Eco Announcements

15 July 2009 - Plovdiv, Bulgaria



A new online architectural tour of Old Plovdiv has been created by EKO Club. Plovdiv is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Europe going back to 6000 B.C. First ruled by the Thracians, ancient neighbours of the Greeks, then by Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, and renamed Philippoupolis in his honour. After him, the town was reconquered by the Thracians. With the arrival of the Romans in 46 A.D. Plovdiv became the most important fortified town of the Roman province of Thrace with theatres and aqueducts still to be seen today. The Thracians returned and in the 6th century AD the city fell into the hands of the Proto Bulgarians - the ancestors of the Bulgarian people. Strategically positioned, Plovdiv became part of the Byzantine empire, the Latin Kingdom (part of the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade) and then the Ottoman Empire, until Bulgarian independence in 1878. As a result, Plovdiv's architectural mixture stretches many centuries, with beautiful examples of all the above mentioned civilisations.



The full online tour can be found at http://ekoclub.com/holiday-activities/architectural-tour

15 July 2009 - Athens, Greece

Speaking to ECOCLUB.com, the newly-elected Secretary General of the European Centre for Ecological and Acricultural Tourism (ECEAT) Victor Ananias, an ecotourism pioneer in Turkey, explained that his plans for this 4 year tenure include strengthening the organisation by improving coordination and attracting new members with the aim of 'competing with mass tourism'. Ananias spoke of the need to have a Fair trade system in Tourism accounting for social values and pointed out that vision and devotion rather than money is what is needed in European Agrotourism adding that "when money and funding starts to be the dominating-motivating prior tool - there starts the problem". An experienced producer and promoter of organic products himself, he does not believe that organic products must necessarily be more expensive than conventional as long as they are locally sourced and not a result of international mechanised and low paid organic agriculture. Asked about the peace-building abilities of low-impact, community tourism, he was of the view that it is a challenge and that Tourism in general is not strong enough for this.

>> Please find the complete interview at
https://ecoclub.com/news/102/ananias.html

Punta Gorda, Belize - 13 August 2009

This June saw the start of a new excavation at the famous Lubaantun Mayan site in the Toledo district of Southern Belize.

The project is led by Geoffrey Braswell, professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. Braswell has worked in Toledo since 2001, particularly at the Pusilha Mayan site.

The new project is called the Toledo Regional Interaction Project, or TRIPS, and is being
initially funded by seed grants from The National Geographic and UCSD Faculty Senate. It is hoped the project will last for 5 years, with work continuing at Lubaantun and starting in 2010 at Nim Li Punit as well. The aim of TRIPS is to find out more about how the various Toledo Mayan sites interacted with each other. According to Geoffrey Braswell, the questions they want to answer include “... were Lubaantun, Nim Li Punit, Pusilha and Uxbenka part of the same political unit or were they separate petty states? Did they share in a single unified economy or were they essentially independent? Were they settled by ethnically similar Maya peoples, or—like today– was ancient Toledo a cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic place?”

Together with eleven local men from Columbia village, the team began work on two
linked structures at the western edge of Plaza VII (known as the Butterfly Plaza).
Geoff says these stone structures supported a domestic dwelling made from perishable materials.
This is the first time a domestic household has been excavated at Lubaantun, rather than a temple,
ball court or specialized structure. They know the structures were domestic because of the
types of materials found: serving vessels, food and water storage containers and lots of “pur”
shells—the common river snails which are still eaten today. There were no incense burners or other
specialized religious pottery. The residents would have been elite members of the community, based on the dwelling’s location in the centre of the city. Their status is also reflected in the sheer quantity of stone work which would have represented a considerable investment.

The team is gathering information to help answer their questions through the recovery of artifacts
including pottery, tools, human bones and the architecture itself. They will also be studying hieroglyphic monuments, mainly from Pusilha and Nim Li Punit. Pottery styles and designs indicate
the extent to which different cities interacted with each other.

Also important is the way pottery was used at different sites, including the types of foods stored in
the pots. Diet is a good indicator of whether there was shared ethnicity between the cities. For example, the inhabitants of Pusilha mostly ate tortillas whereas the inhabitants of Lubaantun probably ate most of their maize in the form of tamales, atole or beer. The study of hieroglyphic texts also indicate connections between cities, since the ancient Maya mainly recorded political events such as royal marriages, battles and ambassadorial visits
between cities.

