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International: Conservation International and
National Geographic Traveler magazine announced the creation of the "World
Legacy Awards." These awards, will recognise outstanding businesses,
organizations, and places that have "made a significant contribution toward
promoting the principles of sustainable tourism, and whose actions can serve as
a role model for others." Winners will be chosen in three categories:
Nature Travel , Heritage Tourism and Destination Stewardship. Deadline for
applications is July 15, 2002 The prestigious Goldman Prize,
awarded since 1990 to individuals who are acting to protect the environment at
"great personal risk" on the 6 inhabited continents, this year went to
Three Gwich'in Native Americans Sarah James, Jonathon Solomon and Norma Kassi.
who battled oil development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife. (In April the
US Senate voted to block the Bush administration's oil drilling in the refuge).
Other winners included: Jadwiga Lopata, a Polish conservationist who pioneered
the use of ecotourism to preserve traditional family farms which grow organic
produce and host tourists. The farm system has brought in about 13,000
eco-tourists, helped farmers hold on to their land and spread organic
farming. "Rio+10: RED CARD FOR TOURISM?" is a new strategy paper on tourism edited by the Working Group "AG Rio+10" of the Network for Sustainable Tourism Development (DANTE) of NGOs from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It makes a number of suggestions which may serve as a basis for discussion in the lead-up to the Johannesburg Summit. Download Report at: www.akte.ch/pages/en/4_news/fs4/news.html The International Ecotourism Society, in
conjunction with its members, is now offering the largest Benefit Trip Auction
ever on Yahoo.com, allowing you to travel the world while saving some money.
TIES' members are the premier ecotourism providers in the world and have donated
exceptional lodging and activity packages to the ecotourism benefit auction. One
hundred percent of the proceeds from these stimulating, eco-friendly adventure
tours will assist local people to improve their quality of life, while also
educating the traveler about how to make responsible travel decisions.Bidding
for the latest benefit auction ends May 4th Marine organisms traveling on flotillas of
discarded plastic and other human-made rubbish are invading Antarctica and
tropical islands and threatening native species, according to marine biologists. Africa & M.East S. Africa: The world's second space tourist is Mark Shuttleworth, software billionaire and founder of Thawte. who paid some 17 million pounds according to the BBC to board the International Space Station and also "conduct some Aids research". ECOCLUB sent a question via the BBC Talking Point website who held a live on-line chat with the "afronaut". The question was "if this amount of money could have been better donated to his country's government for Aids research, but (surprisingly?) the question was not put forward. Botswana: The government
urged the country's High Court this week to dismiss a lawsuit by 243 members of
the Basarwa, a hunter-gatherer tribe aimed at preventing their eviction from the
massive 52,000 square km Central Kalahari Reserve. The Basarwa say they will not
abandon the graves of their ancestors, who lived in the region for centuries. Namibia: A new order of
insects has been identified in a discovery that researchers say is equivalent to
finding a live saber-tooth tiger. This first discovery of a new insect order
since 1915 brings the total number of insect orders to 31. Zimbabwe: Due to
plummeting passenger numbers Air Zimbabwe, cuts the number of flights and the
size of planes used on the lucrative Harare/Victoria Falls route. Kenya: The Kenya Wildlife Service
calls for a world boycott of South Africa's proposed sale of ivory stockpiles.
alleging that South African efforts to obtain permission under CITES has fueled
a recent boom in poaching. Asia & Pacific Vietnam: Tra Vinh
province in the South Vietnam has laid plans to build Ba Dong sea- ecotourism
center serving visitors to the coastal area in Truong Long Hoa commune. The
tourist area, 60 km from provincial township , will cover 250 ha. Currently,
some 8,000 tourists visit Ba Dong each month . Can province (North Vietnam ) has
invested USD 7 millions to build ecotourism area at Ba Be lake. Officials have
allocated funds to build new roads, reception areas, lodging facilities, a clear
water supply system and a wharf. The Director of the local Trade and Tourism
Department says about 28,500 tourists visited the lake last year, an increase of
4,000- 5,000 people from the previous year India: Five
tropical islands in the Andaman Sea and Nicobar archipelago, a group of 572
islands, covered in primary rain forest and fringed by
coral reefs are going for rent by the Indian government in
an effort to emulate the success of the Maldives in the tourism
industry. Successful bidders will receive a 39-year lease and following
that, an undisclosed revenue-sharing arrangement. India: Asia accounts for
62 per cent of the world's plantations. With 89 per cent of the new plantations
coming up in the continent, they are increasingly becoming the source of debate
and conflicts. Who owns them and who derives benefits from these? India: The first Indian Environment
Congress (IEC 2002) is being held at Palakkad, Kerala, India on 5th and 6th of
June 2002. The theme for the IEC 2002 is "energy versus environment".
