CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP

Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council

PLANETA FORUM

From 2001-2003 Planeta.com conducted a global workshop focusing on the pros and cons of ecotourism certification. A Summary and a Certification Guide are recommended reading.

PHOTO GALLERY: Signage

As I mentioned in my previous email, here is the summary of the proposal for a feasibility study on accreditation for your information. We would greatly appreciate your input. I know this workshop will end soon but you can always send your emails directly to me at rsanabria@ra.org. We realize this is a topic that will interest many people and has limited resources, so we would appreciate your consideration if we do not respond to you right away. Furthermore, and as a proposal for continuation, I would like to propose to Ron the possibilities for keeping everybody abreast about the project's progress through his amazing network, and to help us find ways to make this project transparent and participatory.

It is important to note that, at this stage, we are not proposing the establishment of an accreditation agency. We are proposing to devote some time and resources to work on a feasibility study. We are still in the fundraising phase, but I thought it is important for all of you to know that this initiative is underway.

I appreciate all the information you have shared during this workshop.

Best wishes,

Ronald Sanabria
Rainforest Alliance/Alianza para Bosques

Feasibility Study, Organizational Blueprint and Implementation Plan for a Global Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC):

An Accreditation Body for Sustainable Tourism Certifiers.

Proposal Summary

With the support of the Community Relations and Philanthropic Services Program at JP Morgan, the Rainforest Alliance explored the subject of tourism certification in Latin America and the Caribbean during the summer of 1999. This initial study concluded that properly managed tourism can contribute to conservation, sustainable development, and poverty alleviation. However, due in large part to the fragmentation among the myriad certification schemes that currently exist, there is a strong need to separate and distinguish certification schemes that certify sustainable tourism and true ecotourism from other tourism certification, award and endorsement mechanisms. There is also a need to clearly identify the differences between sustainable tourism and ecotourism. Further, while the use of certification mechanisms to green the tourism industry at large is valid and important, the lack of a global accreditation body has led to the markedly different definitions of "sustainable tourism" and "ecotourism," leading to false claims and confusion.

The Rainforest Alliance concluded that a coalition of compatible organizations should be established to examine the possibilities for the creation of a global accreditation body in sustainable tourism. This group of people are necessary to contribute expertise in areas such as conservation, social well being, certification and accreditation, sustainability of tourism enterprises, indigenous cultures and environmental education, as well as a great understanding of the political, economic, cultural, social and environmental elements inherent in the tourism industry. At the same time, this core group represents an international, multi-stakeholder team of experts that will not be dominated by one agenda for steering and supervising the development of this project. Further, direct participation from major certification schemes and the tourism industry is also necessary since the people involved in existing schemes know where some of the problems lie in certification and have dealt with some of the obstacles. Therefore, an extended group of advisors should be established and consulted on a regular basis.

The Rainforest Alliance is now seeking funds for the next stage, a one-year "Feasibility Study, Organizational Blueprint and Implementation Plan for a Global Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC): An Accreditation Body for Sustainable Tourism Certifiers." For simplification purposes, this is being called the STSC Project.

This project's objective is to investigate the possibility for establishing an international accreditation body for sustainable tourism certification and provide a fully developed implementation plan. The main responsibilities of this accreditation body will be to establish international criteria for accreditation, monitor compliance with such criteria, promote consumer awareness and increase credibility of certification schemes. In addition, an accreditation body for sustainable tourism could indirectly raise the environmental and social standards for all sectors of the tourism industry.

On behalf of the coalition of organizations, the Rainforest Alliance seeks to consolidate the coalition and carry out the study, including regional participatory workshops, and to provide a complete implementation plan of an international accreditation body for sustainable tourism certifiers. The final outcomes of this project will be concrete information on the feasibility for creating an international Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council and a complete action plan for its implementation.

The urgency of this study is clear. Tourism has become the world's largest industry, yet many kinds of tourism can overwhelm small, often impoverished communities and the natural areas they adjoin with insensitive development, pollution and challenges to traditional cultures. Nature-related tourism is the fastest growing market segment of the industry, making developing countries with beautiful, species rich natural areas particularly vulnerable. Much discussion has taken place but no formal feasibility study has been performed to assess the possibility of creating an accreditation entity for sustainable tourism. In some cases, natural areas have been pushed beyond capacity by tourism operations at times masked behind green propaganda. The international community needs a tool to address the fragmentation among current certification schemes that exist and help sustainable tourism suppliers and consumers to truly and effectively contribute to biodiversity conservation and social welfare.

