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The main outcomes of the International Year of Ecotourism 2002 Mr. Gabor VERECZI - Programme Officer, World Tourism Organisation (WTO), Section of Sustainable Development of Tourism, Madrid, Spain
The ecological challenge,
conservation and development of tourism resources,
protection of natural areas that have remained intact,
last open wide spaces,
ecotourism,
public-private partnership……….These are the key themes of the first debate session, challenging the integrity of our natural environment but also tourism experts and practitioners to take responsibility and action. In my introductory presentation I would like to detail the main result of the International Year of Ecotourism 2002, which will reflect well on the session’s themes and demonstrate how these enormous challenges has been tackled through this remarkable global framework of action.
The International Year of Ecotourism 2002 has been declared by the United Nations in 1998 and the World Tourism Organization took a leading role in coordinating activities at the international level for this Year, starting the preparations already in 2000. These activities would not have been reached the wide effects that I will shortly detail, without the active collaboration and efforts of other UN and international organizations, institutions from the public, private, NGO and academic sectors involved in tourism, conservation and community development at the regional, national and local levels. Partnership between the different sectors involved have proved to be one of the main success factors in ecotourism development and operations.
In the preparation of and during the International Year, WTO aimed at involving all the actors in the field of ecotourism, with the following four objectives in mind:
- Generate greater awareness among public authorities, the private sector, the civil society and consumers regarding ecotourism’s capacity to contribute to the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage in natural and rural areas, and the improvement of standards of living in those areas.
- Disseminate methods and techniques for the planning, management, regulation and monitoring of ecotourism to guarantee its long-term sustainability.
- Promote exchanges of successful experiences in the field of ecotourism.
- Increase opportunities for the efficient marketing and promotion of ecotourism destinations and products on international markets.
In preparation for and during the IYE at different levels, the World Tourism Organization undertook various activities. These activities are the following:
Firstly, in line with the first three objectives, WTO recommended its 139 Member States, in September 2000, to undertake activities at the national and local levels, such as: :
- define, strengthen and disseminate as appropriate, a National Strategy and specific programmes for the sustainable development and management of ecotourism;
- provide technical, financial and promotional support for, and facilitate the creation and operation of small and medium size firms;
- set up compulsory and/or voluntary regulations regarding ecotourism activities, particularly in what refers to the environmental and socio-cultural sustainability;
- establish national and/or local committees for the celebration of IYE, involving all the stakeholders relevant to this activity (during 2001 and 2002, more than 50 Member States sent information);
- inform the WTO Secretariat of the activities planned for 2002 requesting, if appropriate, whatever support they deem necessary.
Secondly, ten regional WTO conferences were successfully organized between March 2001 and April 2002 to exchange experiences, examine problems, promote cooperation nationally, regionally and internationally, and identify future challenges. These conferences were structured according to the same four themes of the World Ecotourism Summit:
Theme 1 : Ecotourism planning and product development: the sustainability challenge
Theme 2 : Monitoring and regulation of ecotourism: evaluating progress towards sustainability
Theme 3 : Marketing and promotion of ecotourism: reaching sustainable consumers
Theme 4 : Costs and benefits of ecotourism: a sustainable distribution among all stakeholders.These preparatory meetings were held in Mozambique for Africa, in Brazil for the Americas, in Kazakhstan for CIS countries, in Austria for Europe, in Greece for Mediterranean Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, in the Seychelles for island destinations, in Algeria for countries with desert areas, in the Maldives for the Asia-Pacific region, in Moscow for Russia and neighbouring countries and in Fiji for South Pacific islands.
The European Preparatory Conference held in Austria (St. Johann, Salzburg, 12-15 September 2001) linked IYE 2002 with the International Year of Mountains 2002 by addressing especially ecotourism issues in mountain areas.
In total, over 3,000 stakeholders, representing public tourism and environmental authorities, non-governmental organisations, ecotourism businesses, academic institutions and independent experts, participated in these preparatory meetings, where some 200 case studies were presented.
