Download The 2007 Eco Tourism conference held at the Pan

A REPORT OF THE 2007 NATIONAL ECOTOURISM CONFERENCE &
EXHIBITION
OBSERVATIONS, COMMITMENTS & ACTIONS
THEME: “HOT ISSUES GREEN SOLUTIONS”
PANAFRIC HOTEL, NAIROBI, KENYA
22ND – 24TH OCTOBER 2005
Contact
Ecotourism Kenya
P O Box 10146
00100-GPO
Nairobi
Tel: 254-20-2724755 / 2724403
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ecotourismkenya.org
Name of Event
2007 National Ecotourism Conference
Host & Organiser
Ecotourism Kenya (EK)
Report:
2007 National Ecotourism Conference- Statements, Commitments and Actions
Facilitators
Judy Kepher-Gona
Dr Lars Lindkvist
Report Compiled by:
Judy Kepher-Gona
© EK 2007
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents ................................................................................................................. 2
Background ......................................................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 4
Statement on Climate Change and Tourism ....................................................................... 4
Statement on Communities, CBT and Climate change ...................................................... 5
Statement On Best Practices And Climate Change ............................................................ 5
Statements on Sustainable Destination Management ......................................................... 6
Section 1 - overview of opening session............................................................................. 8
Private Sector Responses – The Role of Ecotourism Kenya ...................................... 8
Public Sector Responses- Role of Government .......................................................... 9
Long term-Planning – The case of Kenya’s vision 2030 ............................................ 9
Investment funds- The case of Tourism Trust Fund (TTF) ...................................... 10
Destination Marketing- The Role of National Marketing Agency ........................... 11
Development Vs climate change- the case of South Africa ..................................... 11
The Davos Declaration on Climate Change and Tourism ........................................ 12
The conference responding to the opening session noted that .................................. 13
Points of Action by the Industry should include ....................................................... 13
Section ii – overview of presentations .............................................................................. 14
Theme 1 - Climate Change and Tourism .................................................................. 14
Theme 2 - Ecotourism and Communities ................................................................. 17
Theme 3: Best Practices in Ecotourism .................................................................... 21
Theme 4: Critical Issues in Ecotourism .................................................................... 23
Theme 5: Sustainable Coastal Tourism .................................................................... 28
Theme 6 – Sustainable Destination Management ........................................................... 33
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BACKGROUND
The theme for 2007 National conference raised the red flag on a new challenge for the tourism
industry –climate change. Climate change is a hot issue in contemporary environment and
development discourse. Attention is being directed at polluters, especially emitters of Green
House Gases (GHG), with calls that they cut on their GHG. This is the mission of the Kyoto
Protocol. The tourism industry has not escaped criticism for contributing to climate change.
Indeed most services and activities offered or used by the tourism industry are perceived as highenergy. In this regard tourism must be act to minimize its GHG emissions. However, the most
direct link between tourism and climate lies in the fact that climate is a key resource for tourism.
This link certainly endears the tourism industry to join the climate change discourse and to take
deliberate actions to combat impacts of climate change. Acting otherwise would amount to the
industry committing suicide.
At a global level, action is already being taken. In early October 2007, UNWTO organized its
second conference on climate change and Tourism, providing opportunity for various UN
agencies working on climate change to share their perspectives, research findings and strategies
with stakeholders in the tourism industry including tour operators, hotel owners, transport sector,
airlines, policy makers from public sector, researchers, tourism industry professionals, academic
etc. Ecotourism Kenya participated in the Davos conference courtesy of UNEP. The outcome of
the conference was the Davos Declaration on Climate Change and Tourism.
In aligning the 2007 Conference with climate change, Ecotourism Kenya was responding to the
need to create awareness on impacts of climate change to tourism practitioners in Kenya. As a
destination that is dependent largely on nature, in particular the beach and wildlife, Kenya meets
the description of UNWTOs high-risk destinations. Secondly, Kenya is a long-haul destination.
This makes Kenya vulnerable to any actions that may be taken at source markets regarding longdistance air travel. Luckily the UNWTO has come to the rescue of long-haul destinations by
describing mitigation measures aimed at cutting travel as a ‘simplistic approach to the problem’.
In an effort to avoid simplicity in approaches to managing impacts of climate change, the
conference broadened the debate to include other critical issues in sustainable tourism
development including certification, community based tourism, indigenous peoples rights, best
practices in ecotourism and destination management among others. For example, a conducive
policy and legal framework for CBT would encourage communities to conserve significant
ecosystems found outside protected areas. This would add to land that is under ‘protected area’,
creating more carbon sinks.
The discussions were expected to create awareness on the link between tourism and climate
change in a holistic way and to generate ideas for mitigation and adaptation, as well as come up
with statements, commitments and actions by private sector, public sector, civil society and
communities, and to create a sense of urgency in all to act. The challenge to the conference is to
come up with tangible solutions that would help the country mitigate and/or adapt to climate change.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 2007 National Ecotourism Conference was a forum to highlight impacts and implications of
climate change on the tourism sector in Kenya, and to come up with stakeholder
recommendations, commitments and actions for mitigation and adaptation.
The objectives of the conference were to
 Create awareness on link between tourism and climate change with a view to having a shared
of threats and implications.
 Highlight local efforts that could be up-scaled to deal with implications of climate change to
sector in the short-term.
 Make recommendations and get commitments for action by all stakeholders.
The discussed were based on two premises; that climate change is a key resource for tourism and
that impacts of climate change were not purely environmental, but had social and economic
implication as well. The conference themes were therefore broadened to reflect the intricacy of
climate change impacts, its mitigation and adaptation.
Overall, observations, commitments and actions arising out of the four sessions (themes) are
summarised below:
STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND TOURISM
The climate change campaign in Kenya needs to gain momentum. Crucial to gaining this
momentum is coordination. It is therefore important to form private-public-civic sector
partnerships as a way to gain momentum and to push for practical actions by all stakeholders.
Within the tourism industry, Kenya Tourism Federation should spearhead this campaign, in
collaboration with Ecotourism Kenya. Other important organizations include National
Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Tourism Trust Fund (TTF) and the Kenya
Association of Air Operators (KAAO).
Commitment
 The tourism sector in Kenya is committed to realize a common vision on climate
change by 2009
Action
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Each player in the tourism industry to take immediate action to define it carbon
footprint.
Government and funding institutions to support the development of an industrywide carbon baseline.
Capacity institutions, NGO’s and the private sector organizations to raise awareness
to promote a civic movement for mitigation of global warming
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STATEMENT ON COMMUNITIES, CBT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Among other factors, CBTs ability to respond to climate change will be influenced by levels and
nature of investment funds available for enterprise development, market access, legal and policy
framework for growth of CBT and access to resources
Commitment
 CBT’s commit to be viable businesses making profit and offering products that meet
consumer’s expectations at the same time addressing socio-economic needs and
environmental concerns
Action
 Private sector to provide professional business support to CBT’s to create improved
market access.
 Donors and NGO’s to encourage and support gender sensitivity in the development and
management of future CBT’s
 Donors and NGO’s to empower CBT’s to access available funding
 Professionals, consultants and capacity institutions to provide and encourage the use of
economic data and research in the development and implementation of CBT’s
 Communities to take a realistic, transparent and accountable approach in planning,
development, management and revenue utilization
STATEMENT ON BEST PRACTICES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Best practices are voluntary actions by ecotourism practitioners that exceed regulatory
requirements. These actions must be holistic in approach and should be jointly championed by
tourism sector, academic institutions, conservation organisations and communities so as to bring
benefits to businesses, the environment and local communities.
Commitment
 The industry committed to always maintain approaches to best practices that moves
ecotourism away from disjointed activities towards becoming a holistic practice.
Action
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Learning institutions to seek and disseminate best practices in sustainable tourism as made
available by the private sector.
Destinations and tour operator’s to always meet and comply with legal standards, but strive
to move beyond compliance to achieve sustainability
Government to provide incentives rather than ”punishments” in order to move tourism
beyond compliance towards sustainability.
The ecotourism sector to engage in long term Corporate Stakeholder Responsibility (CSR),
in order to contribute to tangible development and conservation.
