Save Eco Destinations

Manu Island, Fiji

The government of Fiji created the Fiji Ecotourism Association in 1995. One of its alleged aims is to “improv[e] the welfare of the local people.”

There are, supposedly, several eco-resorts and National Parks and Reserves to visit. You can learn about local culture by attending a talanoa (storytelling) session about traditional local medicines, legends, and history; you can attend their mekes, a cultural feast featuring traditional song and dance.

Now, the definition of ecoutourism relies partly on the concept of being respectful and furthering the welfare of local communities; and learning about their culture from a reverential perspective sounds great.

But can ecotourists really help locals with their business in a land ruled by a violent and oppressive military regime?

It’s a question worth asking, and I think the answer is a bold no.

By supporting ostensible ecotourism in Fiji (or any kind of Fijan business) we are supporting a regime guilty of human rights violations, widespread censorship, and a refusal to hold elections. Boycotting is a significant way in which we can pressure Fiji’s government to change its tactics, as the country is heavily dependent on tourism for GDP growth.

Let’s look at a couple of examples why the idea of ecotourism in Fiji may be an oxymoron.

Air pollution caused by cruise ships

Ecotourism in Fiji: Cruises

Tourism companies apparently get very excited about hosting “cruising enthusiasts” and even host cruise companies and operators. Ironically,

Cruise ships generate an astonishing amount of pollution: up to 25,000 gallons of sewage from toilets and 143,000 gallons of sewage from sinks, galleys and showers each day. … Cruise ships dump untreated sewage from toilets once the ships is three miles from shore.

And you don’t think this crap (literally) is going to affect Fiji’s marine ecosystems? Exactly.

Here’s more:

Each cruise ship carries an average of 3,000 people and produces as much sewage and waste as a mid-sized city. Tons of raw sewage, garbage and even hazardous waste are produced and disposed of each day by a single ship. This constant discharge of waste into our oceans is multiplied by dozens of ships operating every day in our precious oceans.

Cruise ships do not have to comply with environmental and water quality protection laws that are required for municipalities. They are allowed to dump sewage and garbage directly into our oceans—and they do!

Incredibly, the most common practice of cruise ships is to dump waste at sea, usually at night. While they are not supposed to release raw sewage or other solid waste into state waters (3 nautical miles from shore), ocean currents can return discharged sewage, polluted waters and garbage to our shores. Fish do not know boundaries.

Cruise liners also impact air quality. Diesel engines spew out diesel exhaust equivalent to 10,000 cars each day per ship and are kept idling, even when in port.

Well.

Ecotourism in Fiji: Sports

Sports options on the island of Denarau include golf and tennis. But get this: runoff from fertilized lawns and golf courses causes nutrient pollution (nitrogen, phosphates, etc.), which in turn can cause algal bloom, sometimes known as red tide.

The effects of algal bloom, also caused by nutrient runoff from sugar cane farming in Fiji, include the production of neurotoxins that cause high rates of mortalities in fish, seabirds, marine mammals, and the litany of species that inhabit coral reefs, as the reefs die. This, as a result, impacts the Fijan communities that obtain their food and/or livelihood from the ocean.

More and more, it seems to me like “ecotourism in Fiji” is indeed an oxymoron.

A double-decker bus in London

The BBC’s ethical man (I refuse to capitalize this, ha) has written about green transportation and proposed that driving cars is more carbon-efficient than public transport like buses and trains “(maybe).”

Wha? Glad he plugged the “maybe” into his hypothesis!

As a flaming fan of green transportation, which for me constitutes public transport, I was shocked.

The ethical man argues that if you just “pack in extra passengers” into a car, driving becomes a form of green transportation – or relatively green – despite the rise in fuel consumption caused by the increase in weight carried by the vehicle.

I’ll buy that.

Now, he claims buses and trains are not truly forms of green transportation when compared to driving a car chock full of passengers, because buses and trains guzzle loads of gas pollute more proportionally when carrying few passengers. (Read the boring technical details here.)

