REUTERS/Sergio Perez

We congratulate our Emperor Penguin member, Greg Bakunzi from Rwanda, for receiving the UNWTO Award for his conservation and community supporting tourism. The UNWTO Awards are the flagship awards for the global tourism sector. They recognize the work of organizations and individuals around the world that positively impact and inspire the tourism sector through innovation and knowledge, in line with the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Continue reading →

Our Emperor Penguin member, Amahoro tours, just forwarded us the information of the Virunga Foundation that the Virunga National Park re-opens on the 15th of February! This comes after the park was indefinitely closed in May 2018, due to tragic incidents as we wrote earlier. The Virunga National Park is a UNESCO world heritage site and an outstanding LT&C-Example, especially known for its thriving mountain gorilla population. Thanks to the dedication of the park’s rangers and wardens, Virunga has been able to survive. Thereby the cooperation of the Virunga Foundation with the governmental parks authority ICCN played a key role. Their work to provide unique opportunities for tourists to experience the natural wonders of the park made travelers not only financing the management and infrastructure of the national park but also triggers other financial contributions the surrounding communities benefit from. Continue reading →

There is a hot debate in Arendal about the future development of the Hove camping or “glamping” site on the island of Tromøy in an area directly surrounded by Raet national park.  Arendal municipality has meanwhile decided to develop a special “regional plan” for the sensitive area. The good thing about the present controversial discussion is that many are wishing better preservation of the natural and recreational values of the area bordering Raet national park. Hopefully, the outcome of Arendal’s decisions is, to minimize the area covered in the future with any permanent physical structures.  Continue reading →

If you make plans for 2019, have compensated your climate footprint in 2018, and once want to see the famous bird island Fair Isle, reach out from there via a visit of the very remote island Jan Mayen and then travel along the whale-rich sea ice-edge to LT&C-Example Svalbard, you should not miss out this study tour. At this pioneering tour, we will test also the brand new and green requirements meeting ship m/v Hondius of our LT&C-founding member Oceanwide Expeditions. More information on this and other LT&C-Study tours you may have at look yourself.

If you care for our future climate you should think twice before traveling, particular if far distance. And the minimum you should do for the CO2-emissions you have caused through traveling this year, you should offset by investing into a reliable project you understand: Go to the website of South Pole, get registered and your emissions calculated and invest into the Kariba REDD+ project (see further explanations below). After you have done that you may plan for 2019, look out for LT&C-Events or subscribe to our LT&C-Calendar. For example note down the dates for our 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM and workshop): May 31 in Ramberg, Lofoten Norway.  Continue reading →

Egg-laying leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at Grand Béréby beach. Photo: Wolf Wichmann

One week of a “linking”-mission to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) made obvious that the country in West-Africa has both challenges but the potential to create a series of marine protected areas (MPAs). The vision of former Minister of Environment, Rémi Allah-Kouadio, once formulated, could become reality and would be an important contribution to the global goal  (CBD-Aichi target 11) to get 10% of the world’s marine ecosystems and habitats protected. 5 new MPAs are in planning and the Secretariat of the UN Abidjan Convention (ABC) has the mandate of the Government to facilitate the implementation of that plan. When LT&C met last week with ABC, Grand Béréby, where LT&C- and CEM- member Olaf Grell and his team have for several years studied and assessed the marine biodiversity and worked closely together with the local people for protecting the turtle coast, came out as the pioneering case and candidate for the first MPA to be established likely already in 2019. Continue reading →

Foto ©Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

When last Thursday the Conference President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, gaveled the two-weeks UN Biodiversity Summit (COP14) in Sharm e-Sheikh, she was sure “marvelous work was done”. According to IISD, also CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer outlined the successes of the meeting, including, among others: committing to an inclusive and flexible preparatory process for the post-2020 framework; calling for a UN decade on ecosystem restoration; and committing to the final “two-year sprint towards the Aichi finish line.” The new goals of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for the next decade will be decided on the 2020 Conference, to be held in Beijing, China. A summary of the UN Biodiversity Summit has been made available by IISD in their Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Continue reading →