ECOCLUB^®, the International Ecotourism Club™ celebrates 8th Anniversary by holding its annual Ecotourism Awards and funding eco-projects in Rwanda, Ecuador and Cambodia

ATHENS, GREECE (1 July 2007)

To celebrate its 8th anniversary, ECOCLUB^®, the International Ecotourism Club™ announced today the results of its fourth annual eco-project competition, the "ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards 2007" which fund community and environment-supporting projects, organised and implemented by tourism companies around the world.

Candidate project details were publicly posted online in May 2007, scrutinised by ECOCLUB.com Members, and the three winners were chosen democratically by Members through an online vote at www.ecoclub.com in June 2007.

Presenting the Awards at a live on-line ceremony, ECOCLUB Director, Antonis B. Petropoulos, said: "Building on the experience of the past three years and thanks to the enthusiastic support of our Members in 80 countries, this year we were able to increase the awards prize to Euros 3,000 (approx USD 4,000) so as to equally fund three eco-projects. Our awards are different in that they are not based on morally rewarding past performance, but on financially supporting future action. Winners are not determined by a panel of judges but in a transparent and democratic manner by ECOCLUB Members".

Following a tightly run contest between nine worthwhile projects, the 2007 winners are:

Rwanda Eco-tours Agency, Rwanda (Web: www.rwandaecotours.com)
Winning Project: Turning Gorilla Poachers into Farmers
Creating an alternative means to local people around gorillas’ national park with an alternative livelihood that will absent them from wildlife poaching and the degradation of mountain gorilla habitat.
Details

La Selva Jungle Lodge, Ecuador  (Web: www.laselvajunglelodge.com)
Winning Project: Pig Farm for Wildlife Protection
The difficult to balance carrying capacity of the lodge and the desires of local indigenous people to hunt fresh meat all come together in a pig farm.
Details

Carpe Diem Travel Limited, Cambodia (Web: www.carpe-diem-travel.com)
Winning Project: Plastic Bag Recycling Microentreprise
Creation of a microenterprise to collect and recycle discarded plastic bags by turning them into a range of useful products.
Details

All three winners thanked ECOCLUB Members for their trust and pledged an early implementation of the projects. In particular, Edwin Sabuhoro, Managing Director of Rwanda Eco-tours Agency, said: "In the name of communities around Rwanda's Parc National Des Volcans, this is absolutely good news, we cannot believe we were entrusted with ECOCLUB members sense of understanding, feeling and being part of us as we struggle to make mountain gorilla conservation a reality in Rwanda by empowering local communities with principles of adaptive management, that will not only give gorillas a future but also enriching local communities in Rwanda to be part of of the whole cycle in the global ecotourism spectrum.

Eric Schwartz, President of La Selva Jungle Lodge added: "It has been my great privilege to be associated with the ECOCLUB for many years.  La Selva Jungle Lodge in the Amazon basin of Ecuador applauds the work of the club and we are glad in our small way, this year, to take an active role in the good works of a singular organization with our winning proposal for measures towards sustainable ecotourism. In the spirit of the ECOCLUB we will forge ahead with all the resources we can muster."

Debbie Watkins, Director of Carpe Diem Travel was equally 'delighted to have been selected by ECOCLUB members for support' and pointed out that "the negative impact of the plastic bag, especially in developing countries, cannot be underestimated and we have been looking for a possible solution for some time. This project will solve a number of different problems at the same time: clearing rubbish from villages and fields, providing disadvantaged people with skills and income, producing marketable recycled products, and educating locals in the importance of keeping their surroundings clean."

As every year, the winning projects implementation and completion will be transparently presented and monitored online at www.ecoclub.com, the world's most popular ecotourism business portal. The full implementation of the projects is a pre-condition for the payment of 70% of the Award funds.

For details on the ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards
http://www.ecoclub.com/awards.html

For Press Enquiries
http://www.ecoclub.com/press.html

For information on ECOCLUB.com
http://www.ecoclub.com/aboutus.html