WTO also organised, jointly with UNEP, a Web-Conference on Sustainable Development of Ecotourism during April 2002, in which nearly 1,000 people from 88 countries participated. The prime objective of the conference was to provide easy access for a wide range of stakeholders involved in ecotourism to exchange experiences and voice comments, especially for those who had not been able to attend the regional preparatory conferences that had taken place previously.
The experiences and results from all these regional meetings and the Web-Conference were used as a base of discussions at the World Ecotourism Summit in Québec, Canada on the 19-22 May 2002.
This Summit was the principal event to mark 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism, and the culmination of one-and-a-half-year long preparatory process. It was an initiative of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It was hosted by Tourisme Québec and the Canadian Tourism Commission.
It was successfully held in Québec City, Canada from 19 to 22 May, 2002, with the participation of 1,169 delegates from 132 countries, representing public, private, NGO, academic and research institutions, intergovernmental, national and international development and aid agencies, as well as local and indigenous communities and individual experts. Among the participants, there were 30 Ministers of State and senior officials from WTO, UNEP, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCO, CBD, ILO, GEF, Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union.
The main outcome of the Summit is the Québec Declaration on Ecotourism, a document that was prepared through wide consultation at the Summit and contains general guidelines, as well as stakeholder-specific recommendations for the sustainable development of ecotourism. The Declaration emphasizes greatly the need of biodiversity conservation and the role of protected areas in it. The Québec Declaration and a comprehensive Final Report, including the summaries of the regional, thematic and stakeholder-specific sessions of the Summit, were published in print and are also available in the Internet. These publications were submitted to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), as official documents. More than 10,000 copies of the Québec Declaration have so far been distributed at numerous events, including WSSD.
Besides all the preparatory conferences and seminars and the World Ecotourism Summit, WTO participated in special ecotourism activities or workshops at various tourism trade fairs. Also, in order to contribute to the dissemination of good practices world-wide and of existing recommendations related to ecotourism, WTO prepared or contributed to special publications for the IYE:
- With the view of evaluating current trends and estimate the size of the main ecotourism generating markets, the World Tourism Organization published seven pioneer country reports on the following markets: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA.
- Compilation of Good Practices in the Sustainable Development of Ecotourism: 55 case studies from 39 countries, presented in a systematic form, drawing lessons that can be applied at other destinations. It is the second volume within the series of Good Practices published in the area of Sustainable Development of Tourism. The sustainability aspects are further detailed according to specific elements of ecotourism such as: conservation, community involvement, interpretation and education, as well as environmental management practices.
- Guidelines for the Sustainable Development and Management of Tourism in National Parks and Protected Areas (revised edition, jointly with UNEP and IUCN). These guidelines aim to build an understanding of protected area tourism, and its management. They provide both a theoretical structure and practical guidelines for managers.
- International Ecolodge Guidelines (WTO sponsored and contributed to this publication by The International Ecotourism Society). This book incorporates the latest research and techniques available, providing guidance from the day that an idea is conceptualized to the time when the ecolodge is built and operating. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone associated with ecolodges or other nature-based accommodations and facilities
- Final Report of the World Ecotourism Summit. This publication contains the summaries of the preparatory conferences, the conclusions of all Summit sessions, the Québec Declaration on Ecotourism and other technical documents presented at the event.
