While half of the world is on fire, the other half gets mad about Harry Potter, eats salmonella infected turkeys, buys owls for x-mas pets, and succeeds in clo(w)ning humans.

We instead welcome to ECOCLUB two lodges in the part of the world that is on fire (some 280 people in Nepal have been killed in the conflict in one week), because beyond travel warnings and directives, ecotourism is the only real hope as far as rural development in these places. A very warm welcome thus to:

Visit their sites, as well as that of our third Lodge Member in Nepal, Aqua Birds , even if you are not going there in the immediate future, support them, they need it, they are worth it.

A "Manual for the International Year of Ecotourism" has just been issued on-line by UNEP, highlighting the objectives, the activities and the themes of this UN sponsored Year. It also tries to define ecotourism both as a concept and as "a market segment". It supports that "Ecotourism is a small but rapidly growing industry working within a niche market that is governed by market forces and regulations". We do not believe anyone could fit more mistakes in a single sentence. Ecotourism is not a segment or a niche, any tourism segment can be ecotourism as long as it is environmentally sustainable, it promotes environmental and cultural education, it supports conservation and benefits the local community. In fact the organised and unorganised IYE preparations and "celebrations", have revealed strains between various factors claiming (some suddenly) to represent the field some of them more interested in profiting from what they see as a "lucrative segment". For us, Ecotourism is not a "market segment", nor a "niche", nor a "fringe", nor a "product" nor a "label", it is a noble but realistic concept and a movement, a movement for change in the whole tourism sector. Let's see who will "niche" in 20 years.

p.s. We sincerely thank our Member from Mexico Mr. Walter Bishop for voluntarily translating last month's editorial into Spanish and thus promoting ECOCLUB and its ideas in the Spanish - speaking world. The Language barrier is still a barrier, we hope that technology will soon give cheap, instant and quality solutions, so that people are able to communicate without sacrificing their mother tongues and cultures. Imagine how many misconceptions and prejudice could be destroyed thus.

- A. B. Petropoulos, Editor

Quotation of the month:
"As a citizen of the Caribbean, are you still willing to pay the price of the development that we are currently experiencing? Are you thrilled that our islands have become little sleazy destinations for dirty money, dirty habits, and dirty aspirations? Are you proud that a mid-Caribbean state is now known as the on-line gaming capital of the world? That the majority of our people now spend huge chunks of their income on state-sanctioned gambling? That the constant cry of “the black man trying to earn a dollar” is frequently a euphemism for indiscipline and illegal activity? Do you feel that this state of affairs may be largely the result of the development model that we have selected in the Caribbean, built mostly on an untenable tourism construct? Are you satisfied that we are becoming “the best that we can be”, or a risible version of Disneyland? "- Barbados Nation