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Sustainable tourism - stewardship and conservation
Think about it
The concept of Sustainable Development was introduced by the Bruntland Commission in the 1970s and stated that "sustainable development is development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs."

Mass tourism as found in Jamaica and Blackpool often fails to meet these requirements because;
Tourists consume huge amounts of food and water from the local environment, severely depleting resources.
Tourist resorts consume huge amounts of energy, often from fossil fuels.
Tourists often travel by jet plane in huge numbers; increasing atmospheric pollution from the planes
Tourist resorts damage the natural environment through building and drainage schemes.
 
It is clear that there is need for more sustainable ways for people to enjoy their leisure time and sustainable or Eco-tourism is seen as the answer.  The best way to be a sustainable tourist is to holiday in your home country, as this stops atmospheric pollution from planes.  This is known as STAY-CATIONING - but that leaves British people at the mercy of Britain's hugely variable weather.


Ecotourism is environmentally friendly tourism where the people involved seek to protect the environment as much as possible and to allow for some level of education as well.  In many cases of ecotourism; some of the profits go back into protecting the environment and the tourism is small scale, with low visitor number densities and environmental approaches to accommodation and food.  For example, I have stayed in an ecotourism lodge in Puerto Maldonado in Peru, where tours of the Amazon forest take place for tourists staying in small wooden huts there is limited electricity and waste is dealt with on site, and the food at the resort is sourced locally.

Watch the videos below and answer the questions

Attempt the scatter exercise at the base of the page


2 Guides from the Inca trail - ecologically sound?

An ecolodge in the Amazon Basin - with low tourist densities and local people directly involved
 
The impact of ecotourism on the environment is low, but because the numbers of tourists allowed is low the price must be high to compensate.
 
Ecotourism stems from 2 concepts - stewardship and conservation.  Stewardship is careful management of the environment on a large scale across regions, nations and even internationally.  All developments are planned sustainably.  Conservation is more LOCAL in its nature allowing local people to be involved.  Unfortunately not all people or governments are concerned about either!  Your case study of ecotourism is the Galapagos Islands off the West Coast of Ecuador.  
 
What does the video show about the need for stewardship and conservation?
 
How are Honda helping with forest Stewardship?

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