General Statement on Critical Issues in Ecotourism in relation to climate change
Ecotourism provides the greatest opportunity for industry to address climate change. By
promoting sustainable tourism practices through labels and awards, and concepts like ‘green”;
and recognizing indigenous peoples knowledge in management of environment, ecotourism
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should strive to not only set itself apart as a environmentally and socially responsible sub-sector
of the tourism industry, but to guard against ‘green washing’ and increase market share of
developing countries by consolidating national labeling efforts into regional standard schemes.
Specific Statements:
 “Green” is not universal. It is defined by knowledge and understanding of the context in
which a particular object, practice, service, product exists.
 Certification is a useful tool that can promote best practices and help “green” products to
access markets.
 Successful branding of ecotourism is dependant on focused leadership, collective action,
partnerships and shared/unified brand values.
 Ecotourism ventures must be sensitive to indigenous people livelihoods and rights.
 Indigenous people have a responsibility to embrace technology in order to remain
competitive in the tourism market place.
Commitment
 The tourism industry should commit to promoting and securing the ecotourism brand through
increased
participation
in
voluntary
certification
programs
Action
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Tour operators to promote certified products and those that have made effort to promote the
ecotourism brand
Capacity organizations and learning institutions to take part in definition, development and
review of criteria to ensure they address areas of impact .
Private sector to support efforts to harmonize existing schemes and move towards regional
integration of certification schemes.
STATEMENTS ON SUSTAINABLE DESTINATION MANAGEMENT
Sustainable destination management must recognize that land set aside for conservation and/or
tourism is equally a critical resource for local people. This recognition should be demonstrated
through participatory programs that benefit the people while enhancing conservation and
tourism. Local people must be involved in decision making at all levels.
Specific statements:
 What we call wildlife dispersal areas are in essence Land for Wildlife
 Tourism is an incentive for conservation
 Incentives and benefits are essential factors for successful conservation
 Planning for protected areas should incorporate land for wildlife and local livelihoods.
 Conservation planning and investment is costly but many alternatives exist for financing,
including investment by tourism operators.
 Planning models for destinations should cater for varying capabilities of user groups.
Commitment by destination managers
 To employ holistic conservation approaches in destination management.
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Action
 Protected areas to implement stronger legal and institutional systems for Fair – Efficient –
Effective Revenue collection and distribution.
 Private sector to make contributions through contractual obligations that go beyond
conventional game viewing fees for support of destination management and conservation.
 Capacity institutions and protected area planners to create user friendly planning models
that are applicable for dispersal areas.
 Conservation initiatives to include tangible incentives and benefits for sustainability.
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SECTION 1 - OVERVIEW OF OPENING SESSION
The opening session of the conference evaluated the preparedness of Kenya’s tourism industry
and country to deal with impacts and implications of climate change. This was captured through
a review of activities, programs and policies of key tourism institutions, both public and private,
as well as national development strategies and role of donor organisations. The reviews can be
categorised as follows:
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Private sector responses-The case of Ecotourism Kenya
Public sector responses- Government of Kenya regulations
Long –term Planning- The case of Kenya’s Vision 2030
Investment funds- The case of Tourism Trust Fund (TTF)
Destination marketing –The role of marketing agencies
Development Vs climate change- The case of South Africa
Global tourism industry response to climate change- UNWTO Davos declaration
Private Sector Responses – The Role of Ecotourism Kenya
Since 1997, Ecotourism Kenya, a specialized industry association, has played a key role in
creating awareness and educating the tourism industry on sustainable tourism. The organizations
programs include standards and best practices, community outreach, information dissemination
and research and education. The National Ecotourism conference is a biennial event under the
awareness creation program. The 2007 conference was a forum to highlight a new agenda in the
sustainable tourism debate-climate change.
On the work of Ecotourism Societies, it was observed that the program areas of Ecotourism
Kenya are relevant in dealing with impacts and implications of climate change but should be
strengthened. These programs include
 Awareness creation and information dissemination
 Standards and best practices (certification)
 Community outreach
 Research and education program, standards and best practices
Each of these program areas relates to proposals that have been made in addressing impacts of
climate change. The Davos declaration, for example, identifies awareness creation as critical in
addressing impacts of climate change. The conference was part of Ecotourism Kenya’s
awareness program. Certification on the other allows for identification and recognition of best
practices. These practices can be shared among industry players to reduce negative
environmental and social impacts of tourism.
However there was concern that industry participation in the certification program was slow,
with calls to industry to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable tourism by participating in
the program. In addition government was challenged to work closely with Ecotourism Kenya and
take advantage of gains made so far to advance county’s position in as far as dealing with
climate change is concerned.
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Public Sector Responses- Role of Government
On the role of government it was noted that government was responsible for enacting laws and
policies, ratification of international agreements and creation of institutions to deliver on the
policies. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), is a department of the
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources charged with the responsibility of implementing
the Environment Management and Coordination Act (EMCA).
Through its various polices, departments and ministries, the government works to protect the
countries resources while safeguarding local livelihoods. The government recognises that
partnerships are key in addressing environmental challenges. In this regard it acknowledges the
work of Ecotourism Kenya and the role played by tourism in conservation of destinations.
It was observed that
 Impacts of climate change are not purely environmental. Therefore government should adopt
an integrated approach in dealing with the impacts.

Ratification of international protocols such as the Kyoto protocol amounts to little if it is not
accompanied by local actions by public (government) and private sector. Further, where
protocols are not binding, little action is taken if any as is the case with the Kyoto protocol,
which does not require developing countries to declare and/or reduce their emissions.

Although short on resources and capacity, NEMA has had successes in educating members
of the public on avenues to sustain the environment by proper disposal of solid wastes.
Through talking to different organizational stakeholders like NCC and CBOs dealing with
environment it is promoting the thinking that…” very little in this world is ‘waste’. The
challenge is to figure out how to make that ‘waste’ work for us”
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Government must take tourism seriously because tourism provides that much needed revenue
for management of protected areas and contributes to sustenance of these areas. This makes
tourism important and relevant in environmental conservation. The government recognises
this relationship as well as efforts being made by tourism practitioners towards sustainable
tourism. Yet tourism could do more by diversifying destinations, using renewable sources of
energy, introducing water-saving technologies and supporting the community around the
areas of operation etc
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Collaboration is key in addressing challenges of climate change. In this regard NEMA
expressed its willingness to partner with any organization to ensure the environment is
protected and kept safe for current and future generations and resources are used in a
sustainable manner.
Long term-Planning – The case of Kenya’s vision 2030
The meeting noted that without effective public planning and policy support, efforts of individual
tourism businesses towards mitigation and adaptation to climate change would amount to little.
On the role of planning, the meeting was informed that under the Vision 2030, Kenya aims to
increase annual GDP growth rates by 10% in the next five years and to maintain that average till
2030. Tourism is one of the six key sectors that have been given priority in acting as key growth
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drivers in the journey to 2030. The specific strategies to realising the goals include development
of resort cities; achieving higher revenue tourism yield by increasing country’s premium safari
parks and extending facilities in other under-utilised parks, creating new high value niche
products (e.g. cultural, ecotourism and water based tourism), revamping business-visitor offering
by attracting high –end international hotel chains, and by investing in new conference facilities.
Arising from the vision, it was observed that:
 Kenya aims to be among the top ten long haul tourist destinations in the world offering a
high-end, diverse, and distinctive visitor experience that few of her competitors can offer.
 Government aims to quadruple tourism’s GDP contribution to over Ksh 80 billion by 2012
 Government aims to raise international visitor arrivals from 1.8million in 2006 to 3 million in
2012
 Plan aims to increase hotel beds from 40,000 to about 65,000, combined with an emphasis on
a high quality service
 The intended growth of the sector as expounded in the Vision would not comprise the
environment. Indeed the Vision has identified environment as one of its target areas and the
aim is for Kenya to be a nation living in a clean, secure and sustainable environment by
2030.
 Water, a critical resource for economic and social development, was also a target area for the
Vision. Recognising that Kenya is water scarce country, the objective is to conserve water
sources and start new ways of harvesting and using rainwater and underground water.
