Whole Travel Blog

Yesterday, TechCrunch mentioned BusinessWeek’s CTO article which discusses Obama’s plan to hire a CTO of the United States should he win the presidency race come November.  Among the names in the mix for this job are internet evangelist Vint Cerf, CEOs Steve Ballmer and Jeffrey Bezos (of Microsoft and Amazon, respectively), as well as Princeton professor, Ed Felton.

Tasked with the responsibility of overseeing “a job-creating national broadband build-out,” another key element of this job is a green one: to create and manage a federally-backed $50 billion green tech fund.

Read more about Obama’s CTO plan at BusinessWeek here.

The Economist published two articles last week focusing on endangered and threatened species. The first of these articles, Living on the Edge, chronicles the number of animals on the verge of obliteration, citing that “of the 44,838 species considered, 16,928 are threatened with extinction, including almost a quarter of the world’s mammals.” This is a shocking number considering the many conservation programs in place around the world.  However, it tells us that these programs aren’t doing enough.

In the Amazon alone, a piece the size of Rhode Island was deforested in the second half of 2007, making way for soybean farms and taking with it all the birds, bugs, and mammals endemic to that region. Malaysia is also clearing its forests to make room for palm oil trees to be converted into biodiesel.

Reasons for species endangerment aren’t limited to deforestation, but vary from poaching to global warming to pollution. While eco tourism, heightened awareness, and conservation efforts can help some of these cases, another tool that might help save threatened species is a new database which The Economist discusses in Where the Wild Things Are. Called the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool, or IBAT for short, this online database aims to “make it easier for businesses to incorporate concerns about conservation into their planning from the beginning of a project,” thereby being able to idenitify biodiverse habitats and the species that are endemic to them, and as a result, make it easier for these business to alter their building plans to preserve ecological hotspots.

A room at the Uacari Floating Lodge

On a recent trip to the Amazon I stayed at a wonderful lodge that really exemplifies sustainable tourism. It was much more than an “eco-lodge” and was sustainable on many fronts. Sure, they boasted solar power, rainwater collection, local guides, and local produce at their delicious restaurant, but that is just the tip of the iceberg in their sustainability efforts.

My stay was at the Uakari Lodge located in the heart of the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve deep in the Amazon. Mamirauá is part of the largest protected tropical forest complex on the planet. The complex also includes the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve the Jaú National Park.

The lodge and the reserve are managed by the people whose families have lived in Mamirauá’s small villages for centuries. They make decisions on zoning, fishing quotas, logging quotas and more. There are also researchers in the area who are determining alternate sources of income for the locals. Their efforts include the study of local ornamental fishes (for aquariums). They are trying to determine which species of fish they can “farm” sustainably for export. There are strict rules in place for fishing, logging, poaching, and more. This project is partially funded by the Zoological Society of London.

The communities are in charge of policing themselves and patrolling against outsiders coming in to exploit their resources. The reserves profits are divided up among the inhabitants, but it is not always equal. Each village can earn more or less than the others depending on their adherence to the strict rules.

Currently, the locals are being trained by volunteers to handle all aspects of the reserve so that soon they will completely run the operation. Interestingly, the volunteers told us that two of the most difficult things to teach the locals are negotiation skill and English. When you are there you can really tell that each person has a stake in the reserve and in the lodge. You are treated with warm smiles and an always helpful staff.

The kids at Mamiraua Village

The last thing I wanted to talk about was one of the highlights of the stay. We were taken to one of the local communities and were shown around the village by an elder. She was so nice and welcoming and answered all of the questions that we had (through our translator, George). I have traveled   to a lot of “local villages” (most notably the hill tribes in Thailand) and this was one of the most authentic experiences. One of the reasons I say this is because they didn’t make their kids come out and sing us songs and expect candy in return. For the most part people just went about their normal routines as if we weren’t even there.

These people truly care about the state of their reserve and it felt great to support such a project.

*Since I couldn’t remember all of the facts from the great presentation by our host and translator, George, I refreshed my memory at www.wcs.org and www.mamiraua.org.br. Please visit these sites to learn more, I only touched on a few of the initiatives.

There is a big debate about whether traveling to the most untouched, un-traveled corners of the world, visiting indigenous people, can really be counted as eco-tourism.

There is the positive factor that when you travel to a remote location you are supporting the local population, but isn’t there also an element of invasion of privacy, where the indigenous people are de facto “put on display?”

I think it’s one thing if a resort or hotel is created and run by the local people, but a completely different thing if groups of tourists travel hours through jungles and rivers just to have spotted, and maybe even, gawked at “the natives.”  Perhaps indigenous populations should be met on their terms, if and when they establish a tourist destination that they have declared as such, not one that we pronounced a desirable vacation spot.

This is something to keep in mind when planning a vacation – are you intruding into a community that wants to remain private or, in the case of many Amazonian destinations today, are you partaking in a cultural experience that wants to be shared and “discovered” and to whose sustainable growth you are contributing? Due to the rise in responsible, sustainable travel, these issues will begin to resolve themselves in the coming years.