Although Lubaantun has revealed almost no texts, about 60 carved monuments have been found at
other local sites. Interestingly, and despite their physical closeness, none of these texts has so far made any mention of their neighbors in the area. Geoff says this could indicate total independence or simply mean they were so closely tied that they didn’t feel the need to mention each other. Geoff and his team hope to solve this mystery during the TRIPS project.

The domestic dwelling excavated this year has been dated to around 800 AD and was lived in for 100-150 years. Most of the information gleaned from the dwelling came from a very large trash dump beneath the structure. Lubaantun is famous for its figurines and the TRIPS team found many in the trash under the structure. However none were found on top or around the house platform which could mean they were from an earlier era.

Next year, the team plan to extend their excavation to the main plaza at Lubaantun. Some of the oldest structures in the site are here, though deeply buried beneath the present ground level. They hope to get a better idea of when Lubaantun was first inhabited. The current theory says the site was founded in the 8th century, which is oddly late for a Mayan city. It may be that a much earlier
foundation will be discovered. The team will also start excavating at Nim Li Punit, which they believe likely to be the major site of Toledo with the greatest number of secrets to reveal.

>>For more details:
contact Rob Hirons, Proprietor, The Lodge at Big Falls [Web: http://www.thelodgeatbigfalls.com] at rob[at]thelodgeatbigfalls[dot]com

Crete, Greece, August 27, 2009

Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries, the award-winning educational travel program noted for best practices in Responsible Travel, will offer a blueprint for implementing similar programs from October 11-18, 2009, for professionals in tourism, conservation, agriculture, and the culinary arts. Attendees will travel with specialists to historic sites and villages, organic farms and nature reserves for presentations on heritage preservation, and building mutually beneficial relations between local populations and the tourist trade.

CCS Founder, Nikki Rose, says “Crete is blessed with fascinating history, natural beauty and excellent fresh food. There is much to celebrate and protect. The roots of the Mediterranean Diet originated in Crete. CCS programs help to support people striving to preserve their lifestyle and share their valuable knowledge in mutually beneficial ways.”

CCS Seminars include organic olive oil and wine tastings, cooking demos, botanical hikes, traditional music and other activities celebrating Crete's distinctive heritage. Doctors, nutritionists, chefs, farmers, ecologists, anthropologists, travel agents, journalists, students, history and food enthusiasts have joined CCS programs. Their collected feedback confirms that participating in programs that protect Crete’s heritage is an enjoyable and enriching experience.

Global interest in sustainability includes tourism and foodservice. People involved with traditional trades, conservation, sustainable organic farming, and the food industry play an integral role in their communities, including attracting visitors. Responsible Travel offers innovative educational programs that protect cultural and natural heritage while doing good business.

Founders of Milia Ecolodge in Crete say, “We are not striving to change our standards to attract visitors, we are striving to attract visitors that appreciate our standards."

Workshop space is limited. Contact Nikki Rose for registration information.

Crete's Culinary Sanctuaries (CCS) was founded in 1997 by Nikki Rose, a Greek-American professional chef, writer and responsible travel adviser (for projects in Brazil, Cambodia, Europe and USA). CCS collaborates with over 40 small businesses and individuals working to protect Crete’s cultural and natural heritage. Seminars are conducted in rural communities, organic farms and historic sites. CCS has received awards from National Geographic, the World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, WTTC, and is featured in The New York Times, Lonely Planet and TV New Zealand.