 Presently, more than 70% of water is lost between the source and end-user due to poor
extraction and distribution methods.
 The challenge facing the vision is how to promote tourism while ensuring the environment is
protected in relation to deforestation and poaching, human wildlife conflicts, Increase of
alien species e.g. the water hyacinth, lack of proper policy and regulatory framework,
encroachment in fragile environment and degradation of environment (pollution and solid
waste disposal)
Investment funds- the case of Tourism Trust Fund (TTF)
Funding agencies are critical in the development of tourism especially in developing countries. TTF is a
special agency created jointly by Kenya government and EU to support sustainable tourism development
in Kenya. The fund supports KTB marketing expenditure and also disburses funds for tourism
development to various community groups across the country. When selecting projects to support TTF
gives priority to projects that environmentally and socially responsible and sustainable. The conference
observed that funding agencies have a great chance to determine how destinations develop hence
address climate change by choosing to fund projects that demonstrate commitment for
environmental conservation and are socially responsible.
TTF made the following recommendations to developers and operators:
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Diversify tourism products and market new products and destinations.
Consider offsetting and neutralizing carbon emissions as part of the business strategy.
Reduce energy use and improve efficiency in available sources of energy.
Invest in alternative energy sources e.g. sun and wind power.
Introduce a policy to consider use of bio fuels made from renewable agricultural products.
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Action needs to start now if effective and meaningful responses are to be effected to deal
with climate change.
Destination Marketing- The Role of National Marketing Agency
The Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) is destination Kenya’s national marketing agency. The agency
should articulate the product as developed by tourism business through a marketing plan that
encompasses the diversity of the sector. Ecotourism has been growing rapidly in Kenya since the
1990s although Kenya practiced ecotourism long before the 1990s. As a marketing, agency
KTB defines ecotourism as responsible tourism that ensures the sustainability of a country’s
tourism, promotes purposeful travel from one’s home or country to another while making sure
they do not interfere with the environment. This definition though correct, highlighted disconnect
between KTB and the industry’s specialized agency on ecotourism, which is Ecotourism Kenya.
The concern of KTB with definitions at a time when the global ecotourism sector had discarded
this debate was of concern to participants. While throwing a challenge to conference participants
to come up with clear and actionable points to address climate change, it was not clear what role
the marketing agency was playing in raising awareness on threats of climate change or
highlighting, and promoting industry mitigation and adaptation programs.
The conference noted the following as challenge for (KTB) in responding to climate change
include:
 Aggressively promoting destinations, products and services that demonstrate commitment to
sustainable tourism and which have programs that travellers could participate in. This can be
achieved through recognition and collaboration with agencies that work with industry to
promote sustainable tourism.
 Recognise that ecotourism and/or sustainable tourism are existing opportunities for Kenya I
becoming leaders in addressing climate change. Kenya is recognised globally as a leading
ecotourism destination. Additional efforts to quantify carbon footprints of the industry and
offsets provided by ‘green’ practices. It is time to now Despite many variations to the
definition of ecotourism, overall ecotourism connotes responsible travel to relatively
undisturbed areas with emphasis being on sensitivity by both traveller and tour operators to
both the social and natural environment.
 Recognition that ecotourism is dynamic and that it has evolved from being a market segment
to a tradition (a set of practices). KTB should promote these sets of practices that can
operators are committed to as efforts to mitigate against effects of climate change.
 Use the many good examples of ecotourism businesses in Kenya. This is evident in the
number of international and local awards that have been won by lodges and camps in Kenya.
 Build on the fact that ecotourists are willing to pay more for their experience.
Development Vs climate change- the case of South Africa
South Africa is a country with a high demand for energy having only attained independence in
1994. On how South Africa was responding to climate change and ‘green’ agenda, the
meeting was informed that:
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As a newly independent country, South Africa’s (SA) current pressing needs and priorities
include reducing unemployment, poverty and inequality. Tourism is a key sector that can be
used to tackle these needs as it has seen high growth rates, is labour intensive, is
transformation based and contributes to conservation of biodiversity.
SA is the highest emitter of green house gases in Africa and 19th in the world and the
problem is projected to get worse as the country pursues development and the pending 2010
world cup where more than 450,000 people are expected. This will require more bed
capacity, taxis, fan parks, and excursions etc increasing pollution.
The country is taking advantage of the world cup to promote its ‘green agenda’. While the
final product could be green, the impacts arising from all the construction being undertaken
undermines the effort.
It was observed that
 Responses of developing countries in addressing climate change should not be western
agenda. Kenya and other developing countries should formulate local policies for long-term
responses to impacts of climate change.
 Lifestyles are a contributor to climate change. South Africans are very dependent on energy
and because it is cheap, nobody cares how it is used. Addressing climate change may require
change in lifestyles, a difficult thing to manage in developing countries where middle –class
is struggling to emulate foreign lifestyles which are perceived as superior.
The Davos Declaration on Climate Change and Tourism
The Davos Declaration was the outcome of the second international conference on “Climate
Change and Tourism” organised by UNWTO and partners and held in Davos, Switzerland, from
1-3 October 2007. The conference ws held with the aim of responding in a timely and balanced
way to climate change imperatives in the tourism sector. Among other things the conference
agreed that, the tourism sector must rapidly respond to climate change, within the evolving UN
framework and progressively reduce its greenhouse Gas (GHG) contribution if its is to grow in a
sustainable manner. This will require action to:
o Mitigate its GHG emissions, derived especially from transport and
accommodation activities;
o Adapt tourism businesses and destinations to change to changing climate
conditions;
o Apply existing and new technology to improve energy efficiency;
o Secure financial resources to help poor regions and countries
In the declaration, the tourism industry and destinations are called upon to undertake the
following specific actions by the tourism industry:
o Take leadership in implementing concrete measure – including targets and
indicators – to mitigate climate change throughout the tourism value chain and to
reduce risks to travelers, operators and infrastructure due to dynamic climate
variability and shift.
o Promote and undertake investment in energy-efficiency tourism programmes and
use of renewable energy resources, with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint
of the entire tourism sector.
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o Integrate tourism in the formulation and implementation of regional, national and
local level adaptation and mitigation strategies and implementation plans. The
Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability and adaptation to Climate
Change, coordinated by UNFCCC, represents an important opportunity for the
tourism sector to enhance knowledge, increase capacities and stimulate action.
o Strive to conserve biodiversity, natural ecosystem and landscapes in ways which
strengthen resilience to climate change and ensure a long-term sustainable use of
the environmental resource base of tourism – in particular those that serve as
“earth lungs” (carbon sinks), sequestering GHGs through forest management and
other biological programmes, or tat protect coastlines (e.g. mangroves and coral
reefs).
o Seek to achieve increasingly carbon free environments by diminishing pollution
through design, operations and market responsive mechanisms.
o Implement climate-focused product diversification, to reposition destinations and
support systems, as well as to foster all season supply and demand.
o Raise awareness among customers and staff on climate change impacts and
engage them in response processes. (See annex for details)
The conference responding to the opening session noted that
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Tourism will continue to be a major global business. What will change is how people travel
and where people go. How can Kenya tap into this growth and remain sustainable?
It was observed that tourism as a sector draws little attention from the governments
especially because it is made up of small tourism businesses, hardly noticeable and does not
speak in ‘one-loud-united voice’ to command attention.
The sector, especially in Africa, needs to re-invent itself through advertising and conform to
consumer choices.
The tourism sector should see climate change as a challenge and take action to mitigate and
adapt if tourism is to continue being profitable and sustainable.
Apart from mitigations to climate change, adaptation is the other way to go. However,
adaptation is expensive. To cope the industry will have to lobby and push the government to
get involved and inject funding as a high priority.
Points of Action by the Industry should include
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The industry should show leadership by taking concrete measures towards eco-friendly tourism. The
first step is to measure the industry’s carbon footprint.
The industry should make use of green/clean energy.
The industry must adapt energy saving designs and technologies.
The industry must set time targets and indicators to monitor whether mitigation measures put in place
are working are working.
The industry should contribute to conservation of biodiversity through working with communities
(CBT).
