|
|
ECOCLUB® |
|
|
ISSN 1108-8931 |
International Ecotourism Monthly |
Year 4, Issue 41, Oct. 2002 |
|
scanning airwaves, e-waves and brainwaves
World
Ecotourism Day, September 27, 2002: By resolution 439(XIV) adopted at its Fourteenth session (Seoul, Republic of
Korea/Osaka, Japan, 24-29 September 2001), the WTO General Assembly decided to
select the following theme for the twenty-third edition of World Tourism Day:
"Ecotourism, the key to sustainable development".
The official celebration of the Day took place
in Costa Rica, while several countries organised national and local events. More
than 50
countries have reported to the WTO so far on national ecotourism initiatives, such as the creation of
local and national "multi-stakeholder" ecotourism committees,
organisation of conferences and seminars. IUCN releases its updated Red List of Threatened Species. There are now
11,167 species threatened with extinction, an increase of 121 since 2000.
Indonesia, India, Brazil and China are among the countries with the most
threatened mammals and birds. Two marine ecotourism public reports from the EU Interreg iic There was a 3.8 percent increase in the number of passengers in the first six
months of this year compared with that period in 2001, according to the Cruise
Lines International Association. Meanwhile a study by War On Want and the International Transport Workers'
Federation entitled "What It's Really Like To Work On Board Cruise Ships"
claims that the
reality for many workers on the ships is that they are systematically exploited and forced to endure harsh working conditions.
Survival International reports
that a letter appealing for international help has been sent via a tourist by a
member of Botswana's beleaguered "Bushman" community claiming that the
government is forcing them from ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve, by cutting off food and water
supplies. The Namibian Community-Based Tourism Agency (NACOBTA)
and the World Wildlife Fund-LIFE Project (WWF) are inviting interested parties
to promote joint venture lodge operations in communal areas in Namibia. The Uganda Forest Department has initiated six forest eco- tourism projects as a way of helping to conserve valuable wildlife habitat. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has promised criminal prosecution in Africa's deadliest ferry disaster, which has left 1,034 confirmed dead or missing and presumed dead. In Paraguay, the last uncontacted Indians south of the Amazon basin
face death from diseases
as their land is invaded by companies and settlers, an organisation supporting
tribal peoples warned yesterday. The Barbados Minister of
Physical Development and Environment proposes the imposition of a Caribbean-wide levy on all major development activities that
present an environmental risk was proposed by the Barbados Minister of Physical
Development and Environment yesterday. Carnival Cruise Lines' former top environmental compliance officer sued the parent company, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated for opposing safety violations and for testifying in a federal case against the Miami cruise operator. The lawsuit, filed by James P. Walsh under the Whistleblower Act, alleges that Carnival Corp. ignored his reports of environmental and safety violations for years, then fired him the same day the U.S. attorney's office announced that Carnival had pleaded guilty to falsifying environmental records. Carnival disputes the allegations. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) reported that at least six Caribbean countries experienced increases in tourism arrivals for the first six months of 2002, compared with the same period in 2001. Characteristically a 31% rise in arrivals from the United States and a 66.3 jump in the number of Canadian visitors helped Montserrat offset an 11.1 percent drop in visitor arrivals from Europe. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, largely expected to become the next Brazilian President in the second round of elections later this month, stated: "I believe that Argentina's recovery, and that of Brazil, will come from the productive capacity of industry and agriculture and tourism, . . . not from borrowed money." Canada announced it planned to create 10 new national parks and five marine conservation areas over the next five years. The total area covered by the 10 new parks will be around 39,000 square miles (100,000 square km), almost doubling the area occupied by the existing 39 national parks. An Ecuadorean court ordered an insurance company to pay US$10 million in damages for a January 2001 fuel spill (Jessica) in the pristine Galapagos Islands that threatened its unique ecosystem. In the biggest find of human sacrifices in South
America to date, archeologists have uncovered the remains of 200 fishers
savagely stabbed on a beach in central Peru 650 years ago. New United States regulations have been enforced whereby people from selected Arab and Muslim countries will be registered, routinely fingerprinted, photographed and questioned upon arrival in the US. All citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Sudan will be targeted, and visitors - especially men - from other Muslim and Middle Eastern countries may also be subject to the new measures. Yellowstone National Park is thinking of reintroducing a mass transit system for visitors gradually phasing out private cars. The exact opposite process took place in the 1950s.
Ecotourism Society Pakistan (ESP)
announces that
it has reached an agreement with the Community Development Council (CDC) for launching
an ecotourism project in the district of Jhelum involving ecotours to historical and cultural spots of Jhelum
District. CDC and ESP will operate tours to 500
year old Rohtas Fort, Lehri National Park and Mangla Dam and locals of these
areas would be trained to operate tours in future. Ecotourism Society Pakistan (ESP)
also announces
the distribution of its e-book "Sustainable Tourism---the only path towards happy mountains".
The book
contains 110 A-4 pages and slide show of major mountains of Pakistan. Nepal and India have initiated a joint effort for the conservation of wild
animals and plants along their mutual border. Australia has unveiled plans to create the world's largest marine reserve in 16 million acres of the Indian Ocean, 2,500 miles off the nation's southwest coast. The "Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve" will be twice the size of Switzerland. Palau's (Micronesia) President Tommy Remengesau announced the creation of a National Tourism Unit, this agency will "deal with eco-tourism concerns and projects". Hong Kong's government has announced its approval of a tunnel option as part of a controversial new rail link with Mainland China that would have cut through wetlands inhabited by rare birds. Details Preliminary
scientific tests commissioned by the regional government of Spain's Canary
Islands on dead whales point to undersea noise from naval manoeuvres by
Spain and other NATO countries as the likely cause of the mass stranding of 15
beaked whales in the Canary Islands The AZ Island is the latest in a series of exorbitant floating communities aimed at the world's wealthy. Designed by French architect Jean-Philippe Zoppini, and currently being built in the "Chantiers de l'Atlantique" shipyard in France, the Island is 400 metres long by 300 metres wide, and 4,000 condos will ring the vessel in buildings 15 storeys high. As many as 10,000 people, the population of a small town, could live on this "floating oasis", or as critics call it, floating toilet. Four British-Asian passengers were turned away by the pilot of a
"My Travel" charter flight from Gerona in north-eastern Spain to Luton because
24 passengers feared they were terrorists and refused to travel with them. The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) called on the deputy
environment minister of Scotland, to introduce beavers from Norway in the
country, after a
400-year absence, following extensive public consultation as a means of boosting
ecotourism and improving the aquatic environment. Beavers
have been
re-introduced to over 12 EU member countries under the aegis of a EU Habitats
Directive. Officials in the Romanian medieval city of Brasov want to sell about 50 bears to zoos in an internet auction. The city's vice mayor said the bears had been walking into the city in search of food for months. Bear meet is served as a local delicacy in Romanian restaurants. Archaeologists excavating an ancient site in London unearthed the oldest known plaque inscribed with the city's (Roman) name dating from between 40 to 150 AD. The Italian marble plaque, found in the Southwark area of London at the junction of three key Roman roads, is dedicated to the Roman emperors and the god Mars from London-based merchant Tiberinius Celerianus
|
||
|
Copyright ©
1999-2002 ECOCLUB S.A. All Rights
Reserved. |
||
|
|
||