Survey on ecotourism activities among governments – tangible outcomes of IYE:
The IYE process have stimulated a wide range of initiatives of intergovernmental, governmental, private, NGO and academic organizations at all levels. WTO has prepared a report for the 58th session of the UN General Assembly on the main outcomes of IYE, summarising international and national initiatives. The national activities has been analysed on the basis of an extensive survey that WTO conducted among National Tourism Administrations of 93 countries. In the continuation I would like to summarize the main findings of this summary:
Ecotourism policy
47 countries, 5 of them in Europe, reported on the establishment of national ecotourism committees, involving government bodies, public and private organisations, community representatives and other ecotourism stakeholders. In most cases these committees involved national or local protected areas authorities and in many cases national representatives of international conservation organisations (e.g. Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, WWF). Some countries without national ecotourism committees for the IYE, included ecotourism in other coordinating mechanisms, such as in activities of national committees for sustainable development, national parks’ authorities, biodiversity committees or inter-ministerial cooperation. Most countries decided to maintain their committee and pursue activities after IYE.At the same time, 48 countries (13 in Europe) defined, or are defining, a national policy or strategy for ecotourism development. Around a third of them have clearly developed a separate strategy for ecotourism, focusing on different aspects. Some others have included ecotourism as one of the main segments of a more general Tourism Strategy (Rwanda, Haiti, Cambodia, Republic of Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, Sweden or Uruguay, for example), of the tourism chapter within the National Economy Development Strategy (Lithuania), of the Nature Tourism Strategy (Portugal) or of a Rural Tourism Strategy (Morocco). In some countries (e.g. Spain, Georgia, Argentina) these policies are mainly managed by bodies in charge of protected areas. Others (Bangladesh, Egypt, Jamaica, Oman) have no national plan but refer to regional or local strategies or programmes for ecotourism
Regulation of ecotourism activities
Just a minority of the countries reporting on national ecotourism strategies voted special legislation on ecotourism. Many countries without specific ecotourism legislation stated that ecotourism activities are regulated by various existing acts and laws, in the first place referring to national laws on environmental protection or National Parks ordinances. In various countries the extension of existing protected areas and the establishment of new ones brought new opportunities for ecotourism as well.A voluntary approach to regulate ecotourism activities (through the use of indicators, certification schemes, ecolabels and awards) has been reported by around 15 countries. Only five of them (Australia, Kenya, Ecuador, Sweden and Thailand) developed specific certification for ecotourism. It is notable that around half of the countries that do not have any certification schemes so far intend to develop such mechanisms in the future, revealing a strong awareness among national tourism authorities on the potentials of voluntary regulation schemes..
Stakeholders participation and awareness raising
The aforementioned national and local ecotourism committees proved to be as prime consultation mechanism for participatory processes and partnership in ecotourism development. It has been also widely recognized that the effective involvement of local communities is key for successful ecotourism practices. Workshops, intended for regional or local authorities and indigenous/local communities (especially within or around protected areas), seem to be quite regularly used, while a few countries used a mail consultation. Local bodies and communities have been also invited to participate in national or international events to express their opinion.Around 20% of reporting countries mentioned the setting up of wider awareness raising campaigns on ecotourism or responsible tourism targeting professionals, local communities, the tourists and the general public as well. Not surprisingly, many of these activities had focused on protected areas and the conservation of natural heritage, for example free guiding services at protected areas (Sri Lanka), open days and media trips in National Parks (Hungary), in-flight documentaries on natural attractions (Colombia), national or foreign specialised press (e.g. special supplements on protected areas), brochures, maps, leaflets, websites, tourism guide books on protected areas, edition of special stamps (Senegal), etc
A wide range of publications has been released for IYE in the different countries:
- Inventories of the principal ecotourism sites, facilities and attractions
- Publications of national ecotourism guides (included sometimes in a more general tourism guide)
- Publications of national or regional ecotourism strategies, plans or programmes (as a whole or summarised)
- Guidelines on ecotourism development (focussing on the specificity of the country: desert areas, wetlands, etc.) for communities, for local bodies or for business operators i.e. ecolodge
- Guidelines for tourists on responsible tourism (i.e. on diving, trekking, adventure, etc.)
- Publications of the proceedings of national ecotourism conferences, seminars and workshops
- Special promotional posters, CD-ROM, videos (on national parks for example), Web sites, etc.