The industry must raise awareness (educate) consumers and staff on energy conservation and threats
of climate change.
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SECTION II – OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATIONS
Theme 1 - Climate Change and Tourism
INSERT TEXT
The four sub-themes discussed under this theme include:
 Mitigating and adapting to climate change- the case of tour operators;
 Minimization of Gaseous Emissions in hotels and Resorts;
 Tourism and the carbon market;
 Carbon sequestration in protected areas
Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change - the case of tour operators
The conference noted the critical role played by tour operators in the growth of international
tourism by linking suppliers to consumers (travellers). As intermediaries tour operators serve to
improve the flow of information between principles and consumers. They provide expert product
knowledge and advice to consumers, they offer customers greater choice through aggregation of
products and services, they attract consumer confidence by acting as guarantee for service hence
seen as reducing consumer risk. Ideally the main function of a tour operator is to assemble the
main elements of a holiday and sell it to a consumer. This function in its traditional form could
alienate tour operators from the ‘goods’ they sell.
The conference learnt that this traditional role and the perception that tour operations did not
impact on the environment, led to poor participation of tour operators in sustainable tourism
practice. Many of them were involved in ‘green washing’ through use of terminology like
ecotourism in their brochures to attract clients. However, they failed to influence policy,
destinations and travellers to embrace sustainable tourism practices. Despite their inertia in as far
sustainable tourism was concerned, tour operators continued to do business and their bottom line
(profits), enlarged.
This is not the case with climate change. Climate change has exposed impacts of tour operations
that were hitherto invisible like transport and energy. Tour operators move people on-site, to
site/destination and between sites. This movement requires some form of motorized movement,
making tour operations a high-energy business. In addition activities promoted by tour operators
use significant energy e.g. wildlife viewing from vehicles, speed boats, heated pools etc.,
Notably, the implications and impacts of climate change require their proactive role. Tour
operators are now directly answerable to their informed travellers who want to minimise the
carbon footprint of their holidays. Travellers have always had choices and they continue to have
choices even the wake of climate change. Now more than ever, tour operators need to influence
the destinations that they sell to adapt cleaner and greener technologies, to save energy and
water, to embrace energy efficient travel, to design and include more energy efficient activities in
their programs and to conserve the areas in which they operate. In addition they need to
participate in programs that would help travellers to offset their carbon footprints
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The conference observed that: tour operators
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Are critical in determining where travellers visit.
Are instrumental in opening of new destinations- they can make or destroy destinations.
Could influence policy makers to address climate change by consciously selecting to promote
destinations that are sustianably managed and developed.
Could educate travellers to make informed choices on destinations by presenting accurate
information on destinations practices.
Could promote properties that show commitment to environmental conservation and social
responsibility.
The operators were challenged to:
 Encourage low-energy tourist activities
 Design long-stay tours to reduce between site travels
 Diversify activities/destinations to balance impacts
 Support creation of new conservation areas for carbon sequestration
 Provide carbon-offset opportunities fro travellers
Minimization of Gaseous Emissions in hotels and Resorts
Hotels and resorts constitute a very important part of the tourism industry. But hotels are more
than relaxation areas; they are production units where a number of activities combine to produce
‘comfort’. The production process requires large amounts of energy and water and could put
significant pressure on demand for these resources. Equally, consumption of comfort by visitors
produces waste in liquid, solid or gaseous form. Therefore, in terms of resource consumption,
the hotel production process resembles a traditional industry in many respects.
The most significant environmental issues with respect to daily hotel operations include:
 Energy consumption and associated costs including heating, ventilation and air conditioning,
and kitchens.
 Water consumption and wastewater generation
 Solid waste management
 Air quality (indoors and outdoors)
 Ozone depleting substances
Overall, hotels increase the demand on existing sewer, water, waste disposal, and power facilities
and can cause serious deterioration in the physical and social environment. Air emissions from
boiler stacks can pose air pollution problems, while food waste and other organic waste may
cause odour problems. Hotels consume a substantial amount of water and discharge
corresponding amount of wastewater in to the environment.
Different types of emissions are associated with routine hotel operations.
 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): CFCs are substances that negatively affect the ozone layer in
the atmosphere, which protects the earth from harmful levels of ultra-violet radiation. CFCs
are included in: freon from refrigerators, freezers, chillers and self-contained coolers, spray
cans, fire extinguishers, halon computer room protection, foam insulation, Styrofoam cups
and packaging
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Particulates, sulphur and nitrogen oxides emissions from burning of fossil fuels/gas:
emissions from the use of fossil fuels have been proven to have negative effects on both the
environment as well as human health. Fossil fuel is used in boilers for generating steam, by
cars in hotel fleet, in gas-fired equipment in the kitchens and laundries and in generators for
emergency power supply.
Odours, vapours and mists
Combustion emissions
Chemical vapours
Tobacco
Dust
These emissions are as a result of use of Ozone-depleting substances (ODS). Hotels use ODS in
Refrigeration: refrigerators, cold storage, display cabinets, freezer, ice machines and mini-bars
 Air conditioning in buildings: general amenity areas and meeting facilities, individual room
units.
 Air conditioning in vehicles; mobile units in cars, vans and trucks
 Dry cleaning and degreasing: solvents used in dry cleaning and special cleaning applications
 Aerosols: spot cleaning, bathrooms and other surface cleaners, small area paints, adhesives,
insecticides and pesticides, air fresheners.
 Foams: food packaging, trays and containers, pipe insulation, sea and back cushions, head
rests, bedding and other upholstery uses, carpet underlay, car interiors, protective packaging
for a variety of goods.
 Fire extinguishers: halons are used in fixed and portable fire extinguishers.
The key issue is to minimize impacts by practicing Great Housekeeping (GHK). Great
Housekeeping involves; rationalizing the use of raw materials, water, and energy inputs,
reducing the loss of valuable material inputs, reducing the volume and/or toxicity of waste,
wastewater, and emissions related to service provision, reducing, reusing and recycling (3Rs) the
maximum of primary inputs and packaging materials, improving working conditions and
occupational safety and making organizational improvements. Actions that should be taken
include water conservation, solid waste reduction, re-use, recovery and recycling, energy
conservation and green procured)
The conference observed that hotels and resorts should
 Embrace green procurement
 Employ the 6 Re philosophy
 Be involved in benchmarking for continual improvement
 Invest in energy saving lighting
 Reduce solid waste
 Improve boiler efficiency
 Ensure workplace safety and health protection
 Reduce water consumption, wastewater and pollution
 Improve storage, handling and transport of materials
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Tourism and the Carbon Market
The Carbon market has grown enormously since the Kyoto Protocol in 2005 which allowed
commercialization of carbon through two mechanisms: the clean development mechanism
(CDM) and joint implementation (JI). Tourism has a chance to take advantage of the
opportunities presented by CDM by undertaking projects and activities that have environmental
and social benefits. Although the cost is high, the key is to understand the process of developing
projects that generate carbon credits and how to commercialize them
Overall the sector was challenged to:
 Make climate change issues central in the tourism sector. This should be done by
educating and influencing clients to make informed choices/ be responsible and through
promotion of sustainable destinations.
 Influence policy makers on the importance of responsible/sustainable tourism
 Create awareness on products and services related to sustainable tourism.
 Support and encourage indigenous/local community to venture into tourism thus put
more areas under conservation
 Commit to mitigate and adapt to climate change by defining a common vision on climate
change for 2020.
 Take immediate action to establish the carbon foot print for the entire industry-setting a
baseline for the 2020 vision
 Raise awareness to promote a civic movement beyond inter governmental climate
protocols by engaging individuals, partners and organizations nationwide- everyone must
be concerned.
 Coordinate actions related to climate change, as coordination is crucial to gaining
momentum in the climate change.
 Form private-public-civic partnerships as a way to gain momentum and to push for
practical actions by organizations such as KTF (Kenya tourism federation), Kenya
Association of Manufacturers (KAM), and NEMA among others.
