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eBulletin
"Latin Trails"
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Date:
January / 2005
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The Photo of the Month
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Ecotourism & Certification Content First of all we want to say "Happy New Year!" to all the members of our eBulletin. Ecoturismolatino wishes that all your plans for this year become true. We have many plans for this year and hope that you can take an active role in all of them. Together we can promote a genuine ecotourism in Latin America. This first issue of 2005 we want to dedicate it to the topic of certification. We want to understand a bit more what is purpose of certification and what is being done around the globe and primarily in Latin America about this topic. We hope that this results interesting to you, as it is for us. Meanwhile best wishes and keep in touch Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza - webmaster Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) At this moment we are starting to increase our content on the Parks and Protected Areas, and the information is mostly in Spanish, but will be translated shortly. Here are the national parks that are new in our website. Every month we will be including new parks, so keep in touch for further information.
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! In this section we want to share what is happening knowadays around the issue of certification in Mexico as well as in Latin America as a region. In the case of Mexico we will briefly view some of the recent actions (in January 2005) of the Ministry of Environment (SEMARNAT by its name in Spanish) to establish a Mexican Norm of Ecotourism. In the case of Latin America we will view the almost two year old activities of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas promoted by Rainforest Alliance. We want to make clear that this short review must be taken as a succint introduction to the subject and a thorough review of the recommended links and the suggested book in this eBulletin will be very useful to you. In the middle of January 2005 Ecoturismolatino received an invitation to participate in a working group to elaborate the first Mexican Norm for Ecotourism (NMX-SEMARNAT-2005). The first session of this group was on the 31st of January with the participation of government officials, associations (AMTAVE), NGOs (Bioplaneta & COMECO), and consultants (Tierra Incógnita). This first reunion covered the desired focus of ecotourism certification as well as the process and functions of the working group for the future. From the synopsis of the meeting a comment by Jorge Chavez seems most relevant "the focus of the norm seems more balanced to the aspect of the service and marketing than to the participation of the local communities". The intention of the working group is to have the norm ready for June 2005. The next meeting will be held on the 2nd of March. On a regional basis by initiative of Rainforest Alliance the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas was created in a preliminary reunion held from the 26th to the 28th of September 2003 in Suipe, Bahia, Brazil. From all the discussion groups formed for this reunion a mission statement was defined: promote sustainable tourism in the region, through the strengthening of certification initiatives, based on mutual respect and recognition, joint efforts, harmonization (balancing) of systems, and the sharing of information and experiences. Then a second meeting was held on July 2004 in Costa Rica. In this meeting presentations were done about the advances up to then and discussion groups were organised with regard to issues important to the Network. For further information about the Network we recommend you to visit the link included in this eBulletin (in the section of recommended links). This was a quick glance to the present actions regarding ecotourism certification. Ecoturismolatino considers vital the active and direct participation of all stakeholders (communities, operators, govenrment and NGOs). We hope that this eBulletin helps to inform you about what is happening today in Latin America so you can learn and give your opinion. 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 recommends the book edited by Martha Honey "Ecotourism & Certification: setting standards in practice":
Ecotourism & Certification is the first book to take a global look at the issue. It lays out the basic challenges and strategies for establishing certification programs, and it will be essential reading for students, professors, and tourism and development professionals worldwide. The recommended links of this month are related to the topic of Certification:
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| Editor: Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza | |||