Sustainable tourism potentially offers numerous local community benefits, including education, employment, and respect for traditional ways of life. As developing countries are increasingly affected by the explosion in the international tourism industry, and tourism markets are becoming more environmentally sensitive, certification via a credible third-party mechanism is vital. Capturing this new tourism market presents a window of opportunity for local communities to secure the long term financial viability of sustainable tourism operations. Certified tourism operations can profit from client loyalty, unique marketing opportunities and greater economic returns. Tourism brings the world to the doorstep of once-isolated communities, and certified sustainable tourism will make this a positive, profitable impact for those struggling to maintain their significant natural and cultural resources.

The Rainforest Alliance will function as the coordinator for this project. The Rainforest Alliance develops and promotes economically viable and socially desirable alternatives to the destruction of natural resources. This non-profit organization has proven experience in conservation through stakeholder participation, expertise in certification and accreditation, and watchfulness of both environmental and social issues. Currently, the Rainforest Alliance runs two successful certification programs, the SmartWood and the Conservation Agriculture Programs for sustainable forestry and agriculture, respectively. Rainforest Alliance staff participated directly in the establishment of the Forestry Stewardship Council, an accreditation body for sustainable timber certifiers.

The Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council that is envisioned by this proposal will establish credibility for certified operations. A certified sustainable tourism operation, by adhering to baseline standards established by an accreditation body, will minimize impacts on natural areas. Of equal if not greater importance, sustainable tourism can be an important mechanism to alleviate poverty without disrupting traditional ways of life in developing countries that are rich in natural and cultural resources.

The project has a global scope and an estimated timeframe of eighteen months (three months of preparatory work and fifteen months performing the study and creating the implementation plan. The project has been divided into six components with the following specific objectives:

1) Understanding current certification and accreditation schemes: To determine the need for having an accreditation body for sustainable tourism certification.

2) Project management: Communication mechanisms must be established to assure an efficient flow of information internally and externally. The Rainforest Alliance will have the role of project's steering agent and communication facilitator.

3) Consolidating the Executive Advisory Committee: The Rainforest Alliance as coordinator is in charge of establishing the Executive Advisory Committee to guide the execution of this project. The objective is to build support and gain expertise from established key institutions, which will eventually determine the successful implementation of a sustainable tourism accreditation agency.

4) Determining the feasibility, organizational structure and implementation plan for a sustainable tourism accreditation body: This is the core component of the project, which seeks to determine what the different stakeholders need from an accreditation system. This component will also assess the demand for accreditation services and the credibility of current certification schemes, the financial mode developed out of the needs assessment, the feasibility of defining minimum international standards, the financial feasibility for establishing and maintaining an accreditation organization, its marketing potential, the most adequate organizational structure for it, and the steps that need to be taken for its implementation.

5) Regional workshops: This component has the goal of building consensus among all stakeholders, including NGOs, certifiers, government representatives and members of the tourism industry, in regards to the creation of a sustainable tourism accreditation body. A total of six workshops are proposed, for different key regions of the world.

6) Implementation: The consultants will be responsible for presenting a complete implementation plan to the Committee, whose members will agree upon the final recommendations to be made to their various parent organizations. It will be the responsibility of the Executive Advisory Committee to pursue additional funds for the implementation of the plan.

The Rainforest Alliance, with counsel from the Executive Advisory Committee, will hire a team of expert consultants that will be responsible for the project's deliverables, including the feasibility study and implementation plan. The Alliance and the Executive Advisory Committee will supervise their work. The Rainforest Alliance will serve as the communication channel between the consultants and the Committee.

It is the aim of the organizations involved in this project to provide the international community with the results of this project during 2002.

>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecotourism_certification/message/227

Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council: feasibility study consultation
November, 2001

* Protecting the environment, residents and consumer rights by reducing greenwash and false claims

* Giving exposure to companies as globally recognised sound operations

* Lobbying for political and financial support for licensed certification organisations

* Providing globally accepted standards and guidelines and support networks for product development

* Promoting a powerful global brand with marketing value

Your organisation is invited to participate at one of a number of consultation workshops at tourism trade fairs and conferences.

* World Travel Market, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, UK, 15 November (still places, e-mail us ASAP)

* Central America IYE (International Year of Ecotourism) preparatory conference, Belize city, Belize, 29 November

* South Asia IYE preparatory conference, Gangtok, Sikkim, India, 25 January

* Andean South America IYE preparatory conference, Cuzco, Peru, 7 February

* International Adventure Travel and Outdoor Sports show, Chicago, USA, 22 February

* South East Asia IYE preparatory conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 10 March

* ITB Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 16-20 March

* East Africa IYE preparatory conference, Nairobi, Kenya, Late March

* Arctic countries IYE preparatory conference, Hemavan, Sweden, Late April

Consultation is crucial for a proposal of this style to be accepted as legitimate by all stakeholders, and for this purpose we have chosen the widest range of locations that our budget allows. For those that cannot attend any of the workshops, we are preparing a questionnaire that will address the issues raised by participants in the initial workshops. We would also like to start an e-mail discussion both in Trinet and in the ecotourism certification discussion list -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecotourism_certification/.