Theme 2 - Ecotourism and Communities
This theme was concerned with community-based tourism (CBT), its strengths, weaknesses and
opportunities and how these affected its preparedness to deal with issues of climate change. This
was necessitated by the knowledge that CBTs were on the increase, there was a growing demand
for the product and that they provided a great opportunity to protect areas outside parks (Pas)
thus adding to overall areas under protection, an element critical to mitigating impacts of climate
change.
CBTs are variously defined by different organisations but generally they are small tourism
businesses that involve and benefit host communities. The evolution and growth of CBTs in
Kenya was less driven by market but largely by donor programs that aimed at conserving
wildlife dispersal areas found around parks and reserves. This donor program driven growth has
seen emergence of CBTs that have strong conservation programs but weak in business ethics. A
majority having graduated from conservation CBOs, they are yet to shed this CBO image a
factor that limits their interaction with mainstream tourism businesses. Equally the product focus
of most CBTs is narrow as success is not attributed to sustainability but to types of infrastructure
developed with donor funds. Notably, donor funds do not provide budgets for marketing and
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promotion. This has meant many CBTs are not visible in the market place. This evolution trend
has presented many challenges to CBTs.
Discussions under this theme highlighted the challenges and opportunities available for CBT to
emerge as a formidable force in tourism, with capacity to govern themselves, manage
investment, access finances, access the market, articulate and influence policy issues, respond to
new challenges like climate change, address environmental threats and achieve sustainable
growth.
The four sub-themes/presentations discussed under this theme included:
 Investing in Community based tourism
 Market access for CBT-myths vs reality
 Legal and policy framework for CBT
 CBT in East Africa- Tanzania perspective with reference to Kenya
Investing in Community Based Tourism (CBTs) - Grants Vs loans
Donor funding is the single most important source of funding for CBTs and in the absence of a
strategy by government to fund future investment in CBT, the situation is likely to remain thus
for a long term to come. CBT has recorded notable growth since the 1970s when there were less
than two CBTs; today there are more than 100 operational CBTs making CBT the fastest
growing sub-sector of the tourism industry. This growth has been necessitated by numerous
donor projects amounting to millions of Euros. The donor support for CBT is encouraged by the
belief that CBT could
 Enhance biodiversity conservation
 Generate tourism income for local poor
 Secure ownership rights and control over resources by local people
 Improve local livelihoods through business linkages with CBT
On investment, the conference observed that:

CBT is almost 100% donor dependent and this is not likely to change in the near future.
Other players are local conservation NGOs, international development agencies like UNDP
(GEF & Compact), and national agencies like KWS, Trusts and foundations.
 Donor support to CBT is usually turn-key funding and is insufficient in many respects.
 There are limitations to turnkey funding among them donor conditions.
 Turnkey funding creates dependency, as it is not sufficient to build local capacities.
 Local politics and gate keeping affect delivery.
To safeguard gains made to date and create opportunities for sustainable growth, which would in
turn support mitigation and adaptation programs of CBT, the conference recommended that:
 Donor conditions for giving aid be harmonised and must be sensitive to local conditions
 Standards and regulations for monitoring and auditing existing CBTs are developed.
 CBT be treated as businesses and not welfare projects
 Building of local capacities to manage CBT
 Creative resource mobilization beyond donor funds be explored
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Development of marketing channels for CBT
Alternative funding mechanisms are explored including loans.
Increases local community contribution in CBT investments to ensure responsibility and
ownership.
Allocations for CBT development must be sufficient to cover all aspects of the investment
from conceptualisation, to infrastructure and promotion.
Strengthening of existing sources of funding.
Market Access for CBTs: Myths and Reality
The demand for CBT or alternative travel is growing according to a UK market research agency.
In 2006, UK travellers took over one million responsible holidays and a growth rate of 25% year
on year is predicted. There is a product and a demand for the product. What is limiting CBTs?
There are many myths surrounding CBTs in Kenya. These myths are associated with evolution
trends of CBTs and conflict between cultural needs; traditional livelihoods, conservation and
tourism needs and have led to low survival rate of CBTs and diminished access to the market.
According to Ecotourism Kenya the survival rate of CBTs is less that 20%. Some of the myths
are:
 CBTs are social programs not businesses. This has to do with the fact that most CBTs are
donor funded (external) programmes aimed at improving local livelihoods and enhance
conservation.
 Community groups need donor support to start CBTs
 Conventional credit systems do not favour the CBT structure.
 CBT must be community managed to enhance ownership
 CBT must be community owned to generate benefits
 Community must be a homogenous rural group
On other factors affecting market access by CBTs, the conference observed that
 Poor knowledge of the market
 CBT have not transformed themselves into well managed businesses
 After donor exit, CBT face challenges of running independently and managing hurriedly
drafted partnership agreements
 Access to business support mechanisms
 Lack of policies
 Adoption of new media
 Poor business skills
 Lack of marketing collateral
Policy and Legal framework for CBT in Kenya
CBTs offer a range of social, environmental and economic benefits, which if supported by policy
could transform many rural economies into market economies. These benefits include:
 Biodiversity conservation.
 Addressing human/wildlife conflict and enhance co-existence between wildlife and people.
 Empowering communities to explore resources accessible to them in a sustainable manner.
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CBTs help to localise biodiversity management policies
Nevertheless, high levels of illiteracy and ignorance among ‘beneficiary’ communities mean that
communities are not benefiting from the use of their resources. There are no legal instruments to
support the growth of CBTs. Instruments currently used include
 Share agreements
 Management agreements
 Trust deeds
 Lease agreements.
 Memorandum of Understanding
Most of these instruments are not in tandem with business models and therefore are shunned by
the mainstream tourism industry. The also provide opportunities for exploitation. It was noted
that most CBT ventured in Kenya are managed through MOUs.
The conference recommended several policy-related instruments for effective management and
growth of CBTs as follows;
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Review of council by-laws
Amendment of Tourism Bill to allow MOTW licensing department of vet new businesses
and license.
Building community capacity in proposal writing, management, marketing etc
Private sector involvement especially for funding and loans
Sustainability by ensuring poverty reduction and environmental protection
Generation and equal distribution of net benefits. The investment should be business and
performance driven.
The challenge however is how to deal with access to resources as they are either trust,
individual or community lands.
The conference concluded that the future of CBTS was dependent on:
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Creative resource mobilization (explore new funding mechanisms)
Lobbying for standards and regulations for environmental and cultural assessment,
Monitoring and auditing of existing development,
Build capacity for local people in marketing of tourism products
Harmonise donor conditions targeting the same community.
Empowerment of the locals and especially women in tourism enterprise management
Encourage use of economic data and research in planning for CBT
Marketing and creating market access for CBTs is an area requiring professional business
support at sectoral levels
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Theme 3: Best Practices in Ecotourism
Best practices are a set of practices perceived as being innovative, environment friendly,
economic and replicable. They are outcomes of responsible tourism practices that evolve over
time. Therefore when discussing best practices, caution should be taken to avoid boxing, where
only certain types of practices are recognised. Best practices complement ecotourism. They
enable ecotourism to set itself aside from other forms of tourism.
In order to be responsible, tourism businesses should need to manage their operations in an
environmentally and socially responsible way. Achieving this requires a combination of
regulatory and voluntary initiatives. This is because a regulation is designed to be inclusive
hence it meets minimum requirements. Voluntary initiatives, on the other hand, are designed to
push investments to achieve more than regulatory requirements. However, the level of
participation by destinations in responsible tourism is very much dependent on skilled
manpower.