While he does recognize that a full bus – especially a double-decker – or train generally pollutes less than a car, he notes that for most of the day, buses and trains travel almost empty of passengers.

But back up.

As I have lived in a bunch of different cities, let me bring up some points about green transportation beyond the UK:

In Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and Sarasota, Florida, this is the case, too (although I am seeing more and more happily hybrid buses). It’s not surprising, though, since public transport is not so popular in most of the U.S. For the most part, green transportation in this country continues to be mostly made up of bicycling, walking, and so forth, as not everyone can yet afford a hybrid or electric car (nor are they readily available yet).

Bus #39 in Capital Federal, Argentina

But in the capital of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for example, subways and buses are, if not always full to the brim (which they are for portions of each day), almost always carry a significant amount of passengers. At night, however, buses are often rather empty (they run 24/7, I am happy to report. Okay, only sort of happy in terms of green transportation). And escalating amounts of people are resorting to bicycling to get around, largely because inflation is driving public transport (and food, etc.) prices up while salaries remain low and unemployment is high.

The good news for Florida is that a bullet train is in the works to take people from Orlando to Tampa and perhaps even down south to Miami. This would be an outstanding form of green transportation, because the only way you can travel up and down now is by car or a filthy Greyhound bus (I’ve taken them!), and it takes something like an 8-hour drive to get from the south of Florida all the way to the north. Although I will mention, I see a lot of “carpool” signs with phone numbers on the highway.

Either way, this is some deliciously hearty food for thought. And at least the urbanites among us can feel good about polluting less than, uh, ruralites?

Anyway, I’ll choose public transport over driving any day. Buses, trains, and subways are going to run anyway, at least for now, so I’ll definitely be lowering my carbon emissions by choosing them over driving.

Green transportation lovers unite!

Hmm, I wonder how subways fit into this. I take them a lot in Buenos Aires, and they are also almost always rather full.

I shall explore teh interwebz for the answers to the universe!

Photo - Volcanoes Safaris

By Cinthia Pacheco

This is the second of two posts on the Virungas region of East Africa. What tourism options are available in the Virungas region? And is there a way to observe the infamous mountain gorilla without damaging its survival?

Go2Africa

Ecotourists interested in the Virungas region can visit go2africa, one of the biggest African tourism websites. It offers intensive gorilla trekking with mandatory gorilla permits and certain rules, e.g. no flash photography or children under 15 because they might transmit diseases to the gorillas. One hour is allowed with the gorillas and at a distance of no closer than 7 meters. In certain restrictive circumstances, like border closures, security changes, or gorillas going out of range, the park ranger can deny your gorilla encounter, even after purchasing a gorilla permit.

The travel service highlights its environmental and social responsibility (including its adoption of a blind rhino, Max – aww). It also encourages connecting with their Africa experts and spending time on their forums.

Volcanoes Safaris

Volcanoes Safaris offers eco-lodges and emphasizes the “debate on minimizing the environmental impact of rich travellers on poor countries.” The company displays detailed information on its eco-lodges’ low-flush and eco-san dry toilets, bush showers, and solar panel lighting.

Although both these companies seem to show initiative to protect the fragility of the Virungas region, Volcanoes Safaris really buckles down on conservation efforts:

“As the leading gorilla safari company, Volcanoes has demonstrated our commitment to working for their survival by being the only safari company to sign the Kinshasa Declaration on Saving the Great Apes.”

This company shows its commitment to a long-term plan to protect the Virungas region and its wildlife.

Close-up of mountain gorilla in Rwanda by National Geographic

Tourism and community working together

While digging into all the tourism information available on the Virungas region, I couldn’t help but notice community projects ubiquitous across websites on the mountain gorilla. The multitude of organizations involved is astounding, and many understand that the local community impacts the gorillas’ well-being.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund und has people programs focusing on ecosystem health, community development, and education. In order for the tourism sector to thrive, the local community must be stable, and these small-scale sustainable development programs are “designed to help local people work toward economic independence, reducing reliance on irreplaceable natural resources.”