Draft proposals for the feasibility and organisational structure of the STSC will be available in April 2002, which will be downloadable for comments and revision (our webpage is under construction).

You are also welcomed to contact us by e-mail at X.Font@lmu.ac.uk or by telephone at +44 113 2832 600, extension 5880 if you have any further questions regarding this exciting project. We can then send you a brieffing on the project, which we are not attaching to this e-mail to not overload e-mail inboxes.

Yours sincerely,

Ronald Sanabria
Sustainable Tourism Programme
Rainforest Alliance, Costa Rica

Xavier Font
Project Leader for the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council
Leeds Metropolitan University, UK

Margot Sallows
Consultant to the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council
University of Greenwich, UK

Agata Maccarrone-Eaglen
Research Assistant to the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council
Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecotourism_certification/message/326

Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Co uncil: feasibility study consultation
November 7, 2001

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 02:01

Dear Mr Font

Again confirming my participation at Earl's Court and requesting again response to my query that in the post 11 September situation, what steps are you taking in the study to ensure that the work of the companies to date in promoting sustainable tourism via their brand will be sustained and not simply replaced by another brand.

sincerely

Geoffrey Lipman

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 5:16 PM
To: 'Geoffrey Lipman'; 'TRINET-L@hawaii.edu';

Dear Mr Lipman,

Thank you for confirming your participation. We will have to sessions in WTM on November 15th, both in the Whitehall room, either 10am-1pm, or 2pm-5pm (but both with availability, but the latter with fewer bookings to date), let us know which is more convenient to you.

I wouldn't want Green Globe to enter this consultation fearing external forces will take over, this has to be a bottom-up process if we want it to work at all. I agree with you when you say that the current ecolabels do not want to give up the work done to date to a label that might be perceived as externally imposed.

The Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council is only feasible if the current ecolabels consider it a better way to promote sustainable tourism than working independently. This feasibility study will have to consider the balance between on the one hand accreditation criteria that guarantee a baseline quality and encouraging tour operators and tourists to purchase accredited products, and on the other hand ensuring that ecolabels are autonomous and appropriate to their context.

Many of the discussions that we need to have within the workshops for the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council will be familiar territory to Green Globe, since your organisation has had to think about verification of standards across sub-sectors and countries, and so Green Globe comes into the discussions with plenty of experience that others can learn from.

Yours,

Xavier Font

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 05:47
To: 'Font, Xavier [CES]'; TRINET-L@hawaii.edu;

Xavier Thx for this, which is helpful. I would however propose that the study has a specific and integral component which is "ensuring that existing ecolabels , meeting defined criteria are given appropriate promotion to the public by this process" It's the glass is half full syndrome - rather than half empty: coupled with the idea of supporting good practice. Geoffrey

-----Response-----

Sent:
To: 'Geoffrey Lipman'

Geoffrey,

What you propose is something that at present is implicit, and I don't have any inconvenience in making it explicit.

I will certainly put this forward both in the workshop presentations and the forthcoming literature on the progress of STSC.

Xavier
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecotourism_certification/message/329

Progress
Decenber 2, 2001

A few weeks back I reported on the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council project. It is our aim to balance in depth workshops with experts from a variety of backgrounds, with reporting the results from those workshops for a more open and participatory debate. With this spirit I include here the results from an event that took place in London on the 12th of November, under the auspices of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) 30th anniversary. This workshop aimed to explore the equity of certification and accreditation to people from Southern Hemisphere countries, with particular emphasis on what new accreditation proposals such as tourism and mining could learn from others in more advanced stages, and specifically the Forest Stewardship Council. The results below outline how the discussions in that workshop can influence the development of proposals for a Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council. At least another 10 similar events will take place as part of the STSC consultation, at least half of them in Southern Hemisphere countries. Results from these workshops, including the IYE workshop in Belize that took place last thursday, will be available shortly.

Yours,

Xavier Font
Leading consultant for the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council

Accreditation will provide industry credibility.
This is certain of the forestry industry, a sector that has been criticised as a whole in the past, and where companies with high standards and the means to work towards accreditation can demonstrate otherwise.

Levers for change and market demand
An accreditation body does not have the funds to do consumer awareness campaigns. FSC has used pressure on distribution channels (mainly DIY chains) as the lever for change, backed with the possibility of boycotts. Northern hemisphere demands for accredited products have changed the requirements from Southern hemisphere producers. Besides external pressures, producers have found incentives in accreditation when this means they have access to resources, as well as markets. Resources shown as examples in the workshop were access to land for community groups. The tourism equivalent lever for change for the DIY store is the tour operator, not the travel agent, because the tour operator's brochure message can be monitored, the vertical integration of the tourism industry, and the increasing value of direct sales from independent operators. Access to land can be an incentive with the collaboration of the public sector granting preferential access to national parks or other public goods, or granting access to publicly funded mechanisms for promotion.

