ecotourism consulting to establish a research and education facility. However, we are still active in our work with tourism and protected area management throughout the world.
Web: http://www.geocities.com/ashtonbiodiversity

Irmgard Bauer
School of Nursing Sciences
James Cook University
Townsville, AUSTRALIA
- My interest in tourism started in Peru, when it was pointed out to me that some elders in the Amazon basin did not wish to have more tourists visiting their communities because after each visit, people fell ill. I was studying for a degree in Public Health at the time and became instantly interested in this topic.
Web: http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/ns

Michael Bedar
San Diego, CA USA
- I am enthusiastic for the ways that ecotoursim and cultural tourism might change for the better the environmental and socio-economic conditions in many places. I have studied such topics mainly in Baja California, but I have wide interests and contacts in South America as well.
Web: http://www.bisn.org/eco/eco.html

Wayne Bernhardson
Author
- I'm author of Lonely Planet's books Argentina, Uruguay & Paraguay; Chile & Easter Island; Buenos Aires; and Santiago de Chile. I differ a bit from most guidebook writers in that I have advanced degrees -- M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from Berkeley. I did my M.A. research on llama and alpaca herders in Chile's Lauca National Park, and my Ph.D. on sheep farming in the Falkland Islands.
Web: http://www.guidebookwriters.com

Ben Box
Editor, Author
ENGLAND
- For 20 years I have written for books, magazines and newspapers and have worked in various capacities on the South American Handbook (Footprint Handbooks). I have been its editor since 1989. I have also been involved with Footprint's Mexico and Central America Handbook, Caribbean Islands Handbook, Brazil Handbook, Rio de Janeiro Handbook and am currently editing the Peru Handbook.

Renata "Kika" Bradford
University of Maryland
College Park, MD USA
- I am Brazilian and my focus of study is anthropology of tourism specifically the anthropology of adventure tourism and ecotourism. As an anthropologist, I am interested in the demographics, ideology, and impacts of ecotourism and adventure tourism in local communities; and in issues of identity among adventure travelers and how local identities are negotiated through ecotourism and adventure tourism.

Scott Braman
Quito, ECUADOR
- I have been in Ecuador for almost a year researching indigenous community-based tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon with funding provided by a Fulbright Scholarship. The focus of my research has been with the Huaorani and Yasuni National Park.
Web: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/00/0010ecriomachacho.html

Marie Bridgham
President, Savvy Travel Consultants
Burlingame, CA USA
- I am tour operator based in the SF bay area, specializing in Latin America. I've been traveling in South America for 30 years. The changes I see are sometimes alarming but often they are encouraging in that there is more awareness by the locals as well as the public.
Web: http://www.savvytravel.net

Darrell Brown
Kisik Marketing & Communications
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA
- Recently various Chilean organizations and businesses have expressed interest in our services and we have also began discussion with CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) for support for this type of work. If all goes well, my company will be developing Indigenous Tourism in Chile in the New Year and so my participation in this virtual conference is to learn more about the issues facing Eco-Tourism in South America and Indigenous Tourism issues facing those peoples in South America.
Web: http://www.kisikmarketing.com

Stefano Catena
Tour operator
ITALY
- Hopefully, I'm going to be one of the first eco-tour operators of my country. I'm focusing my action on South America, starting from Bolivia and opening towards all other neighbor countries. My experience in the field is very limited but I decided anyway to join the conference to look for co-operation, information and help.

Carol H. Cespedes
President, Halintours
Austin, TX USA
- During the past few months I have published three articles in Travel World News, the latest one covering William Coleman's Travelmart LatinAmerica, which was held this year in Fortaleza, Brazil. I plan to begin the year 2001 by spending a month researching the impact of tourism on communities in Costa Rica, starting with the Osa Peninsula. My intention is a series of articles and in the near future a book.
Web: http://Halintours.tripod.com

Bill Christensen
President, Greenbuilder.com
Austin, Texas USA
- As the name implies, Greenbuilder.com is a source of information about building sustainably. We create and host websites for greenbuilding and other environmentally-related projects, associations, and businesses.
Web: http://www.greenbuilder.com
Web: http://www.greenbuilder.com/directory

Julian Clifton
Professor, Department of Geography
University of Portsmouth
Portsmouth, UK
- I am a lecturer in Geography at Portsmouth University, UK with a special interest in problems of environmental management and community development in protected areas, hence the interest in this discussion.

