Major new
sustainable tourism initiative launched
ECO-FRIENDLY TRAVEL OPTIONS TO
EXPAND SIGNIFICANTLY IN LATIN AMERICA
San JoseŚ, Costa Rica: Thanks to
two new initiatives both aimed at making information
about sustainable tourism available to small and
medium-sized businesses, tourists will soon have access
to a growing number of environmentally and socially
responsible travel options in Latin
America.
A new project coordinated by the
Rainforest Alliance and made possible by a $3 million
grant, over four years, from the Multilateral Investment
Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (MIF/IDB),
will provide workshops and technical training on
environmentally and socially sound management to some
2,000 tourism entrepreneurs and an equal number of
indigenous and community-based operations in Latin
America.
"Properly managed tourism can
create jobs in some of the world's poorest and most
biodiverse areas, providing people with economic
alternatives to exploiting their resources," explains
Rainforest Alliance Executive Director, Tensie Whelan.
Through "best management practice" workshops, the
Rainforest Alliance in association with local partners in
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize and Ecuador plan to create
a sustainable alternative to logging, slash-and-burn
agriculture and other environmentally destructive
activities in the tropics.
"The approach taken in the project
is one of the only development opportunities in some
countries and regions for community-based organization
and for indigenous people who do not have any other
options for improving their situation," explains Santiago
Soler, MIF project leader. "This model could be
replicated in other countries, and we would be interested
in supporting that effort."
To achieve the IDB-funded
project's objectives and to ensure that small and
medium-sized businesses have access to certification, the
first Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the
Americas was launched on September 30th in Bah‚a,
Brazil. The network constitutes one of the components of
an international partnership effort led by the Rainforest
Alliance, the World Tourism Organization, The
International Ecotourism Society and the United Nations
Environment Program to promote integration of
sustainability into tourism policies and higher
environmental and social standards for tourism. While the
growth of nature-related tourism has spurred the
development of an ever-increasing number of independent
certification programs -- all making their own concerted
efforts to control unchecked development and to foster
responsibility among so-called eco-establishments -- the
network is intended to encourage dialogue among these
various participants and to act as a regional
clearinghouse for certification information and technical
assistance.
Both initiatives grew out of the
Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC)
feasibility study, coordinated by the Rainforest Alliance
and available at www.rainforestalliance.org,
which presented its final conclusions in early 2003. The
18-month study concluded that there is both a need to
create regional platforms for disseminating information
about certification and to make technical assistance
available to small and medium-sized tourism
businesses.
The Rainforest Alliance works to
protect ecosystems and the people and wildlife that live
within them by implementing better business practices for
biodiversity conservation and sustainability. Companies,
cooperatives and landowners that participate in our
programs meet rigorous standards for protecting the
environment, wildlife, workers and local communities. For
more information, visit
www.rainforest-alliance.org.
Tensie Whelan
Executive Director
Rainforest Alliance
665 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
212 677-1900
www.rainforestalliance.org
African Wildlife Gallery
by
Ellen Posell