In the mining industry, the lever is the financing institutions and banks, a segment that in the past would have not been considered a likely partner for environmental and social standards. Discussions with a variety of ethical investment fund managers and development banks result in the strong likelihood of investment funds available for firms that can prove externally recognised standards. This also requires economies of scale to produce a good case to a bank, and community groups and small firms will feel threatened if they are asked to put their land as a collateral for a business loan.

Consumes are not willing to pay a premium for certified products.
Despite initial research suggested this was the case, FSC certification is a cost that producers have had to absorb, and in the best of cases has allowed market access, but the cost has not been passed to the consumer. Forestry companies are aiming for accreditation because it keeps them in their markets, not because they think it is a good idea. Although tourism-specific surveys suggest that the public is willing to pay extra for products that will not damage the destination, the STSC should not be planned on the basis that the cost can be passed to the tourist.

Queries on government involvement
There are advantages to no government involvement in accreditation and certification, mainly around the fact that accreditation will not be susceptible to trade discrimination regulations and agreements. The present perceived it better that accreditation remained voluntary and not government regulated since otherwise it would enter into World Trade Organisation Trade Agreements as environmental and social barriers to trade. Being outside trade agreements means that there is no place to challenge it. Also the present perceived government regulation to be likely to bring accreditation down to its lowest common denominator.

Public sector involvement in setting and operating certification and accreditation in tourism will suffer from conflicts of interest, because public sector ownership of a large number of attractions, services and infrastructure crucial to tourism. If the public sector gets involved, it was perceived that accreditation would target hotels only.

Models for setting accreditation
FSC was a quick top-down fix, using pressure and boycotts to forest product distribution channels in Northern countries as the lever for change. Currently it lacks bottom up contents, which is gradually entering the system through social working groups and national groups to adapt global criteria to their reality. In contrast, IFOAM is the result of a long term, bottom up approach that has been participatory and all-inclusive, but one that has taken 50 years to reach the current situation.

All industries need simpler systems for certification.
Need to consider ISO norms for the process of accreditation, and work together with ISO. Also need to consider working together with normalisation units or offices, with the limitations outlined in government intervention.

FSC has tried to implement Western, scientific principles to forest management. In many countries, livelihood principles would be more appropriate. There was a whole issue around the equity of systems that only companies with high economies of scale can achieve, and it was queried whether community groups should be accountable in the same way as trans-national corporations. Examples from the textile industry in Bangladesh report that certification could be attempted by "small" companies, i.e. about 300 staff. The tourism industry has to think carefully about the costs and economies of scale required to make certification work, since the large majority of firms are small.

Voluntary, market-based initiatives have not stopped bad practice.
In the case of the FSC, deforestation has not been stopped because of introducing certification and accreditation. This has not been the case. FSC has one high standard, which has made good companies work towards being better, but it has not provided an incentive to companies that thought of that standard to be too high for them to achieve it. This is an opinion that was shared by many of the experts present. A lesson that was learned from this was the proposal of stepped certification, that allows a larger number of companies to achieve some recognition. Participants queried whether capacity building shouldn't be the aim of accreditation/certification, rather than the certification per se.

Need to include social issues
Environmental issues are well identified, benchmarked, measured and monitored through certification and accreditation, in comparison with ethical, social and fair trade issues, which either do not make it to be criteria, or are woolly. Fair trade and social equity issues are the poor relationship of tourism certification, this is an issue for concern and that requires being addressed. EIA site-specific standards is one area from where we can learn lessons in making internationally agreed process sensitive to local realities.

Supply chains and backward linkages
It was perceived that standard principles from accreditation in other industries such as supply chain management and backward linkages will have to be adapted to the reality of the tourism industry, as currently it is not possible to expect full holiday packages to accredit each component and its linkages. The economies of scale are not high enough, and the product is too heterogeneous and variable to make this feasible.

Conclusions:
á Tourism accreditation should be based on diversity, not importing and imposing values from the North. This will be hard to manage.
á Certification should cross-cut other tools, such as EIA and EA
á Need to critically query whether people need accreditation
á Civic society partnerships should be strengthened
á Certification is being imposed but it is not always good for the economy, in developing countries we need to think about what should come first
á Accreditation is better staying outside World Trade Organisation trade agreements
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecotourism_certification/message/346

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Food, Health and Building Communities 2008
Tourism and Climate Change 2008
Ecotourism Challenges Dialogue 2007
Urban Ecotourism Conference September 2004
Environmental Impact of Transportation October 2003
Sustainable Development of Ecotourism April 2002
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