Martin Cooper
Masters student, Institute of Railway Studies
University of York, UK
- My research is into Steam Heritage railway sites in Brazil -- in particular the future for tourist development of the Estrada de Ferro Madeira-Mamore (EFMM) at Porto Velho in Rondonia.

Juan Manuel Davila
Viajes Club
Lima, PERU
- We are specialists in Ecoturism and Adventure Tourism. I would like to exchange information.
Web: http://www.viajesclub.com

Charles Davis
Researcher, University of New Brunswick
Saint John, CANADA
- I have interests in the business implications of technological change (especially information technologies) in the tourism industry. One of the main conclusions of a recent IDRC-funded research project on e-commerce and sustainable ecotourism is that most smaller firms do not seem to be taking advantage of the interactive features offered by the new technologies to develop desirable relationships with desirable customers.

Saulo de Lara Rozendo
Undergraduate student
Polytechnic School of the University
Sao Paulo, BRAZIL
- I'm proposing for my next study project environmental management, the ISO14k certification programs, environmental labeling, and Responsible Care programs on the various sectors from the Brazilian society, whether public, private, or governmental.

Eddie Dry
Professor, Travel & Tourism Management Program
Anderson Schools of Management
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
- I have limited exposure to ecotourism in Inka (Inca) Trail and Machu Picchu in Peru, Torres de Paine National Park in Chile, Crossing of the Andes: Puerto Montt Chile to Bariloche Argentina, and Iguazu Falls in Brazil.

Gunnar Engblom
Kolibri Expeditions
Lima PERU
- Kolibri Expeditions is operating in Peru since two years back. It is owned and run by biologists with 15 years experience of guiding and producing trips for bird-watching, natural history oriented groups, trekking, plant-watching and whale-watching. Thus, we are oriented towards more specialized groups than most general tourism agencies can or want to handle.
Web: http://www.netaccessperu.net/kolibri

Karl Fellenius
Graduate Student, Simon Fraser University
British Columbia, CANADA
- My research interest in general is policy development for community tourism in the context of regional sustainability. In particular, as it relates to coastal zone management in forested bioregions. I have a background in oceanography, scuba diving resort management, and community transition strategies involving heritage fisheries tourism.
Web: http://www.sdri.ubc.ca/gbfp/

Mary Finn
Santa Lucia, ECUADOR
- After working for several years as an MBA and having studied environmental policy and sustainable development, I made my way to Ecuador where I became involved with a community group, Santa Lucia, which was struggling to find ways to conserve their cloud forest lands while earning some sort of a living for its members.

Esteban Gallegos
Manager, Alandaluz Eco-Lodge
ECUADOR - Working near Machalilla National Park, we have developed a new architectural concept using bamboo in the lodge facilities, created a hosteling services provided by community families in the town of Puerto Rico and developed a recycling program, environmental education programs and organic gardening.
Web: http://www.alandaluz.com

Raul Gonzalez Allen
President, Ecocultura Foundation
PARAGUAY
- Our project combines nature, thematic tourism and social solutions for indigenous people in the Amambay Department in northern Paraguay.
Web: http://www.quanta.net.py/ecocultura

Alicia Guzman, Eddie Cox, Edward Smith
South American Explorers
Quito, ECUADOR
The South American Explorers is a non-profit organization with Clubhouses in Quito, Ecuador, and Lima and Cusco, Peru, and U.S. headquarters in Ithaca, New York. The SAE collects and makes available to its members up-to-date, reliable information about South America. As ecotourism grows in importance in South America, the SAE is focusing on becoming a forum for the support of worthy and innovative projects.
Web: http://www.samexplo.org

Bill Hinchberger
Foreign Correspondent
BRAZIL
- This year I launched a website for Brazil-hip foreigners called BrazilMax: Web: http://www.BrazilMax.com. The content is intentionally eclectic and, hopefully, unpredictable. But ecotourism and cultural tourism are both major priorities. The current issue includes a story I wrote about whale watching in Santa Catarina and a piece by fellow conference participant Martin Cooper about the Madeira-Mamore railway that he described in his introduction. I'm just back from 10 days in the Amazon, so there's more where that came from.
Web: http://www.hinchberger.com

