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Eco-Adventure
World News
International
Year of Ecotourism 2002
When
we launched Air Highways Magazine and Africa Travel
Magazine in 1995, we introduced Eco-Adventure
World, sensing a major
shift in people's travel preferences towards exploring
the land, the culture and wildlife. We are
currently
producing our biggest Ecotourism feature yet, to
celebrate the 5th ATA EcoTourism
Symposium in
Yaounde, Cameroon, West Africa. A similar publication
will be available for the
World Ecotourism Conference in
Quebec City, May 19-22, 2002.
Preparations:
WTO is holding a series of regional seminars and
conferences to prepare for the International Year of
Ecotourism 2002. The first was held in Maputo,
Mozambique, in March for Africa and further conferences
are scheduled at the following locations:
· Cuiabá,
Brazil, August 22-24, for the Americas;
· St Johann, Austria,
September 12-15, for Europe, focusing on mountain
areas;
· Almaty, Kazakhstan,
October 17-18, for CIS countries, China and
Mongolia;
· Thessaloniki, Greece,
November 2-4, for European and Mediterranean
countries;
· Algeria, November 19-21,
for desert areas;
· Victoria, Seychelles,
December 8-10, for Small Island Developing States and
other islands;
· Malé, Maldives,
February 8-10, 2002, for the Asia-Pacific region;
and
Fiji, April 14-15, 2002, for
the South Pacific Islands.
Findings from these conferences
and seminars will be presented at the World Ecotourism
Summit, to be held in Quebec, Canada between
May 19 and 22, 2002.
At the Maputo seminar, Mr. Eugenio
Yunis, WTO Chief of the Sustainable Development of
Tourism Section, indicated that lack of suitable controls
could threaten the very future of the sector.
"Unsustainable ecotourism is
putting at risk the survival of the natural environment
that is the very bedrock of the ecotourism business and,
more serious still, detracts from and even discredits
this activity," he said.
Various elements, needed to
guarantee the long-term sustainability of any ecotourism
project, were highlighted by Mr. Yunis. They
included:
* Ensuring that it contributes to
the conservation of natural areas and the sustainable
development of adjoining lands and communities.
* Creating specific strategies to
avoid anarchic and disorderly development.
* Providing efficient coordination
between public and private sectors,
* including the active involvement
of local communities in the planning,
developing, managing and
regulating of ecotourism projects.
* Minimizing the impact of tourism
accommodation, transport facilities and any activities
organized for tourists.
* Ensuring that a reasonable
proportion of income from tourism is channelled into
local communities and into conserving natural
heritage.
* Managing the movement of
tourists to avoid overcrowding, and carrying out
continuous monitoring of the visitors' impact on the
environment.
Other activities being organized
by WTO for the International Year of Ecotourism include
the publication of a 'Compilation of Good Practices in
the Sustainable Development and Management of
Ecotourism', as well as a market research programme in
the main ecotourism generating markets, including
Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Canada
and the United States.
Detailed information on the above
events and activities is available - and regularly
updated - on WTO's IYE 2002 web page:
http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm
Solar
Car Crosses Canada for $ 9.22
Using only as much
electricity as it would take to illuminate a 100-watt
light bulb for four days, a group of Queen's University
students set a new world record for the longest distance
travelled in a solar-powered car. "Our entire trip only
utilized the equivalent of $ 9. 22 worth of electricity,"
said Melodie Berg, tour manager.
•
Globe
2000
-
Our
Editor's report on EcoTourism Solutions
•
Kyoto
Effects Conference
•
Global Summit
on Peace
Through Tourism
•
Green
Airports -
Communities
in Bloom
- Forest
Renewal
•
Park
Vacationlands
profiles
from two continent.
• Peace
Through Tourism
Global
Summit in Amman Jordan
•
Pledges
from
Member Countries, Travel Industry and Visitor Groups
•
Water
Adventures:
From
white water rafting to fresh and saltwater fishing.
•
World's
Mighty Rivers
and Oceans
Blue
Adventure
Islands and Inside
Passage
I call them
"The Adventure Islands," because the North Pacific has
long been a magnet for adventurers and soldiers of
fortune, including my father, who left the family's
Seattle home for a post with the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police at Dawson City in the far Klondike. As for the
Inside Passage, the Yukon's poet laureate, Robert
Service, captured its majesty in his 'Songs of a
Sourdough', Jack London immortalized it in his sagas, and
Pierre Berton chronicled it in his book Klondike.
Alaska
Highway:
The second world war, brought adventure of a more
frightening sort, when for a time, enemy troops were dug
in on the Aleutian Islands, submarines lurked offshore,
and balloons carrying fire bombs threatened our forests.
To combat these triple threats, the mighty Alaska Highway
system was built in 1942 - a threefold effort involving
links by land, sea and rail. I had the privilege of
documenting that part of our history, when I was
commissioned by the Canadian Government to produce a
commemorative video for the Alaska
Highway's
50th
Anniversary.
Eco
Success Stories from
AfricaTravel
Many of the
following stories will appear in both Africa Travel and
Eco- Adventure World in 2001. They're also on our other
web site:
www.africa-ata.org
Namibia's
Kalahari Desert Bushmen
by Karen
Hoffman
Ecotourism:
Intu Afrika. A rare opportunity to learn from the Bushmen
themselves about their hunter-gatherer traditions and the
ecosystem of the Kalahari desert awaits travelers to INTU
AFRIKA'S Kalahari Game Reserve in Namibia. For thousands
of years, Bushmen were an integral part of the ecosystem
of the Kalahari. As the area was colonized, the Bushmen
were driven out and forced to live outside their
traditional hunting areas. No longer able to hunt, the
Bushmen were reduced to living on government handouts.