This, in turn, benefits the well-being of the Virungas region and thus the mountain gorilla.

There also have been plans to regulate tourism, including the Virunga Massif Tourism Plan, which

“aims to provide the framework for tourism development in the region that allows for controlled development, which does not generate any negative environmental or socio-cultural impact and which will be used as a means for environmental and cultural conservation.”

Another collaboration worth noting is The Great Virunga Transboundary Collaboration, which includes the countries surrounding the Virungas region: Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda. Through this project said countries have pooled in their energy to co-ordinate level regulations on “environmental management, law enforcement, gorilla census and tourism.”

A mountain gorilla-tourist encounter

Conclusion – Can ecotourism and gorillas coexist?

The Karisoke Center continues to advance its research goals and conservation objectives, and is currently in the process of conducting a new study, Environmental Economics Research, putting special attention on the impact of human activity on the Virungas region, namely tourist behaviour toward conservation efforts.

The scientists who work with these animals know that, in general, gorillas are peaceful and gentle. However, a study by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund on the direct impact of safari tours trekking in on the Virunga gorillas found that,

“The gorillas were more aggressive and exhibited a number of stress-related behaviours during the one-hour tourist visits … This study has provided the park management authorities the scientific information needed to guide sustainable long-term management of the gorillas in the face of increased economic pressure to include more gorilla groups in the tourism program and to increase the number of visitors and visits per day to each group.”

I believe that with careful regulations, controlled and conscious ecotourism – real ecotourism – can aid the gorillas of the Virungas region. Money from tourism helps revive the local economy and, in turn, helps these gorillas.

Being one of our closest the living primates, I think it is essential for us to step up and ensure their safety and survival.

Cinthia Pacheco is a Canadian-Argentine living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She writes about feminism, ecotourism and basketball. You can connect with her via email and on Twitter at @rincon200.

What if next time you went on vacation you replenished your soul as well as your mind? Don’t call me a hippie – I’m serious. Volunteering is a marvelous way to show gratitude for nature and for life, and giving to others is one of the best ways to find fulfillment.

Plus, everything is better when it’s free (or at least cheap), am I right? Yes.

So let’s look at some cheap volunteer vacations.

Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, Montana, USA

Montana

Explore the wilderness and help build and repair trails or restore campsites at the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, which works with the U.S. Forest Service, in Montana. No experience is necessary for most of the projects (great news for me)! You can choose from three levels of difficulty and hike between 1 and 15 miles per day depending on the project. Volunteers of all ages are welcome. Check out the registration packets with further details here.

For another type of volunteer vacations in Montana, read this post.

Colorado

Colorado

Cheap volunteer vacations here include spending the summer building and improving the Colorado Trail for just $60 per week or $30 per weekend. The trail foundation organizes 15 volunteer trail efforts every summer in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and you get a discount if you help out with more than one effort. Register in advance here. They’ll tell you what to bring. P.S. Another way you can help is to adopt a trail.

Hudson River

Sail the Hudson River

If you like kids and sailing, you can go on volunteer vacations on the Sloop’s “floating classroom” from mid-April through October every year and lead small group activities. For a volunteer fee of $100 you’re in. The fee helps offset the cost of food, instruction, you get a volunteer t-shirt, and help fund the group’s Youth Internships. Caveat: You’ll be committing yourself to rustic conditions for at least a week on the boat and must be 16 or older. Check it out.

Inwood Hill Park

New York City

You read that correctly. For a minimum contribution of $450-500 you can spend three days in April, May, June, September, October, or November 2010 learning about small mammal or coyote populations in the urban parks of Manhattan and the Bronx. Talk about, uh, weird volunteer vacations. You can choose Van Cortlandt Park (small mammals and coyotes), Pelham Bay Park, (small mammals and coyotes), or Inwood Hill Park (small mammals). And your $500 will only get you lunch, so you better have some money saved up.