Kurt Holle
Rainforest Expeditions
PERU
- I am a Peruvian Forest Engineer who has been working in ecotourism since 1992, when I founded Rainforest Expeditions with Eduardo Nycander. Before that I had been working as a researcher in a macaw research and conservation in the Tambopata Reserva in southeastern Amazonian Peru. We decided to upgrade our very rustic headquarters to a lodge for tourists and researchers which we called Tambopata Research Center (13 rooms).
Web: http://www.perunature.com

Clay Hubbs
Editor and Publisher
Transitions Abroad
Massachusetts, USA
- My interest in ecotourism began 24 years ago when I began publishing Transitions Abroad magazine, a bimonthly resource guide to practical information on the alternatives to mass tourism. Our goal is to help enable responsible and independent-minded travelers to plan their own trips and discover ways to see the world directly through living, working, studying, and vacationing with the local people of the host country. To that end we publish comprehensive country-by-country guides to resources and programs in the magazine, books (The Alternative Travel Directory and Work Abroad), and (partial listings) on the web site.
Web: http://www.TransitionsAbroad.com

Frank Hutchins
PhD Student, University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI USA
- I am finishing my dissertation in cultural anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of my research project is "The Cultural Impacts of Ecotourism Among the Quichua of Ecuador's Amazon." I did 15 months of field work in Napo Province, around the Tena-Archidona area, looking at how ecotourism affects those Quichua communities that are destination sites.

Mario Jativa
Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial
Quito, ECUADOR
- We have a research team working in a project based on New Technologies applied to Sustainable ecotourism. We do it in cooperation with ASEC, the Ecuadorian Ecotourism Association. This project is an initiative of North-South collaboration to research and develop the cooperation in the field of electronic commerce directed to Ecotourism to promote a sustainable and reasonable development. The cooperation is between researchers and entrepreneurs of Canada, the Caribbean and South America and the project itself is financed by the International Development and Research Center of Canada.
Web: http://www.ecoturismo-ecuador.com

Michelle Kirby & Andres Hammerman
The Black Sheep Inn
Chugchilan, Cotopaxi, ECUADOR
- We are the owners/operators/builders of The Black Sheep Inn: a small eco-hotel located on the Western Cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes in a small village called Chugchilan. Our place is and always will be a work in progress, with permaculture landscaping, reforestation with native species, composting toilets, organic gardens, community projects (local enterprise started with Horseback riding, training local youths to be guides, teaching English and computers to locals, selling local handicrafts at the inn), and recycling.
Web: http://www.blacksheepinn.com

Mark Kinney
Executive Director of Lisle
USA
- Lisle is a non-profit educational organization which offers small number of experiences of about three weeks in length designed to acquaint participants with others around the world, and in so doing, create a deeper sense of partnership and stewardship for the globe. We have conducted programs in South America, and in Mexico, but ithas been a long time since we did so.
Web: http://www.lisle.utoledo.edu

Andreas Kornevall
Founder, Voluntary Work Information Service (VWIS)
East Sussex, ENGLAND
- In brief, VWIS focuses on networking with local projects that are looking for volunteers all over the world, our work sector being mainly in the developmental and environmental domains.
Web: http://www.workingabroad.com

Ron Mader
Journalist and webhost, Planeta.com, sponsor of this conference
Author of the Mexico: Adventures in Nature guidebook and the Exploring Ecotourism Resource Guide
Mexico City, MEXICO
- In 1991 I made my first trip to Ecuador where I combined language school classes with environmental research. With exception of these trips, my personal knowledge of South America is vicarious. I have been invited to conferences and congresses, but almost without fail, they have been cancelled. That said, I am a voracious reader and I publish numerous articles online Planeta.com ranging from academic work to practical guides.
Web: http://www.planeta.com

Deborah McLaren
Director, Rethinking Tourism Project and author, Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel
Minneapolis, MN USA
- We are a a nonprofit Indigenous and Rural Peoples organization. RTP participates in strengthening Indigenous Leadership in the area of international sustainable tourism policy (such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and through participation in the Commission for Sustainable Development). RTP is organizing, with our Mexico partners, an Indigneous Peoples Sustainable Tourism Conference in Mexico in October 2001 to address issues around the upcoming "International Year of Ecotourism" in 2002.
Web: http://www.rethinkingtourism.orghttp://www.rethinkingtourism.org

