Ecotourism and Sustainable Development

Аннотация

This new edition is, in many sections, markedly different from the original text. This is a tribute to how, over the last decade, ecotourism has grown both in terms of its geographical reach and its practical innovations. Watershed events have included the UN’s International Year of Ecotourism in 2002 and the first ever conference on ecotourism in the United States in 2005 (which was organized by TIES while I was director). In addition, a number of new concepts and tools are helping to deepen the meaning of ecotourism. These include the growth of “green” certification programs. In 2000, I organized, together with Abigail Rome, the first ever international workshop on ecotourism and sustainable tourism certification programs, held at the Mohonk Mountain House outside New York City. Now, in 2008, we are on the cusp of launching the Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC), the first global accreditation body that will assess “green” certification programs against a set of common criteria. This marks a major step forward in setting environmental and social standards for the tourism industry, and much of the credit for success goes to Ronald Sanabria and the Rainforest Alliance, which has carried out the broadly participatory process over the last decade.