Organic vegetable cultivation

All over

Take volunteer vacations at organic farms across the U.S. through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program. Pay a $20 annual fee and you get to peruse over 1,000 farms seeking volunteers on every corner of the country, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (go here for the Northeast). You work a half day for an organic farm, and the farm gives you room and board for the night in the family farmhouse or at a nearby cabin (how long you get to stay at each farm varies). Gorge yourself on organic goodness. Sweet.

For some more info on WWOOF projects, read this post.

The denizens of the Ecuadorian Amazon are suing multinational oil monger Chevron for its environmental destruction via the dumping of over 18 billions of gallons of poison in the rainforest. The people of the Ecuadorian Amazon want this scummy corporation to pay USD 27 billion for the damage and clean up their land. This would be the largest environmental lawsuit ever.

(Note: Can you even begin to imagine what billions of gallons of poisonous waste looks like? I can’t. Imagine the magnitude of the destruction!)

Chevron will inevitably burn in hell

In response, magnanimous Chevron Corporation is trying to cheat its way out of taking responsibility for its crap. (And I am just shocked. Shocked, I tell you!) The corporation said the report measuring the extent of the harm it caused to the Ecuadorian Amazon is invalid “because the court-appointed author owns a cleanup company and didn’t disclose his conflict of interest,” Bloomberg reported on February 9:

… Richard Cabrera is the majority owner of an oilfield remediation company registered to perform work for Ecuador’s state-owned oil company, PetroEcuador. Cabrera failed to disclose the business ties and the company stands to gain financially if an Ecuadorean court finds Chevron liable in a lawsuit over pollution from oil drilling in the Amazon …

Oh, yeah, that’s why 30,000 Ecuadorian Amazon natives want their land cleaned up.

Sign a petition and other ways to help

If you’re as outraged as I am, go ahead and sign this petition by Avaaz to side with the inhabitants of the Ecuadorian Amazon and pressure the sleazy oil corporation to get its act together and clean up the rainforest. (You know, as much as it is possible undo the effects of 18 billion gallons of poison, which has already been taking its toll on one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and tens of thousands of Ecuadorians.)

Let Chevron’s new CEO John Watson know that his company is making an asshole of itself for not only screwing over this community and ecosystem in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but also for attempting to do it again. The petition also requests that the corporation “adopt new policies worldwide to prevent similar tragedies in the future.”

Another way to help this cause and myriad others is to make a donation to Avaaz. Just think: Even donating the equivalent of a couple of lattes a month – what? $5? – can add up to help Avaaz keep going. (Hey, not that I’m encouraging you to be stingy! I’m just making the point that you don’t have to empty your bank account to help a worthy cause. And no, these are not affiliate links! That would just be dirty.)

An additional way to show your support for clean-up efforts in the Ecuadorian Amazon is to check out filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s film Crude, which explores the lawsuit in question. The documentary will be released on DVD on February 23. Sweet.

Spread love – to the Ecuadorian Amazon and beyond!

Learn more:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Fly green with British Airways

(Okay, as green as you can fly.) British Airways is taking a revolutionary step as it commits to build Europe’s first facility “to produce jet fuel from waste matter” within the next two years.

You’ll be able to support British Airways’ efforts and fly green by 2014.

The company will take 500,000 tons of crap (probably not literally) annually in its United Kingdom plant to produce 15 million gallons of fuel for its airplanes. As many as 1,200 people will gain work from the operation and countless others will be able to fly green.

Although the company’s plant will produce twice the amount of necessary fuel for all its flights leaving from London City Airport, this will allow just 2% of customers leaving from Heathrow to fly green. At the beginning, the facility will likely not work at full capacity.

But hey, it’s a start – and a kickass one at that!

The idea is that by reducing the amount of waste with high carbon content that reaches landfills by 500,000 tons a year, less methane will be released into the atmosphere. Note: methane is more harmful than carbon dioxide. Speaking of which, cough, don’t eat meat, cough.