Ross Mitchell
CANADA
- I have worked in forestry, ecotourism and community development in Canada and Latin America and Australia. I look forward to sharing experiences with everyone on ecotourism in South America, but Peru in particular. I have recently started a PhD program in Rural Economy at the University of Alberta and am going to be examining the impacts of globalization on a forest-dependent region of Mexico. But I remain very interested in ecotourism and am still writing academically on it.
Web: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/00/0010peru.html

Dawn Moorhead
Director, IVEX
Sacramento, CA USA
- We provide international volunteer opportunities. Participants serve from one week to one year. Our projects have been conducted in Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Kenya, Uganda, and the United States. Volunteers have been drawn from 20 countries. Our concentration is now in the Americas and we look forward to working with partners further south.
Web: http://www.espwa.org

Bob Mowbray
Consultant
Reston, Virginia, USA
- I have worked internationally, mostly in Latin America, as a natural resource specialist and forest ecologist for over 30 years, starting in Ecuador as a Peace Corps Volunteer, 1963-66.

Oswaldo MuŅoz
Nuevo Mundo Travel & Tours
Quito, ECUADOR
- I have been in the travel and conservation world for the past 33 years. I am very interested in this "reimaging" process within the context of ecotourism and conservation. At this point I will just mentioned that I tend to be the "black sheep in the heard" regarding the tenets and applications of ecotourism to the real world.
Web: http://www.nuevomundotravel.com

Inge A. Niefer
PhD candidate; Forest engineer
Curitiba, BRAZIL
- I'm currently writing my doctoral thesis about visitors' profile in three protected areas in Parana state. Beside this I'm working as a consultant for regulation of nature based tourism.
Web: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/4015
Web: http://www.superagui.net

Nelson Prato Barbosa
Coordinator del Proyecto ECOTUR
CENDES-UCV
VENEZUELA
- The project ECOTUR of the Center of Development Studies (CENDES) of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) it is a research experience, learning and technical assistence to attendance directed to support local initiatives in "tourism agroecologic" or "agroecotourism" in rural areas, including the protected areas.
Web: http:/www.sagi.ucv.edu.ve/ucv/proyectos/ProyectoEco.html

Rob Rachowiecki
Author
USA
- I have written all the Lonely Planet travel guidebooks for Ecuador (5 editions, with 5th in press), Peru (4 eds, 4th ed March 2000) and Costa Rica (4 eds, 4th ed May 2000). I also have co-authored "Climbing & Hiking in Ecuador" from Bradt publications. I work occasionally as a tour guide, mainly trekking in Peru for Wilderness Travel, Berkeley, CA, and occasional Amazon trips with Explorations of Florida.
Web: http://www.lonelyplanet.com
Web: http://www.guidebookwriters.com

Donald R. Reid
Andetur Brazilian Travel Club
US/BRAZIL
- Andetur Brazilian Travel Club is a private membership association formed to promote responsible soft adventure, cultural, and eco-tourism in Brazil and South America.
Web: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/8311106

Courtenay Rooks
Managing Director
Paria Springs Eco-Community
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
- I have been involved in ecotourism in my home of Trinidad and Tobago since 1993 as a tour guide, tour operator and more recently ecolodge operator. Out of the last conference I was invigorated by the debate in the "Definition of Ecotourism" section and as a result I have gotten my Association (Trinidad and Tobago Incoming Tour Operators Association) to accept the IUCN definition of ecotourism.
Web: http://www.pariasprings.com

Sergio Salazar Salvati
Program Officer in Ecotourism, WWF Brazil
Brasilia, BRAZIL
- I'm writing my dissertation about the viability of ecotourism as a economic alternative to the community in Brazilian Pantanal. I'm a biologist with 10 years of experience working with tourism. Our WWF program has been developing many activities wtih Community-Based Ecotourism in Brazil. We have been preparing a document with complete methodologies for community-based ecotourism development, expected to Feb/March, 2001.
Web: http://www.wwf.org.br