The IEC 2002 is being held at the municipal town hall complex (including town
hall annexe and community hall), Palakkad, Kerala, India on June 5th and 6th
2002 Bangladesh: Sea snails of just one particular species, out of 300 species, are dying in their thousands along the beaches of Bangladesh main tourist resort. Malaysia: The regional government of the oil-rich eastern state of Terengganu, will ban women from wearing bikinis and from sharing swimming pools with men. Other rules already enforced involve the separation of men and women lining up at cash registers in supermarkets. Malaysia: Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia is conducting an an online survey for visitors to the country: The survey can be accessed at: http://www.hbp.usm.my/tourism/spd Japan: Llatest
scientific research has cast "a disturbing light" on the Japanese
Whaling Association's push to encourage young people to eat more whale meat,
says Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for the Antarctic, Dr. Sharman Stone. Puerto Rico: The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), through its Caribbean Tourism Credentialing Program (CTCP), has developed new occupational standards and professional certification programs for 45 different occupations in the Caribbean tourism industry. For more information: www.ctcp.org Sweden: The Arctic
Ecotourism Conference run in Hemavan, Sweden from April 25th to 28th. Organised
by WWF's Arctic Programme, the Swedish Ecotourism Association, the County
Administration of Västerbotten, the International Ecotourism Society and the
Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association, the conference covered
"ecotourism in the context of conservation, communities, and
marketing." WWF, and the Swedish Ecotourism Association (Svensk
Ekoturism Foreningen), called for all tourists visiting the Arctic to back plans
for a new certification programme (LINKS) for tour operators to the region. The
certification programme would mean businesses which adhere to WWF's Principles
and Codes of Conduct for arctic tourism would be able to carry a special logo to
market their tours Italy: Allegedly
overwhelmed by protest letters, the Mayor of Sanguinetto declared on the
newspaper "L'Arena di Verona".that there will be no bullfight in
Sanguinetto, with or without blood. UK: 70 Years after the Kinder Scout Mass
Tresspass, when working class walkers from Manchester demanding access to an
off-limits part the Peak District braved police and grouse shooters, a law has
been passed that will give from 2005 onwards British ramblers the right to walk
wherever they choose on stretches of non-farmland. Not so happy: the 47,000
members of the Country Land and Business Association, the main landowners' lobby
group, who own two-thirds of rural land in England and Wales. UK: Forty per cent of people now book a holiday solely because of its price, according to research by Teletext Holidays. Details: www.travelmole.com/item/77830 UK: Ecotourism-lite by The Guardian: An article titled "How to be an ecotourist" focuses on rates of towel changing in large hotels. The full article: http://travel.guardian.co.uk/saturdaysection/story/0,8922,664138,00.html ROMANIA: Tourism Minister Dan Matei
Agathon announced that a controversial "Dracula theme park" in the
heart of Transylvania had secured $2.9 million in investment. Turkey: Belly-dancing
has been banned in Turkish tourist resorts. The Turkish minister of Tourism,
Mustafa Tasar, explained that this "type of dance does not belong to the
Turkish tradition". Mexico: Reuters
published an article entitled "MEXICO'S FLEDGLING ECOTOURISM INDUSTRY
STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE" where it alleges that the local community of San
Ignacio is resentful for not participating in the nearby booming whale watching
and camping "ecotourist resort of Kuyima". Brazil: The World Rainforest Movement reported that indigenous peoples restart their struggle against dams on the Xingu river in the Amazon. Thirteen years later after a historic win for the Kayapo people, Eletronorte has returned with a new plan of building a hydro-plant in Kararao. USA: In victories
for conservationists, the Senate has blocked oil-drilling in the Alaska Reserve,
and the National Park Service has decided to uphold a Clinton administration
agreement that will permanently ban "personal watercraft", aka
jet-skis, from five national parks. USA: Cruise company Carnival has agreed
to pay $18m after pleading guilty on 6 charges of to releasing oily waste in the
Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The company admitted that employees had
falsifed documents on waste discharges from July 1998 to January 2001. Carnival
will pay $9 million in fines and another $9 million to environmental groups and
projects and to change environmental-safety practices aboard its ships. Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd., paid $27 million in fines and penalties for ocean
dumping charges in 1999. Typically, staff would bypass the Oil Content Meter, or
OCM, which sets off an alarm if water containing too much oil enters the
discharge system. By flushing clean water past its sensors, ship personnel could
get a low reading that then allowed them to pump oily water off the ship. Neat,
or rather not. Alaska: WWF has just awarded its Arctic Award for Linking Tourism and Conservation 2001 to Alaska Wildland Adventures. WWF's Ten Principles of Arctic Tourism can be seen at: http://www.grida.no/wwfap |