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ECOCLUB® |
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ISSN 1108-8931 |
International Ecotourism Monthly |
Year 4, Issue 46, Mar. 2003 |
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Eco
World scanning airwaves & e-waves |
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International: In another possible blow to world tourism, health authorities around the world are struggling to contain a mystery virus amid fears, hopefully exaggerated, that it could be as lethal as the 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic that killed 20 million. The virus is being spread throughout the world by air travellers, with cases reported in a dozen countries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a rare emergency warning, declaring the virus "a worldwide health threat", and saying that cases had been reported on three continents. According to the BBC, the outbreak is thought to have begun in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi last month, after an American businessman travelling from Shanghai infected hospital workers. On March 15, the WHO issued a travel advisory that said: "There is presently no recommendation for people to restrict travel to any destination." However many airport authorities have introduced medical tests for passengers arriving from East Asia. UPDATE: 20/3/3: The virus has been traced to a Hong Kong Hotel and its air-conditioning system. Air-conditioning systems are not only ecological villains and totally unsuitable for ecotourism, but health villains too. UN global population projections for 2050 have dropped by 400 million from the 9.3 billion that was estimated two years ago. The new figure of 8.9 billion reflects the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and of a reduction in the number of projected births. Australia: The Cairns Charter on Partnerships for Ecotourism builds on the principles of the Quebec Declaration and seeks to support the establishment and operation of ecotourism partnerships. The Charter contains an Action Plan that outlines activities designed to contribute to implementation of the Charter, as identified at the Cairns conference. Each Action Plan is accompanied by timeframes for implementation and the organisation responsible for implementation. It is anticipated that the Charter will be reviewed on a regular basis - providing an opportunity for it to evolve and remain relevant to the world's ecotourism industry. The final report including Action Plan is now available on the Ecotourism Australia website www.ecotourism.org.au/charter.cfm Australia: Plans to build an artificial four-storey island 30 miles off the Queensland coast on the Great Barrier Reef, featuring luxury accommodation, an underground cafe, waterslides and a wedding chapel, are causing controversy. A decision on the proposal will eventually be taken by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority. Source China: South China's economic hub Guangzhou is planning to draw huge amounts of private and foreign capital this year to develop eight new tourist destinations with eco-friendly themes. Among the eight attractions will be forest parks and holiday resorts featuring hot springs, elegant hills, waters and an eco-friendly power station in Guangzhou, according Li Wenyao, head of the municipal tourism bureau. Guangzhou received over 79 million tourists in 2002, including some 1.3 million from overseas. Chile: Patagonia, hitherto undeveloped, may be the site for a proposed $2.75 billion aluminum project, by a Canadian aluminum company with a less than perfect environmental record in Quebec. Local activists complain that the planned 440,000 tonnes producing facility could hurt salmon fishing and ecotourism to the region. Meanwhile on the Argentinian side of Patagonia, in the town of Esquel, local inhabitants are trying to prevent a U.S. Gold Mining Company getting an open pit gold mine, fearing cyanide pollution, 20 miles away from a national park containing alerce, a relative of California's giant sequoia, some of which are 3,000 years old. Fiji: The Fiji cabinet has reportedly approved an area in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone to become a whale sanctuary. The Fiji Times newspaper says a decision on the matter has been promoted by the commerce minister, Tom Vuetilovoni, to help ecotourism ventures such as whale watching. Greece: 27% of the tickets for the Athens 2004 Olympics have already been sold. The total number of tickets is 5.3 million out of which 3 million are sold direct to the public and 2.3 m. to national Olympic Committees and sponsors. Website: http://tickets.athens2004.com/en/ Guyana: The Iwokrama International Centre, a rain forest research centre in Guyana's remote interior has been forced to cut in half its staff and scale back its studies due to a sharp decrease in donor funds. The Iwokrama International Center, funded mostly by grants, administers a reserve covering more than 1 million acres (371,000 hectares) of uninhabited jungle, where over 400 birds species have been recorded. Hawaii: A Canadian couple on a cruise aboard a Norwegian ship, allegedly took photos of the crew throwing "whole beer bottles, whole wine bottles, beer and pop cans, corks, plastic plates, plastic utensils, plastic cups and organic material" into the ocean from the back of the ship. The couple filed a complaint with the US Coast Guard upon arriving in Hawaii. Interestingly, unless the cruiser was not in U.S. territorial waters, even if the dumping took place, no international law would have been violated. Source Malaysia: Pulau Singa Besar an island in the Langkawi archipelago is to be developed as a wildlife haven tourism destination / technology park under a joint project between the Kedah State Government and the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry. The approach would be low key, with minimum infrastructure and no overnight accommodation facilities. The move to develop Pulau Singa Besar follows an attempt more than a decade ago by the Veterinary Services Department to turn the island into a wildlife sanctuary. Many species of exotic birds and mammals were imported, but they were unable to adapt to the island's habitats and did not survive. Source Sri Lanka: A Sri Lankan Newspaper reported that the Norwegian aid agency NORAD has mobilised an international team of consultants led by Canadian expert, Pamela Wight, and expected to formulate a comprehensive national ecotourism policy to fast-track ecotourism development islandwide, focusing especially on southern region sites such as the Sinharaja, Kanneliya and Kottawa rainforests. Meanwhile, USAID has commenced work on a similar project, led by former director of TIES, Megan Epler Wood, to provide a "strategic direction for ecotourism development in Sri Lanka". The US programme is being developed by The Competitiveness Initiative, a USAID-funded project located in the World Trade Centre". Source U.K.: The U.K. government mulls doubling air passenger duty (ticket tax) on all flights out of Britain, allegedly to "combat" the environmental impact of air travel. U.S.A.: Somewhere between 5 million and 50 million migratory birds die every year from slamming into communications towers for cell phones, pagers, and radios, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now the American Bird Conservancy, Friends of the Earth, and the Forest Conservation Council environmentalists are suing the Federal Communications Commission to force it to protect those birds. The lawsuit concerns towers that are at least 200 feet tall and located near the Gulf of Mexico, a common stopover for many species during spring and fall migrations. Source |
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