- Articles on ecotourism in ecotourism or related magazines or in the national press
- Market research on national or regional ecotourism markets (also on rural tourism)
- Regional maps with ecotourism attractions (among others)
- Publications on ecotourism development in national parks
- National speeches presented at the WES or other international conferences
- Ecotourism impact studies
Support for the ecotourism private sector
Recognizing that small ecotourism businesses form the core of this segment, many countries (principally those from the Americas and Africa) have developed specific programmes to stimulate and support entrepreneurial activities. These include technical assistance to small enterprises and local communities (advice, feasibility studies, capacity building, etc.), direct financial support, which often is directed to local bodies and businesses working for specific ecotourism projects or destinations (i.e. focused on protected areas). A few countries have set up national funding programmes for tourism enterprises (like in Malaysia, or for young entrepreneurs in Greece). Since some national governments, like in Botswana, did not have enough funds to finance projects, they facilitated contacts between ecotourism project developers and development partners (NGOs, funding agencies, banks or donors). They also developed administrative and market facilities for local ecotourism businesses, for example, setting up positive discrimination for national businesses, fiscal exemption, loans with low interest and other commercial incentives (provided businesses comply with some conditions on environment or community participation). Support programmes were dedicated to promotional purposes as well (web-sites creation, publication of advertising brochures, setting up of ecotourism business networks, ecotourism stand in foreign fairs, shouldering costs for the participation at IYE events, etc.).
In general terms, even though the global situation of ecotourism still needs improvements, the International Year of Ecotourism permitted, in most countries and in all domains, to improve sustainability levels in ecotourism, and in the tourism sector generally. This Year served to raise awareness on the potential positive and negative impacts of ecotourism, stimulate the replication of good practices among governments, private companies and civil organizations, and as a strong engine for innovative programmes and projects. The importance of ecotourism and the IYE process has been also recognized in the Plan of Implementation adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, and it is expected that a resolution will be made on this topic at the 58th Session of the UN General Assembly.
WTO continues ecotourism-related activities in the follow up to IYE to ensure continuation of the dialogue and partnerships initiated and the implementation of its recommendations:
- A number of activities focus on protected areas, further recognizing their importance as prime ecotourism attractions:
- The French and Spanish translations of the “Guidelines for sustainable tourism in protected areas” (WTO-/UNEP/IUCN 2002) has been completed recently. This publication forms the basis for a series of seminars directed to protected areas managers, the first ones being organized in Africa.
- WTO actively collaborated for the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, South Africa, September, 2003), which has treated tourism especially and formulated a Recommendation (n. 12) titled as “Tourism as a vehicle for Conservation and Support of Protected Areas”.
- There are various activities related to sustainable tourism policies that incorporates ecotourism issues:
- Currently WTO is working with an extensive international group of experts on a study about sustainability indicators for tourism. Indicators are essential tools for tourism development, management and monitoring processes, providing decision makers with accurate information on environmental, and socioeconomic conditions at tourism destinations and regions. The study deals with issues and indicators related to the conservation of fragile ecosystems and unique ecological sites, carrying capacity, and will dedicate a section to ecotourism destinations. A comprehensive guide and resource book will be published on this topic during the first quarter of 2004.
- Another ongoing study, conducted jointly with UNEP examines sustainable tourism policies and specific tools, and will deal with the specialities of the ecotourism sector
- Sustainability certification of tourism activities is an increasingly popular issue worldwide. The past WTO studies, recommendations and the ongoing WTO regional conferences on this topic, deal with ecotourism criteria and the particularities of the stakeholders involved, especially the micro and small enterprises that comprise principally this segment.
- Continuing the systematic collection and dissemination of good practices in ecotourism, a new compilation has been published recently, containing 64 cases from 47 countries on examples of small ecotourism businesses. The cases clearly demonstrate the role of the ecotourism private sector in conserving the natural areas that serve as tourist attraction and the interesting ways of public-private cooperation as well.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope that through describing the main outcomes of the International Year of Ecotourism 2002, I have managed to provide you with an overall view and good highlight of some opportunities and actions intending to conserve the Earth’s natural areas that have remained intact, while providing host communities with benefits and incentives of preservation, as well as quality experiences to tourists that are attracted by the outstanding natural beauties and cultural traditions.
Thank you for your attention.
For more information on IYE results, publications, archives and follow up activities please visit:
