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eBulletin
"Latin Trails"
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Date:
December / 2004
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The Photo of the Month
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Marine Ecotourism Content In this issue of Latin Trails we have decided to focus our attention on the topic of "Marine Ecotourism". An ecotourism that searches to conserve a marine ecosystem or species through the sustainable practice of tourism. Besides exploring the active participation of the local communities in the planning and management of ecotourism, we will explore some examples of marine ecotourism in Mexico. Most of the time marine ecotourism evolves around the observation of maritime megafauna such as whales, dolphins and recently in Mexico of the whale shark. We take advantage of this opportunity to wish you a happy Christmas and a happy New Year. We hope that the coming year will be filled with original initiatives to promote genuine ecotourism in Latin America. Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) This month we want to share the conclusions of our First Online Forum of Protected Natural Areas and of the Roundtable on Tourism and PNAs undertaken in the months of August and September. You can visit the webpages we created to share the verbatim transcriptions, the conclusions and proposals of this successful forum (all the documents are only in Spanish). We invite you to read the document "Declaratoria y Conclusiones" so you can sign giving your support. For online Guides of Parks and Protected Areas of 21 Latin countries visit Ecoturismolatino.com. Ecoturismolatino presents new possibilities of action to promote Responsible Tourism in Latin America. We have coordinated efforts with organisations like ResponsibleTravel.com, Sustainable Travel International and Ethical Traveler so you can know their campaigns and join! As we mentioned in our editorial this issue will focus on the topic of marine ecotourism. We want to share the recent experience of a member of Ecoturismolatino who is undertaking a study of whale shark ecotourism in Mexico. There are two communities in Mexico which are strongly involved in the conservation and sustainable use of whale shark through ecotourism, Holbox (in the state of Quintana Roo) and Bahía de los Angeles (in Baja California Norte). The purpose of the study is to comprehend the complexity of the communities and to understand how they use their natural resources and how the whale shark has contributed to the local economy. All this with the idea to search for better ways to conserve the whale shark, but with special emphasis on the community involvement because they are the main users of the resource. The preliminary conclusions based on the recent fieldwork are that the ecotourism with the whale shark has developed in different levels in both communities. The causes are varied: the geographical location and accessibility to the place among others. Specially in the community of Holbox the observation of the whale shark has been economically very successful due to the long season and the high tourist demand. Due to this success the governmental authorities in charge of conservation in Mexico have had to intervene to regulate the activity and establish monitoring practices. Finally, due to the fact that the whale shark is a migratory species the national institutional arrangements to conserve it have to include cooperation and communication at an international level to improve the conservation of this species. The research of our team member Mariana Diaz Amador will be shared online through Ecoturismolatino. We will let you know when it is available. Ecoturismolatino through its EcoEntrepreneur's Program has joined efforts with ecotour operators and ecolodges in Latin America to offer 5% discounts to all members of Ecoturismolatino which have a valid Discount Card. Get to know all the companies that are part of this program and get your discounts! The following companies now offer such discounts to all EcoTravellers members of Ecoturismolatino:
Your company can be included in this section contact us! Ecoturismolatino joined all its eGroups in three main ones. EcoTravellers, EcoEntrepreneurs and Latin Natural Protected Areas (NPAs). Join an be part of the on going debates, exchange of experiences and finding travel mates among other things:
This month the webmaster of Ecoturismolatino invites you to read, "Marine Ecotourism":
The editors Brian Garrod and Julie C. Wilson define the purpose of this book as the need to inform the readers about the concept of marine ecotourism and the issues around this type of ecotourism to ensure that it develops in a sustainable manner: benefitting the ecosystems and economy of the local communities. It is the first book that rigorously addresses the topic of marine ecotourism, which is by the way the type of ecotourism with greater growth in the world.
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| Editor: Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza | |||
