How children benefit from an ecotourism experience

(Guest post from Irene Lane, founder & president of Greenloons)

Just because you are going on a family vacation doesn’t mean that learning should take a break too. Ecotourism is full of what educators call teachable moments or, more definitively, unplanned opportunities to explain a concept that has unintentionally captured a child’s interest.

Whether it is touring the rainforests of Belize, watching turtle hatchlings make their way to the sea in Costa Rica, or understanding the water issues that surround the Okavango Delta in Botswana, ecotourism is a vacation experience that provides boundless opportunities to teach younger generations about the fragility of ecosystems and the significance of heritage.

Who among us has not witnessed the common occurrence while visiting the local zoo, going hiking through the wilderness, or even watching a local artistic exhibit of younger children looking with absolute wonder and amazement at the spectacle of music, art, flora or fauna? There is delight followed by an onslaught of illuminating questions about people and the natural world.

These teachable moments mark milestones for a child’s personal growth and development. And, the value system that is at the core of ecotourism can be a positive influence on all age groups, not just the very young. Specifically, children can benefit from an ecotourism vacation because the experience offers an opportunity for:

• Instruction about indigenous wildlife – ecotours are not only small group tours that allow for up-close-and-personal views of nature, but ones that are generally led by a naturalist that have been trained to understand plants, birds, insects and animals of the region and their relationships to ecosystems, thereby bringing education alive;
  
• Increased awareness about environmental degradation – an important component of ecotourism is to inform tourists about ways to minimize waste, soil erosion, air and water pollution so as not to disturb the environment - lessons that no doubt will stay with children;
  
• Involvement with conservation efforts – whether it’s helping to record sea turtle activity in Baja or understand the destructive role of invasive plant species in the wilderness, ecotourism allows for deep knowledge of the fragility of the natural world;
• Focus on the depletion of natural resources – whether its learning about how an eco-lodge harnessed solar or wind power for their operations or how countries are implementing renewable bio-energy to power engines, ecotourism teaches how the impact of tourism is affecting sustainable land development, public transportation choices, and how other countries are using low-carbon technologies today;
  
• Exposure to cultural experiences – from tasting new foods to learning phrases in a foreign language, ecotourism interprets cultural traditions and experiences that provide long-lasting impressions about the world;
• Inspiration for a life’s passion – while snorkeling through a coral reef or observing animals in their natural habitat in Africa, ecotourism sparks the imagination to dream about a career or even find a solution to an environmental problem;
  

Ecotourism even offers opportunities to incorporate your family vacation with your child’s science, social studies, foreign language, even art and music lesson plans. One of the most helpful and free resources available now is on the Rainforest Alliance site, which offers a Kindergarten – 8th Grade curriculum guide.

One example lesson plan for a Kindergarten student is entitled Biodiversity which challenges children to think about the diversity of local flora and fauna in local forests versus tropical forests as they classify insect and tree species, while the 8th Grade lesson plan entitled Guatemala's Changing Forest has children learning about the Maya Biosphere Reserve by analyzing maps and determining recent changes in forest cover. Dedication to the cause of the environment and its preservation can have a long-lasting impact on the way our younger generations feel more connected to ecosystems as well as view social involvement and economic success. Not only will children establish a deeper, longer-lasting connection with the region they are visiting during an ecotour, they will learn more about how they can make a more positive impact on the world.

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Irene Lane is the founder & president of Greenloons, which is a company dedicated to providing nature enthusiasts and wildlife conservationists worldwide with trusted information about responsible, sustainable, and certified ecotourism travel vacations and volunteer conservation efforts both in the U.S. and internationally. For more information, visit Greenloons at http://www.greenloons.com.

Wanted Alive, Not Dead: The Financial Value of Thriving Bears in BC

(This is an excerpted guest post from Maple Leaf Adventures president, Kevin J. Smith. Find the full post here.)

For a moment, I want you to put aside all that you know and feel about the sport hunting of bears.

Put aside the ethics, the emotions and the images of bear hunting. Believe me, I do understand all the strong feelings associated with the hunt; I have been involved with these conversations in B.C. on every level. From the official land use planning tables to the heated dockside disagreement, from the downtown boardroom to the up-coast estuary, this is one of the most emotionally charged issues on the B.C. coast.

You can waste hours, months, and years sitting at a table and talking in circles about the appropriateness of a person with hired guide, high-powered rifle, and half-mile scope setting one foot out of their boat onto the mud of a coastal estuary and killing a bear, and arguing about whether that is ethical, sustainable or “sporting.”