The three sub-themes discussed under this theme included
 The role of training, education and interpretation in sustainable tourism
 Environmental management and Ecotourism
 CSER-Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility in ecotourism
The Role of Training, Interpretation and Education in promoting responsible tourism
Ecotourism, which takes into account the value of natural resources and the interests of local
communities, is a segment of the tourism industry that is growing rapidly. Since ecotourism is
destined to become a substantial part of the travel industry, it is important to create an
understanding of what ecotourism is, what its goals in training, education and research are and
how they can be achieved. Knowledge about the possibilities ecotourism offers and the
functioning of ecotourism can contribute to making tourism more ecologically and socially
sustainable. Ecotourism undergraduate and graduate courses are offered in universities and
colleges in the United States, Canada, UK, Australia and Africa among others. Often programs
or courses do not focus solely on ecotourism, but the subject is integrated into the course. These
related courses are often offered by university departments such as Natural Resources,
Environmental Studies, Forestry, Geography, Tourism & Hospitality Management, Leisure
Studies or Recreation Management. Herein lies the challenge; the disconnect between theory
and practice. There is need to standardize the courses and the mode of dissemination for the
courses. Lessons were drawn from Kenyan institutions with recommendations on
The following were identified as constraints of training in supporting responsible tourism:
 Lack of a national tourism education strategy particularly management level education
 Inadequacies in teaching aids
 Tourism curriculum is not universally accepted and standardized
 Most of the courses have a broad theoretical background as opposed to being practical
 Demand for competent managers exceeds the supply
 The students lack knowledge on the structures of the institutions/hotels they are
eventually engaged in.
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Universities do not make internships programs in advance for the hotels and other
organizations to work with
Lack of a relationship with the industry which could be created by doing a survey on
what the industry requires.
The conference agreed on the following as the way forward:
 Tourism industry needs better-qualified managers
 Action must be taken to reduce/harmonise the present curriculum provisions
 The unhealthy and unhelpful divide between academics and practice, should be bridged
 Developing effective programs for guides, operators and industry workers.
 Continuously produce learning materials and disseminate them widely
Environmental management (EM) and Ecotourism (ET)
Environment management need not be viewed as academic exercises but as tools to protect the
environment, respect local cultures and involve local communities. The aim of the presentation
was to illustrate how tourism operators can manage their operations in an environmentally and
socially sustainable way through the use of environmental management tools (EMT). It explored
benefits of undertaking environmental impact assessment and environmental audit, setting up
simple environment management systems to ensure sustainable environmental and social
management within the tourism industry.
Among the main tools recommended for sustainable environment and social management are:
 Environment impact assessment
 Environment audit-continuous evaluation to protect the environment
 Environmental Management Systems
 Strategic Environmental Assessment
 Eco-labeling
Of major importance are Environmental Audits. EA is a systematic, documented, periodic and
objective evaluation of the performance of the organization, management system and processes
designed to protect the environment with the aim of:
 facilitating management control of practices which may have an impact on the
environment and
 assessing compliance with company policies and regulatory requirements
It is essential to note that with every audit the organization should have an objective in mind to
why they are undertaking the audit e.g. save on water, reduce the energy costs etc.
It was emphasised that by employing environmental best practices, tourism operators can:
 Reduce air emissions
 Reduce the amount of solid waste that needs to be incinerated, burned or sent to
landfill
 Reduce the amount of water used, and thus energy required for pumping water
 Conserve energy and reduce energy requirements through various means
 And consequently reduce their carbon footprint.
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Climate Change and Ecotourism
According to IUCN, ecotourism is responsible travel based on environment, biodiversity, culture
and local communities. IUCN concerns include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
improving the capacity of the world’s ecosystems and communities to adapt to inevitable climate
change impacts.
Given that climate is a resource for tourism, the impact of climate change on bio diversity and
ecosystems has implications on tourism.
The implication of climate change on tourism include
 Changes in destination by travellers
 Changes in business will impact employment and labor demand
 Unpredictable weather will make planning and product development difficult for
operators and
 Impacts on wildlife will result in changes in migration and feeding patterns and viewing
times will impacted
CSER-Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility in ecotourism
CSER can be defined as the continuous commitment by businesses to behave ethically and
contribute to local economic development while undertaking responsibility for the impact of
their activities on consumers and employees.
Companies commit to CSER for various reasons:
 Vanguard are ecotourism companies with strong social and environmental ethic
 Increasing staff pride and commitment
 Increasing consumer interest and demand
 Offers marketing differentiation
 Acts as an ‘insurance policy’- easier to do business in host communities
Important to CSR is a holistic approach and to make sure that the CSR is sustainable and fun
especially to the staff and community involved. Some examples of CSR in ecotourism include
health programs, girl child sponsorship program, conservation of biodiversity and culture,
sustainable water, energy and waste management and mitigation of climate change.
Theme 4: Critical Issues in Ecotourism
The four sub-themes discussed under this theme include:
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Ecotourism Branding

Pros and Cons of certification

Indigenous people and ecotourism

Profiting from Green
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Ecotourism Branding
One of the challenges in ecotourism branding is the lack of universal brand values. In many
instances, Ecotourism businesses act/ develop their products in response to consumer demands.
Consumers also have a perception of what ET is based on experience and media hype. Efforts to
brand and market ecotourism have been hampered by the lack of an international brand leader.
This is a role that would have been played by the International Ecotourism Society (TIES), but
they have failed. This has felt national ecotourism associations with the responsibility of defining
brand values at national, regional levels. The work of ecotourism associations in promoting
ecotourism has not been without challenges.
The conference noted that following as some of the key challenges to ecotourism branding
 Standardise criteria- what are we offering our clientele
 Varied clientele
 Lack of leadership (brand champion)
 The evolving nature of ecotourism
 Perceived differences by the market of brand values between regions
 Lack of support for teams (ecotourism associations)
Despite the challenges, ecotourism has brand value/identity. It is indeed a brand with distinct
brand values. The brand values include
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Conserving the environment-low impact,
Respects local/indigenous cultures,
Educational,
Interactive,
Unparalleled service/exclusive
Close interaction with nature and local people
Flexible programs- many alternatives.
Equity among stakeholders
Philanthropic
The conference recommended a regional approach to branding. East Africa was challenged to
come up with a regional certification scheme to create a credible label
The Pros and Cons of certification in tourism
Certification is a stamp of approval, usually given by a third party. This approval is confirmed
through labels, certificates, trademarks or symbols. Certification guarantees consumers that
certain conditions have been met in producing the product or rendering a service. A credible
certification scheme is based on measurable criteria or standards. Certification is well established
in agriculture sector (organic and Fair Trade labels) and forestry (FSC). In tourism, certification
is fairly new and there is no single global label as yet. Given the nature and structure of the
tourism industry, achieving a universal label could be a challenge.
Tourism is a product like other items in the market. It has to be packaged to represent its origin,
to attract prospective customers and promote its destination. With a new challenge of climate
change and a call to action, the role of certification will be enhanced. Tour operators especially
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those in Africa will have to repackage their destinations to meet changing traveller concerns of
carbon footprints. Certification may play a critical role in communicating the
destinations/products carbon footprint. Travellers will trust a label more than the tour operator’s
word. It is therefore important for tour operators to understand the relationship between
certification and sustainable eco tourism. Nevertheless, certification on its own cannot achieve
sustainable tourism. Certification works in combination with tools namely regulatory and policy
instruments. Overall, better coordination and higher uptake by industry is required to achieve
meaningful impact.
The conference noted that there are challenges to certification schemes in tourism.
They include:
 Too many labels.
 Too few products are certified (<1% Europe)
 Costs of compliance can be high.
 Schemes not financially sustainable
 No common standards
 Very few schemes in Africa.
 European Tour Operators developing own standards – bypassing local certificates
Acknowledging that Africa would be most affected by the identified challenges, the conference
recommended the following:
•Africa should follow the globally trend towards regional-level certification programmes. This
would help to avoid duplication of work and reduce confusion in the market and gain strength
from numbers, while still remaining locally relevant. But regionalization could be difficult to
achieve owing to:
 lack of common standards
 Lack of trust
 Attachment to existing logos
Challenges facing indigenous people: focus on ecotourism
What makes people to be considered indigenous? The term indigenous has varied definitions and
connotations to different people and is usually manipulated to suit the argument at hand. Some
will argue it’s the culture, population size in relation to others in the national population context,
areas of settlement, traditions and practices or even colonial labeling. Regardless, indigenous
communities have a strong desire to be involved in ecotourism. But how relevant is ecotourism
to indigenous communities? The conference heard that ecotourism is relevant to indigenous
communities for the following reasons:
The relevance of ecotourism to indigenous communities
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Ecotourism employs local people, including unskilled ones and trains them on the job
thus addressing concerns of high unemployment and economic hardships historically
associated with indigenous people.
Economic linkages arising from development of locally owned and managed small to
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), dependent on ecotourism.