Athens, Greece – 14 September 2009

Progress Reports have been received from all three winning projects of this years ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards. The reports reveal that the implementation of these eco projects is well under way and progressing smoothly. In particular:


The Jane Crouch (Intrepid Travel, Australia) “Water Filters in Chichubamba Community – Peru” project involves the provision of ceramic water filters and training in their use and maintenance to the people of Chichubamba South Community in Peru. So far, a town meeting was held to explain the project, the production of the 80 ceramic water filters was completed and water containers were purchased for the preparation of the installation in the community. On August 13 there was a meeting with the first group of 15 recipients and each were given a complete water filter. The households also gave a water sample which will be tested to obtain a base line of comparison before and after filter use. The goal is to work with one group every two weeks.
Full report: https://ecoclub.com/awards/09/c1.pdf



The Judy Karwacki (Small Planet Consulting, Canada) Winning Project “From Wild to Web – Guyana” involves providing laptops and cameras to a village Wildlife Club, so that they learn how to digitally document field projects and upload them online. The purchase of the equipment has been completed and it will arrive in Guyana in mid-September as hand-luggage to avoid transport costs. Some of the youth have begun to walk short transects and visit the pit traps’ and others are being encouraged to look at the variety of social networking sites available and decide which ones suit the type of publications that they hope to create using the new equipment. The ecological monitoring program will begin in earnest in September once the equipment has arrived and the youth are back at school in September.
Full report: https://ecoclub.com/awards/09/f1.pdf



The Manuel Apaza (ICADE, Honduras) Winning Project: “Creating a Community Tourism Cooperative – Honduras” aims to organise a local tourism cooperative for the community of Buenos Aires near the Cusuco National Park. Despite the political turmoil in Honduras, two workshops already took place in August, one on “Organization Alternatives” and one on “Cooperative Basics”. In the first workshop, the community members were presented with various company structure optoins and then chose the “Empresa de Servicios Multiples en Turismo” structure. In the second workshop, the community members learned about the history of cooperatives in Honduras, their function and their structure. They then chose their representatives, the name of the business and gave the project organiser all the basic documentation to start the legal procedure.
Full report: https://ecoclub.com/awards/09/a1.pdf

This year's ECOCLUB.com Awards theme is "Their Crisis, Our Communities - progressive change through Social Ecotourism”.We asked our Members, tourism professionals, academics & students to undertake innovative projects that help create ‘another world’ at the grass roots level and improve life for all in their communities. The winners were determined in a direct democratic fashion by Member Vote and the winning projects implementation and completion is transparently presented and monitored online at www.ecoclub.com. All three projects must be completed by November 1, 2009.

Related: https://ecoclub.com/awards.html

Oaxaca, Mexico - 17 September 2009

The votes for the 2009 Ecotourism Spotlight Award offered by Planeta.com have been counted, and the winner is Ecotourism Laos;

Other nominees for this year's award included Quito Visitors' Bureau, Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong and Failte Ireland.

The award was developed to create incentives for communication, opportunities for conversation and a reward for participation among government leaders working toward ecotourism and responsible travel. "While this is a competition, we encourage collaboration," said Planeta.com Director Ron Mader. "Learning from these leaders makes sense. All of these nominees are winners."

Thaviphet Oula, Deputy Director of the Lao National Tourism Administration’s Department of Planning and Cooperation said "We are very happy to have the honor of being awarded the 2009 Planeta Ecotourism Spotlight Award because of the recognition this award brings to our efforts to promote Lao PDR as a top ecotourism destination in Asia." Thanks to Planeta.com for establishing the Ecotourism Spotlight Award and a special thanks to everyone that supported Ecotourism Laos and the other great sites nominated this year."

2009 SNAPSHOT

Competition was strongest this year as many government sites have spent considerable time and resources improving their coverage of ecotourism and responsible travel.

Best practices include Failte Ireland's Ecotourism Handbook distribution to all 16,000 Irish tourism businesses and Quito's documentation of eco activities include eco bike rides. Web 2.0 is showcased on the Mekong guide. Ecotourism Laos has been revising its site and shows how any good website must be regularly updated to maintain its effectiveness.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Government websites that educate visitors about ecotourism and responsible travel options are eligible to win Planeta.com's annual Ecotourism Spotlight Award. The winner is announced in celebration of World Tourism Day (September 27) as way of spotlighting best practice in responsible travel and ecotourism.

Athens, Greece (19 September 2009)

Following a transparent online rating process and the voluntary participation of Members of ECOCLUB.com as raters, Fuegoblanco Lodge has achieved a rating of 3.6 out of five and has been accepted as a new (the 5th) Ecolodge Member.