INTU AFRIKA, under the direction of two South African
anthropologists, Michael and Bets Daibar, invited 40
!Kung Bushmen to reestablish a self-sustainable community
on the company's Kalahari Game Reserve.
Continued.
Guarding
Africa's Wildlife Empire
by Jerry W.
Bird
Africa's Animal Empire filled the scene, then fanned out
in all directions on the far horizon; to the Tanzania -
Kenya border, or to Lake Victoria and beyond. And what
performers these four legged actors were; prancing about
like tv wrestlers, snorting and butting heads, as if they
knew they were the star performers of our show. On a
rocky knoll nearby, a pride of lions lolled lazily, like
cruise passengers on deck chairs, surveying the
situation, as they stood by for the evening dinner gong.
Staring at us curiously, this shaggy crew was perfectly
cast for the scene to follow, as were the two cheetahs
lying couched in the tall grass near the Serengeti
airport. Continued.
Amex
Monument Watch in Africa
The World
Monuments Watch was created in 1995. The program solicits
nominations from the Ministries of Culture around the
world, from all US embassies, from international,
national and local preservation groups, and from American
Express offices worldwide. The nomination process is also
open to individual citizens as a means of encouraging
private activism. An independent panel of international
experts in architecture, travel, archaeology,
conservation, and related fields selects sites for
inclusion in the biennial World Monuments Watch Lists of
100 Most Endangered Sites. Continued.
Peace
Through Tourism
We believe that tourism can have a profound impact on
creating a climate for peace by generating economic
growth and stable employment. Tourism also educates
travelers about other cultures, thereby fostering
understanding. While world leaders often meet to discuss
opportunities for peace, it's rare that they would view a
single industry as playing such a powerful role in
sustaining Global Summit of Peace through Tourism.
Continued.
Tourism-
Introduction to Ecology
by Harold Gordon
Tourism is now
a major source of foreign currency for Kenya and
Tanzania; it provides jobs throughout East Africa and has
served as an introduction to ecology. Continued.
A safari
traveler's impression of animals changes drastically ; no
more will her or she accept a world without the elephant,
rhino, cheetah or other endangered species; the seals of
the Galapagos, the mountain gorilla of Rwanda, the birds
of New Guinea, or the whales of the Cape. There's a new
and vital interest in their
surroundings.
Central
African Republic's Pristine
Parklands
by Muguette Goufrani
Everything you may have read about this equatorial area
for years in National Geographic , or in countless story
books about Africa, is right here. Without a doubt, the
Central African Republic (CAR) has some of the most
pristine National Parks in all of Africa. Pygmies guide
you through virgin forests that are the domain of forest
elephants and rare lowland gorillas. The dense rain
forests literally 'explode' as the sky fills with
colorful, exotic butterflies &emdash; and out on the
sweeping plains you can encounter elephants, lions,
leopards, rhinos, and a host of other species you may not
see anywhere else. We visited the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve
which has some of the highest densities of lowland
gorillas and elephant of anywhere in Africa.
Continued.
Seychelles:
A World Leader in
Conservation
by Muguette Goufrani
Seychelles
Islands group is in the forefront in terms of
conservation of land, culture and wildlife. While I have
praised this beautiful part of the word to friends from
near and far as a 'dream destination,' most travelers
have yet to experience its pleasures. The Seychelles
Archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean east of Kenya,
has an fascinating history and culture. French is widely
spoken, and the Seychelles is part of La
Francophonie.
The area includes 42 granite islands and 73 coral atolls,
with tourism centered on the more easily accessible
granite islands-especially Mahe, Praslin and La Digue.
The latter are covered in lush tropical vegetation and
are ringed by pristine white sand beaches.
Continued.
Gabon
Preserves Coastal Wetlands and
Marshes
by Muguette Goufrani
Thanks to
mineral wealth and a relatively low population growth,
Gabon is better off financially than most of Africa. This
fact is reflected in their care and attention to basic
ecological concerns. For example, the vast coastal
wetlands and marshes, are still largely intact. Gabon,
hosted the Africa Travel Association (ATA) International
Congress in 1980. Continued.
News
about Environment Tanzania (Entan
21)
by Charles
Kileo
..Environment
Tanzania 21 is a non-profit environment Non Governmental
Organization (NGO) established in Tanzania in 1996. It is
a community service oriented trustee for the promotion of
environmental awareness and environmental protection,
though grassroots-based programs of involving and
educating the community. Entan 21 is based in Dodoma,
Tanzania and will expand its activities to other areas of
the country as its environmental message
spreads.
Continued.
Building
Bridges to Peace Through
Tourism
by Hon. Mike Afedi
Gizo
In the Kakum National Forest near Ghana's famous
Gold Coast, are 6 rope bridges that are popular with
tourists, and for most, a challenge to cross. While these
bridges swing and sway in the breeze, far above the
forest floor, all fears a visitor encounters are strictly
mental. Each interlocking bridge is safe and secure, and
each relates to a goal we want to achieve with this
week's 21st Century Agenda for Peace Through Tourism.
Continued.