United States company Solena Group will construct the plant and British Airways will purchase its output so its customers can fly green and clean (I’m a poet and I didn’t even …).

Here’s how it will work:

The waste is fed into a high temperature “gasifier” to produce BioSynGas.

A chemical process called Fischer Tropsch is then used to convert the gas into biofuel.

Waste products from the process can be used to power the plant as well as supply 20MW of electricity to the national grid.

A solid waste product can be used as an aggregate in construction.

Sweet. That’s a biofuel I can be happy about.

Um, ironically, the fuel is not currently certified for use in the UK, although it is certified in other countries. But fear not! British Airways is positive it will acquire certification so you can fly green by 2014, when Solena Group will begin producing the waste-matter fuel.

The fuel will be used alone or mixed with traditional kerosene.

Hey, I’m excited! I always feel guilty when I fly (and drive, and … a lot of things). Now I’ll be able to fly green, baby! (“Baby” is so silly. But what’s a good alternative? I hesitate to say “dude.” Maybe “sistah”?)

Thoughts? Are you as excited as I am to fly green?

Map of the Virungas and National Park - WWF/Carpe

By Cinthia Pacheco

This is the first of two posts on the Virungas region of East Africa, by some called the ‘darkest Africa.’  In this first post, we will look at the history of African region and, in the second, the specific ecotourist options that exist there.

The mountain gorillas of the Virungas

The Virungas stretch along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda. This dense jungle is home to a community of mountain gorillas, “the rarest of subspecies.”

“There are roughly 720 mountain gorillas left on Earth; half live in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the other half 15 miles south in the Virunga Mountains.”

Why are these gorillas different from others? Their low-fruit diet makes them less likely to move in a large range throughout the forest and the rugged terrain creates clear visibility. Further, because they have not been traditionally hunted for food by humans, they are not alarmed by tourists and are more easily observable.

History

The history of the Virungas and nearby regions is indeed dark, with a heavy past of civil war, disease, and poaching. It began in the 1960s, when primatology and anthropology were ripe: the perfect conditions to study gorillas. And thus, the Karisoke Research Center was founded by Dian Fossey with a mission to research developmental behaviour and ecology in conjunction with the conservation of these mountain gorillas.

A mountain gorilla hanging out - Getty

The researchers captured data from different regions of the Virungas, including the Virungas National Park and Volcanoes National Park. They studied everything about the gorilla’s lives and it soon became evident that this information could be revolutionary when studied over long periods of time.

During the 1970s, anthropology was blooming with gorilla research, but there were very little conservation efforts in motion. The gorilla population declined in the Virungas between 1958 and 1973 because of habit loss linked to human settlement and cultivation of cash crops. Also, tourism played a part in gorilla poaching and hunting.

“In the mid 1970s, a gruesome trophy trade in gorilla heads and skulls surfaced in Rwanda, with the main market being foreign residents and visitors.”

It wasn’t until the end of the 1980s that gorilla-based tourism began to thrive, starting in Rwanda.  Conservation and education were also being implemented at this time.

However, in October 1990, war broke out in Rwanda and, as a result, the Virungas were no longer considered tourist-friendly for a long time. Again in April 1994, instability hit Rwanda with war and genocide and the national parks in the Virungas became a base for rebels. Poaching activities mounted again and the survival of the gorillas was at stake.

The Virungas

Since then, there have been time gaps when the Virungas have been restricted to tourists. Today, tourists are advised to avoid certain parts of Congo and Rwanda, but gorilla tours and trekking in the national parks are slowly gaining popularity.

So, does tourism play a critical role in the protection of these beautiful animals? Or will it only bring more destruction to the area?

In the next post, I will look at the different existing ecotourism companies in the Virungas and whether they are really there to watch out for the gorillas – or just their own bank accounts.

Cinthia Pacheco is a Canadian-Argentine living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She writes about feminism, ecotourism and basketball. You can connect with her via email and on Twitter at @rincon200.