The rating application and individual ratings and comments can be found at https://ecoclub.com/rating/fuegoblanco

The ECOCLUB.com Rating offers an alternative, as a free, transparent & democratic rating system, that includes not only environmental criteria but also ownership, economic, social, and cultural ones.

One more Lodge, Kingfisher Lodge in Laos is currently undergoing the Rating process, while over 10 Lodges have applied in recent weeks.

>> Related:
ECOCLUB.com Rating Background: https://ecoclub.com/rating
ECOCLUB.com Ecolodges: https://ecoclub.com/ecolodges.html

Kuraburi, Phang Nga, Thailand - September 28, 2009

Helping a local community to improve a trail through the jungle might not be everyone’s idea of a perfect holiday, but for Dave and Meredith it proved to be a fascinating insight into a traditional way of life that is under threat from the rapid pace of tourism development in Southern Thailand. As part of their holiday, the couple visited a homestay in Ban Talae Nok, and jumped at the chance to help the villagers clear the local nature trail and make it safe for future tourists.

"We are passionate about this type of tourism because it benefits both parties," explained Meredith. "For us, it enriched our lives and informed our sense of the world. The villagers have become stewards of their own experience; making decisions about how to introduce tourism into their lives, rather than having Western tourism forced upon them."

Founded in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami, Andaman Discoveries has grown from providing emergency disaster relief into an internationally acclaimed community-based tour operator. Over the past five years the social enterprise has helped tsunami-affected communities achieve environmental, cultural and financial sustainability through conservation programs, vocational training and providing interactive cultural tours for responsible tourists.

Andaman Discoveries now supports eight villages to achieve sustainable development on their own terms. Through homestays, handicrafts production and guiding, it creates supplementary livelihood opportunities for the communities, that provide much-needed additional income in a way that complements the villagers’ traditional way of life.

Noi, a member of a Moken (nomadic sea-faring people) community that recently started opening its homes to tourists, says that, “since being involved with Andaman Discoveries, my life has been better. No one cared about us before; but now people are interested in our traditional way of life. I feel proud and excited when we have guests. They teach our children the importance of preserving our culture and the environment.”

The World Challenge is a global competition hosted by BBC World News and Newsweek magazine, in association with Shell. The 12 finalists for this year’s competition were selected from more than 900 nominations on the basis of their innovation at grassroots level in “countering socio-economic and environmental issues”.

Tui Chomphusri, Director of Andaman Discoveries, observed that, “the BBC World Challenge is a chance for us to share with people the difference we are making. Whether it’s providing income to women’s handicraft groups or training the next generation of conservationists, community-based tourism allows visitors to enjoy the traditional Thai way of life, whilst helping to preserve the unique culture of our region.”

When to watch:
Andaman Discoveries’ profile will air on BBC World, on Saturday 17 October at 2:30 pm (GMT) and Sunday 18 October at 2:30 am, 9:30 am and 5:30 pm (GMT). Video profiles of all the finalists will be available during the voting period from September 28 through November 13 on the World Challenge website.

How to vote:
Vote online for your favourite project at the World Challenge website. The winners will be announced on December 5 in an awards ceremony held at The Hague, in the Netherlands.

About Andaman Discoveries:
Andaman Discoveries enables visitors and volunteers to directly support community-led development, conservation, education and cultural empowerment. The social enterprise provides interactive cultural tours and homestay programs, unique volunteer projects and placements, as well as educational study tours for university and high school students. Andaman Discoveries has won a number of international awards and is featured in travel guidebooks in different languages.

Contact:
For more information visit www.andamandiscoveries.com or contact Mimi Cheung, Program Development Manager, +66 (0) 87 917 7165.

24 Oct 2009 - Chitral, Pakistan

CAMAT [Chitral Association for Mountain Area Tourism] celebrated International Climatic Day of Action, Oct 24, 2009 in the Kalash valley of Rumbor, district Chitral with a philosophy of ‘think globally, act locally’ in mind. The theme of the day was “The Impacts of Global Warming on the Kalash Communities”. Kalash ECOCLUB, school students, local leadership and woman representatives participated.

