Photo provided by KAHUZI BIEGA
NATIONAL PARK TEAM
After writing about the tragic incident happened to the Virunga National Park, our member Amahoro Tours provided us with another press release. Greg Bakunzi, managing director of Amahoro Tours, who’s mission it is to contribute with his tours to both conservation and community development, recently visited Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
The Spirit Bear is a genetically unique subspecies of the black bear found only on BC’s north and central coast. The bear is the namesake for the Kitasoo/Xai’xais owned and operated Spirit Bear Lodge. Photo provided by Mike Robbins
Spirit Bear Lodge (SBL) is a successful, profitable cultural ecotourism business owned and operated by the Kitasoo Xai’Xais First Nation in the remote community of Klemtu on the central coast of BC. The Spirit Bear Lodge mandate is to provide economic benefits and sustainable local employment to residents of Klemtu, but it has evolved into something much more than just an economic driver. Continue reading
The marine conservation and travel magazine SEVENSEAS featured in its June edition the LT&C-Example Seychelles. Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean which is renowned for its unique flora and fauna, half of the land area being protected as nature reserves and the government has committed to protecting 30% of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 1.3 million square kilometers until 2030. Tourism is one of the major pillars of the economy and plays a crucial role in conservation. The Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation (SSTF) is a Seychellois NGO which acts as a connecting platform for tourism stakeholders in Seychelles, facilitating partnerships and joint initiatives for sustainable tourism. Continue reading
Many have heard about the tragic incident in May happened to the Virunga National Park, our Partner and LT&C-Example. One of the park’s rangers was killed, while two visitors were abducted in the park. Tourism, which is so crucial for sustaining the park, its mountain gorilla population as well as for the communities surrounding the park, therefore had to be suspended. Since tourism was relaunched in 2014, the Park has received over 17,000 visitors, with world-class guest accommodation and services. Tourism has provided essential employment opportunities to local communities and is integral to supporting the Park’s ongoing development work. It is uncertain for the moment when the Virunga National Park can be re-opened. While we recommend to follow-up on the website of the Virunga National Park, our member Greg Bakunzi/Amahoro Tours, who is operating in all three countries, DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda, supporting their trilateral cooperation, has provided us with his views on and his assessment of the situation: Continue reading
If you are interested in Wolfs and Bears or want to know how tourism, wolf management, and national parks can produce a win-win, save the dates and meet the experts! A Workshop on “Tourism, Wolf Management and National Parks”, embedded in a 5-day field excursion, is scheduled from 26 -31 May in the spectacular theatre of the Majella National Park, Abruzzo, Italy. Continue reading
Map of Tmatboey ecotourism protected area
WCS works with the Royal Government of Cambodia and community partners to conserve some of the rarest bird species at several sites across Cambodia. These rare birds attract specialist bird tourists, and so WCS has helped local communities develop the capacity to host tourists. Site-based tourism services are managed by an elected Community Protected Area Committee trained by WCS and its partners. Tourists contribute directly to the local economy through payments to villagers for services such as accommodation, guiding, cooking, transportation and Village Development Funds. Continue reading
The fishing nation Chile obviously is on the way to become a leading country when it comes to establishing marine protected areas (MPAs), inclusive huge no-fishing zones. As e.g. the Smithsonian magazine wrote already in February, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet signed into law protections for nearly 450,000 square miles of sea. This equals about 1,16 million square kilometers, similar to the size of France, Germany and the UK together. Environmental NGOs such as WCS or the Pew Foundation highlighted Chile as well and had played a role in this achievement. It will be interesting to assess also the role of tourism and what still needs to be done to achieve the SDG-target 14.5 equal to the CBD-“Aichi target 11” to protect gglobally10% of the sea and coasts by 2020. Continue reading
On the World Migratory Bird Day (May 12) this year, we should celebrate the 25thanniversary of the inauguration of Russia’s Great Arctic Reserve (Zapovednik), as one of the greatest contributions to secure important areas along the entire East Atlantic Flyway of coastal birds, such as brent geese and red knots. The Taimyr peninsular in northernmost Siberia represents today both the largest continuous tundra area in Eurasia and one of the best coverage of protected areas in Russia. And maybe the anniversary can also be used to think about completing a South-North transect of protected areas by inserting a new national park connecting the existing Zapovedniks. Continue reading
Photo: Virunga Nationa Park
“In Virunga National Park, the good news just keeps coming. In late February, rangers discovered the 8th newborn mountain gorilla in less than two months”, reports LT&C-Partner Virunga National Park. If you want to read more and see more pictures, see their latest blog. And, if you – once in your life – want to meet a mountain gorilla family in the wild yourself, LT&C can give you some recommendations: Continue reading
A great step towards the protection of the internationally important Yellow Sea tidal flats has been made earlier this year: the Chinese government announced that it will halt all ‘business-related’ land reclamation along its coast. This is an extremely valuable achievement, where among other bird watching travellers and also representatives of the LT&C-Example Wadden Sea (see also initiatives for trilateral World Heritage) are involved in. Every year millions of shorebirds migrate from the southern hemisphere, many from as far as Australia and New Zealand, to the Arctic to breed and back again. Nearly all are dependent on the food-rich intertidal mudflats of the Yellow Sea Ecoregion (the east coast of China and the west coasts of North and South Korea) as stopover sites. For those interested in this region, we herewith reproduce an article of Birders Beijing and recommend to subscribe to the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) Newsletter. Continue reading