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Indigenous people own substantial land assets with considerable natural and cultural
significance, which would be suitable for ecotourism experiences.
Indigenous people possess an extensive knowledge of the land and of the cultural and
spiritual significance of the natural environment. They are prepared to share such
knowledge with non-indigenous people within certain knowledge domains. This
would provide an important element to the educative process sought by many nonindigenous people
Sustainability of the environment has been an integral component of the spiritual,
cultural and economic knowledge system of indigenous people for many thousands of
years
It was noted that despite the opportunities, ecotourism could potentially be a threat to
indigenous peoples.
 Tourism has a considerable potential for destructive intrusions into indigenous
community life. Costs may include environmental damage, tourism trespass into
indigenous communities and associated invasion of privacy.
 Along with these aspects is the considerable potential for cultural clashes relating to
differences in attitudes and value systems. Many indigenous people for example, find
the many questions asked by non-indigenous tourists about indigenous cultural
aspects as offensive and an inappropriate means of transferring knowledge about land
and ceremonial matters.
Challenges faced by indigenous communities
Research conducted in remote communities in Kenya has found that opportunities for indigenous
people to benefit from ecotourism do exist. However, to successfully exploit these opportunities,
indigenous people are required to overcome substantial barriers.
The conference recognized the following as some of the barriers for indigenous people
participation in ecotourism:
 Lack of quantitative research into the economic impacts of this form of tourism.
While there are examples of host communities which have benefited from
ecotourism, there is a lack of quantitative research into the economic impacts of this
form of tourism. Such empirical evidence is necessary to facilitate the development of
ecotourism enterprises by indigenous people in remote Kenyan indigenous
communities
 Remote Kenyan indigenous communities possess important characteristics required
for the establishment of ecotourism enterprises. However, the potential costs of
ecotourism need to be evaluated alongside the advocated benefits
 Lack of skills/ Knowledge -Indigenous People tend to lack the education and training
necessary to operate, or be employed by in ecotourism.
 Finance- most indigenous people who are prospective SME owner-operators have
limited access to the finance necessary to establish a small enterprise.
 Market -While opportunities for business activity do exist, SMEs in remote areas are
required to rely on relatively small communities that have limited disposable income

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Scales of production- The tourism industry is comprised of enterprises, which
operate at a great diversity of scales from multi-national corporations such as airlines
conglomerates and hotel chains to small, single person and family operations. In such
circumstances, it is perhaps understandable if the needs and opportunities afforded by
the latter have often been relatively neglected in favour of large-scale operations with
greater access to power. If participation by indigenous communities is to be truly
encouraged, means must be found to redress current imbalances in access to power
and resources.
Management- a lack of commitment to a shared responsibility in management and
planning is prevalent.
There is emphasis on empowering the community to run the establishment as opposed
to professionalism.
Their ecotourism initiatives are usually donor funded- it takes time to separate the
corporate identity of the venture from the project (separating the funder from the CBT
and the business becomes tricky.
Community priorities- should the priority be poverty eradication or dealing with
pressing needs in the community or should it be business promotion and working
towards making a profit first?
The conference reviewed the following recommendations put forward for integrating
indigenous peoples in ecotourism and for guaranteeing them benefit:
 That the private sector should respect the rights of indigenous communities in the
conduct of their business, including within the tourism industry.
 That governments and the tourism industry recognize the pastoralist way of life as an
ancestral mode of production that must be protected and promoted alongside
ecotourism.
 That room be created to afford indigenous peoples the opportunity to actively
participate in decision making processes that target their land and natural resources.
 Those restitution mechanisms be developed to ensure that land and natural resource
rights are restored to the communities in instances where they were unfairly acquired
or expropriated.
 That governments provide for policy recognition of communal land tenure and pursue
equitable sharing of resources.
 Those deliberate and specific benefit-sharing measures be instituted to ensure that
indigenous peoples benefit from resources that accrue from the tourism industry using
their ancestral lands.
 That funds be made available through tourism revenues and government grants to
facilitate indigenous peoples’ human rights education, solidarity building and
advocacy before national and international human rights bodies.
 That, in instances where litigation is necessary, indigenous peoples can engage in this
process free from intimidation and harassment.
 That government that have not yet signed and ratified international instruments for
the protection of minorities and indigenous peoples do so immediately.
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Profiting from Green – The Case of Basecamp Explorer
Green does not have a standard definition and can be interpreted in many ways thus it is in the
“the eye of the beholder”. Generally there is a lack of common definitions, approaches to
‘green’, common terminology, common standards and shared/unified brand values (ecotourism).
‘Green’ depends on knowledge and understanding of the context in which a particular objects,
practice, service and product exists.
The advent of climate change talk has brought ‘green practices’ to the forefront with many
organizations in tourism striving to get recognized as green. There are numerous certification
schemes and labels that attest to this. However, a lack of contextual standards for green and a
rapidly growing global interest in going “green” creates opportunities for the opportunistic
businesses” “The “green” activities that evolve from such opportunities are not necessarily all
bad but without coordination and holistic approaches they tend to be inefficient and sometimes
even harmful”
In a bid to be and stay green, Basecamp explorer collaborates with community and the staff in
investing in use of natural energies like solar panels, recycling the water used in the camp, waste
disposal, and planting trees that is beneficial to the eco systems and the community around. The
Base camp green plan takes into account the following:
 biodiversity
 climate
 ecosystem
 habitat
 conservation
 degradation
 people
 intellectual property
 history
 lifestyle
 Storytelling
 present status
 threats
 needs & wants
Theme 5: Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Coastal tourism is synonymous to marine-based tourism and mass tourism. There is therefore a
general perception that owing to the scale of operations, coastal tourism cannot be sustainable. In
Kenya coastal tourism is mainly marine based and is characterised by large hotels located along
the beaches. Despite being an attractive environmental setting, a general lack of capacity for
environmental management and poorly planned and controlled development has resulted in
significant environmental degradation and loss of amenity. Other than poor planning and a lack
of capacity, coastal tourism also faces another challenge, poverty among local people. Are there
opportunities for non-marine based tourism that local people could from? The sub- themes
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discussed under this theme targets key players in coastal tourism mainly the managers of
resources, local people and investors. The sub-themes are
 Issues in sustainable coastal tourism
 Innovative financing of Marine Protected
 Opportunities and challenges for CBT
Issues in sustainable coastal tourism
Sustainable tourism encourages triple bottom line i.e. financial, environmental, social
performance. Business on the other hand is motivated exclusively by profit. Herein begins the
disconnect between business and sustainable development. Operators at the coast, to justify and
continue with unsustainable practices, have ridden on the perception that large-scale operations
cannot be sustainable. Yet there are opportunities for hotels at the coast to move beyond
compliance with regulation and into sustainability. This is because most of the regulatory tools
like EA, EIA, Quality standards and EMPs do not address broader issues related to sustainability
e.g. serving baby lobsters, air conditioning control, choice of energy etc. But this could be
achieved through EMS. EMS moves towards increasing environmental performance & hence
sustainability.
Some key issues in sustainable coastal tourism include:
 Lack financial and technical capacity for local institutions to manage and/or control
development
 Lack of policies
 There is a lack of clarity on what constitutes the coast,
 There are no standards / guidelines for marine-based activities
 Limited access by local people to beaches leading to crowding of public beaches and
littering
 Coral rock and sand harvesting
 Waste disposal
 Resource demands e.g. fish and other sea food
 Demand for marine curios
 Erection of sea walls
 Migrant labour
Managing such a diverse range of issues can be a challenge. The conference noted the following
as potential actions that could be taken to address issues:
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To reduce and minimise negative environmental impacts of tourism development in
coastal areas through EMS
To encourage sustainable planning and management of the sector To promote publicprivate partnerships through the voluntary introduction of EMS by coastal tourism
facilities – individual and collective.