Victoria Schlesinger
Journalist/Editor
Washington, DC USA
- I have been involved in the travel industry for some time, mainly as a writer and recently as an editor for a travel website. I'm very interested in certification and would like to talk more about the various systems out there.
Web: http://www.gonomad.com

Ellen Scott
Webhost/About.com Ecotourism
Alberta, CANADA
- I am the "Guide" of the ecotourism site at About.com for which I produce most of the content. I live in northwestern Canada, in the province of Alberta. We have a burgeoning ecotourism industry in my province although I would have to say other provinces do a better job. How can a site such as mine, which is aimed at students and ecotourists help small scale ecotourism enterprises in South America?
Web: http://ecotourism.about.com

John Shores
Consultant
Palo Alto, California USA
- I am trained as a national park planner and manager. My first professional work was in Colombia, where I was an advisor to Los Nevados National Park in the Central Cordillera. I lived two years in Manizales, then transferred to Bogota for two more. My next post was Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. I was hooked. I have thoroughly enjoyed my work as an international consultant and advisor. My particular areas of interest involve parks, gateway communities, and non-profit organizations. Ecotourism, nature-based tourism, and especially community-based tourism are attractive ways to bring these three parties together. My fundamental or underlying motivation is the conservation of biodiversity.
Web: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/00/0010qajohnshores.html
Web: http://ecotourism.homepage.com
Web: http://biodiversity.homepage.com

Amanda Stronza
Ph.D. Anthropological Sciences
Stanford University, CA USA
- My doctoral dissertation, titled "'Because it is Ours': Community-based Ecotourism in the Peruvian Amazon" is an ethnography of the joint venture between Rainforest Expeditions (managed and owned by Kurt Holle, on this list, and Eduardo Nycander) and the Native Community of Infierno in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon... Currently, I am teaching a course to undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford titled, "Anthropology of Tourism and Ecotourism."
Web: http://www.stanford.edu/class/anthsci167/

Jamie Sweeting
Washington, DC
Conservation International
- I was up until recently the Manager of CI's Ecotourism Program and am still very much interested in Ecotourism in Latin America. Currently I have been asked by CI to develop a new program to engage and work with companies within the mainstream tourism industry to adopt more sustainable practices.

Glenn Venghaus
Brazil Travel Club Holland
HOLLAND
- Currently our strength lies in our motivation, our love for the South American and especially Brazilian culture/people and our current number of contacts in those countries. As one of the few travel organizations in Europe covering this area, we try to stimulate tourism , while at the same time attempting to get travelers aware of the laws of eco-travel.
Web: http://www.brazil-travelclub.com

Scott Walker
Our Lady of the Lake University
San Antonio, Texas, USA
- I would like to learn about what is going on in ecotourism in South America in general, as related to what I know about Mexico. Secondly, I am interested in analyzing the discourse that goes on in online conferences and the impacts of such a conference. I plan to review this conference for the Annals of Tourism Research.
Web: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/97/0897cielo.html
Web: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/97/1197cielo.html
Web: http://itc.ollusa.edu/~terra_nostra/

Will Weber
JOURNEYS International
- JOURNEYS offers group and individual travel to Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and many other countries of Asia, Africa and the Pacific. We try to work, where possible, with locally-owned operators and vendors who incorporate ecological themes and thoughtful environmental practices into their tourism services. We try to support, financially, a few small environmental or cultural projects in each of our major destination regions through a non-profit sister organization, the Earth Preservation Fund -- .
Web: http://www.journeys-intl.com

Unn Werdenhoff
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds, UK
- I am a final year BA (HONS) Tourism Management student. As a part of an assessment I am required to compile a database with ecotourism experts within South America in conjunction with WWF.

Duval Zambrano
Tourism Consultant
PRA Project (CONFIEP / USAID Cooperative Agreement)
LIMA, PERU
- I have been working in the last four years helping local governments to plan tourism activities and advicing communities to improve their managerials skills in order to become good tourism managers. PRA Project support many tourism business in Peru. Currently, I am in contact with many ecoturist and other community initiatives along Peru. My Masters degree thesis (1999) was centered on ecotourism business.
Web: http://www.chemonicspe.com/boletin2/index.html

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