The day was observed in about 170 countries around the world aimed at awareness raising regarding the impacts of global warming on the natural environment and ecology that is likely to cast negative impacts on all organisms living on the planet earth. The participants felt proud in being part of the noble cause being celebrated around the world on Oct 24, 2009.

In the meantime, they recorded their apprehension that the natural environment of the Kalash valleys—Rumbor, Burmborate and Birir—is certainly threatened due to climatic changes leading to longer summers, short autumns and short winters characterized by comparatively less snowfall and its early melting.

Mr Saifullah, the Kalash community leader and social activist, discussed the significance of natural environment, forest belt and alpine meadow for the traditional culture of the communities in the valleys. It was pointed out that the population of goat—the religious animal of Kalash—is declining over the years, largely because of the declining forest belts, degrading alpine meadows and disappearance of vegetative covers resultant of climatic changes stemming from what we know ‘global warming’. In part, the session raised concerns that the illegal trade by the timber mafia has done great damages to the environment of the valley. It is worth noting that during festival and funeral feast, as part of religious obligation, the Kalash people kill goats ranging from 30 to 100 according the strength of goat raised within the family concerned. Thus one of the core values of the Kalash culture that largely depends on healthy biodiversity and intact ecology has been potentially threatened because of global warming.

The frequency with which floods destroy cultivable lands, orchards, irrigational channels and the Kalash cemeteries have never been experienced in the past, which means ‘global warming’ has had started tightening its relentless grip on the otherwise pristine natural environment in the Kalash valleys as well as the entire Hindukush region as well.

To ensure the reduction of the negative impacts of global warming on the Kalash valleys, the session passed the environmental-friendly agenda as follows:
1. That government and NGOs in Chitral mandated with the protection of environment and natural forest belt must focus on the degrading environment conditions in the Kalash valleys. Afforestation need to be redoubled this end.

2. Tourists visiting the Kalash have to be sensitized towards the fragility of the valleys, the spring, streams and nullahs there. Pollution of non-biodegradable plastic bags have already had reduced the productivity of cultivable lands. Here the responsibilities lie with tour companies and guides, who have to make arrangement for this.

3. The mafia involved in illegal smuggling of timbers from three Kalash valleys, have to be strictly monitored by the law enforcement agencies and forest department in particular at different exit points.
4. Check dams need to be constructed in steep places where flooding is likely to erode the landscape. Plantation in such places has to be carried out on war footing.
5. Local communities have to be the real owners and guardian of their resources. They should not look for the support of the so-called departments. Rather their life is inalienably linked to the valleys to where they are primary stakeholders and thus have major responsibility to look after forests, pastures and alpine meadows.
6. Last, but not least, the less developed regions e.g. Kalash valleys, are quite neutral so far as carbon emission matters but they still bear the brunt of pollution caused by the leading industrial cities at national and international level. Thus, big industries should have it as their moral responsibility to initiate green projects in places such as the Kalash valleys so that environmental damages they cause would be compensated.

At the end of the session, waste disposal campaign was undertaken where all the participants put their share.

For more details contact:

Shams Uddin,
Manager CAMAT,
Mountain Inn, Chitral Town
NWFP, Pakistan
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: https://ecoclub.com/c/blog/camatchitral
Tel: +93 (0)943 413540
Cell: +92 (0)302 5975059

Athens, Greece (3 November 2009)

Following a transparent online rating process and the voluntary participation of ECOCLUB.com Members as raters, Kingfisher Lodge, located in southern Laos' Champasak province, has achieved a rating of 4.3 out of five and has been therefore accepted as a new Ecolodge Member of ECOCLUB.com - International Ecotourism Club

Kingfisher (Web: www.kingfisherecolodge.com) offers six traditional double room stilt wooden bungalows with spacious verandas and four wood & bamboo eco rooms bordering a wetland.

The rating application and individual ratings and comments from raters can be found at
https://ecoclub.com/rating/kingfisher

The ECOCLUB.com Rating is an alternative eco rating system, based on social ecotourism principles and offered free of charge.

>> Related:
ECOCLUB.com Rating Background: https://ecoclub.com/rating
ECOCLUB.com Ecolodges: https://ecoclub.com/ecolodges.html