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A Happy Tourist in Ecuador By Sally Scott I believe, as tourists we have an obligation to spend our money responsibly on businesses that truly support local communities and (not only sustain, but) positively contribute to the environment in which they operate. I whole heartedly recommend the Black Sheep Inn as a place that you can feel confident that your money is responsibly spent and that you will have a fantastic, enjoyable, fulfilling, relaxing, true Andean-village-life experience. What's more, the food is delicious and even my carnivorous-beef farmer-boyfriend survived and thrived on a few days of Black Sheep Inn cooking!!"
Expert Members'
Rating System makes headlines: KUCHING, Wed. - A reliable rating system for ecotourism sites should be set in place to ensure they are planned and guided in a controlled manner for sustainable development. Taylor's College lecturer Vikneswaran Nair said today with around 420 ecotourism sites in Malaysia and too little enforcement officers, a rating system was vital to make sure the wildlife, flora and fauna of the sites were properly managed.The problem now is that there is no proper enforcement as no site is checked. "We have to take care of the ecology of these sites so future generations can actually get to see the same things we are seeing now," he said in his paper on Expert Rating System for Sustainable Management of Ecotourism Sites in Peninsular Malaysia presented at the Second World Engineering Congress 2002 here. Citing Gunung Ledang as a site that was deteriorating, Mr. Nair said it had no proper enforcement and the environmental and safety aspect of the site was getting worse. This was in addition to insufficient environmental and ecological expertise, lack of consistent approaches and unreliable and incomplete databases, he said. The ecotourism sites that are doing well are mostly in Sabah and Sarawak, although some sites like Mount Kinabalu have been getting some flak over its safety features."
by Mr. Saulius Jocbalis, Expert Member, Tourism Manager at Nemunas Delta Regional Park, Lithuania: In the end of September we'll take part in the Estonian Tourism
Fair. If any ECOCLUB Members are interested we can distribute some of their leaflets, etc.
to colleagues from Baltic states, Russia, Finland, Sweden. Please, let me
know till the end of August."
by Agha Iqrar Haroon, President, Ecotourism Society Pakistan "Himalayas are crying" "Skillfully carved and beautified hundreds of thousand years ago, the Great
Himalayas was erected in a geological era by the in thrust of Indian plate into
the great Asian landmass and decorated for ever by the unique ecology of the
world. This valuable piece sustained myriad of lives providing shelter to live,
flowing crystal clear water to drink and does work as greatest water towers of
the world. Furthermore, the great civilizations of Indus, Brahmaputra and Ganges
culminated on its lap. The entire agriculture of India and Pakistan depends on
water flowing from this land of great mass----Himalaya. The problem can be defined by three ways: Firstly, the trekkers as the culprits for the garbage disposal. Much has happened to the Mount Everest since Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgey, first scaled it, almost all of it bad. Climbing the 29,208 foot peak has become common place--more than half of the 500 people to reach the top have done it in the last five years-and so, sadly littering. Environmentalists estimate that 50 tons of rubbish are scattered across the
Everest, some of it predictable (tents, oxygen bottle) some of it unpredictable
(baseball bats, frisbees), some of it downright macabre (dozens of corpse
preserved by the cold)." At Baltoro trail, one travel through a trail of
human waste, animal waste and even medical waste like bandages, bottles etc.
This included everything from bloody bandages to syringes with needles still
attached, to vials of unlabeled injectible medication."
by Zina Penushkina, Greenpeace Russia Baikal Campaign: "11-15 September Greenpeace Russia organizes a familiarisation tour to Baikal for travel agencies planning to develop ecotourism business on Lake Baikal. All the expenses on the trip are paid by Greenpeace (We also make all the arrangements, visas,etc ). The idea of the project is promotion of ecotourism in the Baikal region as a tool of sustainable development and an alternative business to industries polluting the unique lake. For more details: baikal.russia@diala.greenpeace.org "
by S.K.
Puranik, Chairman, The above said organisation has been established on 25 September 2001 under the legislative provision of provincial level with narrative guidance of Govt. of India. At present we are arranging an internal workshop and seminar within our members who are well qualified and experienced people at different fields of operation." For details contact: S.K. Puranik, Chairman at vsrusti@sancharnet.in
contributed by Elena Pappas "UNESCO is calling for
nominations for the Mélina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding
and Management of Cultural Landscapes, which will be awarded in 2003. This prize
is awarded every 2 years and If you are aware of an outstanding example of action to safeguard and enhance a cultural landscape you may wish to nominate the site or forward this information to the relevant authority. Candidates may be nominated by the governments of Member States to UNESCO or by relevant NGO's having official relations with UNESCO (which includes IUCN and ICOMOS). It is NOT recommended that sites on the World Heritage List be nominated for the prize."
by Rungrawee Jitpakdee: "International Workshop on Managing Sustainable Ecotourism is a joint training course which focuses on criteria for sustainable tourism, minimization of impacts of tourism and requirements for developing tourism in the target areas. It also includes the environmental management in ecotourism. The workshop will be held in Southern of Thailand, mostly in Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat, an area where mass tourism has had a considerable impact, to allow first hand study and evaluation of the key issues. The objective of the course is to introduce participants to develop trained professionals in the area of Ecotourism, incorporating socio-cultural and environmental values into the practice of tourism. Apart from Thailand, beneficiaries will include a few other ASEAN neighbors. The course will enable academics and policy makers to freely draw upon the experiences of not only their own countries but also those of their neighbors leading to an exchange of lessons learned and the development of new solutions.The workshop will be held in Songkhla Province; including the field study at Yor Island, Tone Nga Chang Waterfall Songkhla and Kiri Wong, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. This workshop is conducted 4-13 September 2002." Contact: Ms. Rungrawee Jitpakdee Faculty of Environmental Management Prince of Songkla University PO Box 50, Kho Hong, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90112, Thailand Tel. (074) 286806, 286810 Fax. (074) 212904 E-mail: jrungraw@ratree.psu.ac.th http://Thaiecotour.envi.psu.ac.th
"Beachfront Ecoresort
FOR SALE: Click here for details or contact: Debal Acquaro at debal@ecoelectron.com
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