Instead, I want you to think about the business case.

I am a businessman, and my growing business is part of a growing industry called bear viewing. What if we get rid of all the emotional baggage and simply look at the almighty dollar and the irrefutable bottom line? In 2010 is a bear worth more living or shot dead?

The Market Opportunity

Eco-adventure tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the world’s travel economy. Adventure travel grows 10% each year worldwide. In 2008, the Adventure Travel Trade association estimated spending on adventure travel worldwide at $150 billion. At 10% growth per year, that will be $300 billion by 2015.

Demographic trends and a growing eco-savvyness of travelers means that environmentally sustainable and ethical adventure travel are increasingly the options people seek.

We’ll get to some local statistics in a moment, but let’s first consider the big picture.

Wilderness trips and wildlife viewing trips grow in popularity each year, with Costa Rican eco-lodges, Africa safaris, and Galapagos wildlife viewing trips just three well-known examples. These high quality tourism opportunities support award-winning businesses; employees and communities take great pride in the natural wealth they have to share with their visitors.

Here in B.C., we have one of the world’s last places to see wild bears in their beautiful natural habitat. This is of growing interest to adventure travelers.

And, it provides a unique offering for B.C., helping to establish its “position” in the adventure travel market, so that a B.C. industry, operated by B.C. owners and employing B.C. residents, may prosper.

This is the opportunity we have as a province.

What Is the Bear Viewing Industry?

Bear viewing is a segment of the wilderness tourism industry.

We take people into spectacular wilderness areas – such as verdant meadows at the mouths of rivers framed by the mountains, fjords and rainforest of the B.C. coast. Here, we guide small groups of people to amazing sightings of grizzly, black and spirit bears exhibiting their natural behaviour: fishing for salmon, training cubs to swim, playing, and so on.

We have expert naturalists who explain bears and their world to our guests. Our guests take thousands of photos – each.

There are different types of bear viewing businesses, from day-trippers going to viewing stands, to lodges in the rainforest, to 75-foot boats like ours who offer multi-day cruises in wilderness areas, to $3,000-per-night fishing lodges that promote and offer bear viewing as an amenity.

This is a high-value industry. We offer a hard-to-get wilderness experience that is highly sought, and described by many as the “experience of a lifetime”. It is expensive for us to provide, and I estimate that at least 80 cents of every dollar we earn is rolled right into the B.C. economy in the form of wages, trip operations, maintenance, supplies, permits and other expenses. These businesses are also almost 100% B.C.-owned.

This industry is based on a “renewable” resource: great viewings of healthy, wild bears. It is low impact and thrives in areas where conservation of natural areas is in place. In fact, it is a poster child for the “conservation economy” in the Great Bear Rainforest. It is sustainable over the long term, based not on a boom-and-bust model but one of steady, long-term use.

The “Take-Home” Message

Here is what I hope you will remember:

• We have an opportunity as a province of promoting a unique, high-value industry for our people: bear viewing.
• The bear viewing industry in B.C. will experience positive growth by ending the commercial trophy hunt.
• The benefits of this growth will quickly outstrip any costs to B.C. of ending the hunt.
• It’s an industry developed and run by British Columbians, and for which we have a unique competitive position in the world.
• It’s green and it is a viable, attractive industry that actually benefits from, rather than conflicts with, conservation.
• This is a keystone in the burgeoning B.C. conservation economy and it promotes B.C. favourably in the world.

How can you argue? This is a powerful reason to end the trophy hunt. These bears are wanted – alive.

How You Can Help:

• Read about how Raincoast Conservation Foundation is buying guide outfitter licenses to help this cause.
• Sign a petition to the BC government asking for an end to commercial trophy hunting.
• Learn more about Maple Leaf Adventures here.
• Join a Maple Leaf sailing tour in Canada or Alaska here: Great Bear Rainforest, Haida Gwaii, Whales & Totems, Alaska By Sail, and Gulf Islands National Park.

Kevin J. Smith is one of twelve certified Full Bear (viewing) Guides in B.C. He has over twenty years experience working with and around bears. He has a degree in resource management from the University of Victoria, and is a vice-president of the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of B.C. An ecotourism entrepreneur, he is the president of Maple Leaf Adventures, where on the platform of the classic schooner Maple Leaf, he leads small groups of guests on bear viewing expedition cruises in the Great Bear Rainforest each year.

Photo Credits: Spirit bear- Kevin J. Smith; Bear watching- Greg Shea; Curious Grizzly- Kevin J. Smith (all of Maple Leaf Adventures)