Motivation – introduce “incentive” based rather than legal compliance motivation
Guidance & pressure from other agencies e.g. UNEP, UNWTO
Encourage use of a combination of different potential tools & techniques, including
 •Environmental impact assessment
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Environmental auditing
Guidelines & codes of practice
Benchmarks – comparisons with other hotels or previous performance
ISO 14000 series
Replication of best practices & lessons learned – info. Component to
project
Eco-certification schemes, awards – market signals eg Fair Trade
Specific audits: energy, waste, due diligence
Innovative Financing of Marine Protected Areas
In many locations, financing the management of protected areas often largely relies upon
receiving funds from government central budgets. In the government budgeting process,
protected areas usually are not viewed as a high priority; even when their tourist-based revenuegenerating potential can be substantial, and so their funding is often much lower than what is
needed for adequate conservation. This situation has forced many protected area management
authorities to seek other means of financing
Traditionally, MPAs raise revenue from park entry fees. The opportunities for raising revenue
through park entry fees are a result of the following:
 Marine Protected Areas serve to protect the marine environment, and can raise
revenue
 Tourist ‘willingness to pay’ studies have shown (e.g. of 500 visitors surveyed in 2002
in Egypt) that > 60% of foreign visitors are willing to pay US$3-5 per day to visit
dive sites, and that about 50% are willing to pay more
 Foreign visitors would pay much more (up to $100 per day) to visit ‘premium’ dive
sites
 Foreign visitors don’t object to paying fees, as much as the criticize that this fee does
not appear to result in improved environmental management services
The conference learnt that contrary to popular belief that MPAs can only raise revenue through
park entry fees; there are several other ways apart from park entry fees. Potential non-park
entrance fees revenue mechanisms include:
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Fine enforcement (e.g. for pollution-related damages, anchor damage on coral reefs,
etc.)
Concession fees (e.g. food & beverages, special tour operators, marinas, etc.)
Permit fees (e.g. for research, bio-prospecting, construction, mining, hunting, etc.)
Product sales (e.g. calendars, CDs, guide books, posters, t-shirts & caps, etc.)
‘Membership’ programmes (e.g. ‘Friends of Xxxx Marine Park’)
Marina/jetty and mooring buoy use fees
Boat licences and inspection fees (to cover costs of government inspections) –
perhaps capped in number and tradable
‘Adoption’ programmes by corporations (e.g. ‘adopt’ a beach, ‘adopt’ a mooring)
Hotel ‘environmental fee’ (e.g. US$1 per person per night)
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
Airport ‘environmental fee’ (e.g. US$10 per visa)
The conference noted that the revenue stream notwithstanding, there was need to evaluate each
system to determine efficiency. Some things to consider in evaluation (criteria) are:
 Equity: fair & reasonable allocation of costs and benefits
 Efficiency: difficulty / complexity / cost of implementing revenue-collection systems
 Effectiveness: ability to yield significant and consistently reliable revenues
 Political and institutional constraints
 Practical operational constraints (e.g., land control, potential for fee evasion,
difficulty of enforcement, administrative complexity, coordination, etc.)
 Legal authority to implement the revenue mechanism
 Potential Environmental Management Revenue Mechanisms: Legal Issues 1/2
 Has entity charging a fee been given adequate authority to impose the fee?
 In case of Protected Areas, are boundaries legally valid?
 Are legal documents needed to establish a formal revenue-sharing agreement between
fee collection entity and environmental protection entities?
 Would it be legal to consolidate various ‘environmental fees’ administered by various
entities into a single consolidated fee?
 Does entity that is charging fee have right to hire persons to sell tickets and collect
fees?
 To facilitate collection, can ‘environmental fee’ be added to ‘tourist visa’, and what
legal agreement would be needed between immigration and environmental authorities
to ensure that resulting revenue gets transferred for environmental protection?
 Can environmental authorities receive private donations for environmental
protection?
 What legal instruments are needed to develop a tradable tourist boat permit system?
 What legal instruments are needed for concessions or franchising?
Apart from the challenge of generating revenue, many MPAs are faced with the problems of
financial shortfalls. It is always thought that the solution to financial shortfalls is to look for
additional revenue, possibly grants, to bridge the gap. This is a short-term solution. The
following steps were recommended as key in addressing financial shortfalls in MPAs:
 Estimate financial needs (budgeting):
 Recurrent operations
 Capital investments
 Training and communication
 Data collection and analysis
 Existing revenue collection and distribution
 Visitation and revenue statistics
 Willingness to pay survey
 Ecosystem services valuation
 Evaluate revenue-generating mechanisms
 Revenue-generating potential
 Implementation costs
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Systemic issues: social, political, legal, institutional
Evaluate revenue-distribution mechanisms
Overall, the conference noted the following of MPAs:
 Poorly planned and controlled touristic development resulting in significant
environmental degradation
 Lack of financial resources (including lack of capacity) for environmental
management
 Steps to address financial shortfalls include: budget needed, review current
mechanisms, evaluate revenue generation potential, and review revenue distribution
 Many potential means exist to generate revenues
 Revenue generation options should be evaluated, especially regarding efficiency and
effectiveness
 Legal and institutional issues also need to be considered when selecting preferred
options for implementation
Community Based Coastal Tourism: The Opportunities and Challenges
For many years, Kenya’s coast has been marketed as an ideal marine-based tourist destination
and visitors have responded accordingly. The private sector has benefited significantly from this
image as have other service providers and government through taxes and levies. Local
communities have remained bystanders. Those who have initiated tourism-based SMEs tend to
struggle and flounder. This does not mean a lack of market for CBT. Indeed, opportunities for
CBT at the coast are being driven by emerging trends in tourism where tourists want to: Observe
and appreciate nature
 Be exposed to educational and interpretation features
 Have some level of interaction with locals in a local setting
 Pay for services provided by the local community
 Support the protection of natural areas
Additional opportunities for flourishing of CBTS at the coast are
 The coast has been well marketed as an ideal tourist destination
 Number of visitors high
 Infrastructure relatively good
 Threatened Ecosystems – indigenous forest, mangroves, wetlands
 Culture
Despite the opportunities, CBTs at the coast have had limited success. The Arabuko Sokoke
Butterfly project is one of the few success stories of CBTs at the coast. The success may have a
lot to do with the fact that their business is not dependent on physical presence of tourist. What
are the challenges for CBTs at the coast?
The conference noted that challenges faced by CBTs at the coast are not unique from those faced
by CBTS in other destinations. In general they include:
 Market access
 Marketing – how to get some of the coastal visitors to the CBT sites
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Lack of “tourist” facilities
Quality of product
Sharing of income – wrangles and infighting
Most CBOs are established on principles of volunteerism- lack business ethics.
Low capacity to develop and manage a business plan
CBT is shunned by domestic tourists- Promote domestic tourism
The way forward
 Assist CBOs to establish partnerships with established businesses
 Promote innovation and creativity
 Government funded enterprise management trainings (TEP)
 Vision and strategic planning
 Leadership and governance
 Conflict management
 Financial management
Theme 6 – Sustainable Destination Management
Without management, destinations both within and outside protected areas are at risk. There are
many approaches to destination management. They best known model is the protected area
model for conservation of protected areas. This model has been in use in Kenya since the 1940s
when the first park was gazetted. The model and its accompanying policy have been the subject
of debate for a long time with sustained calls for a review since the late 1990s. Sustainable
destination management is a combination of policies and practices developed through a
participatory process and jointly executed by all stakeholders through a plan. Planning is
therefore critical in sustainable destination management. Without planning, destinations face a
number of problems among them
 Difficulties in balancing conservation and use
 Development occurs on a haphazard basis
 Vested interests can influence decision-making
 Potential of irreversible damage to PA resources and values
Conversely, planning can help destinations to avoid problems as it:
 Enables managers to identify management problems and desired future conditions for
the PA
 Provides a framework for PA managers and stakeholders to work together in defining
PA management objectives and actions
 Provides managers with a framework for day-to-day management operations
Management planning for Kenya’ wildlife protected areas – the case of KWS
Protected area management plans can play a crucial role in ensuring the coherent and
coordinated development and management of protected areas (PAs), and in mitigating the
impacts of the intensifying array of pressures that are currently impacting on PAs. However,
although there is a long history of PA planning in Kenya, many of the management plans
previously developed have not been used effectively to enhance protected area management, and
have instead ended up as reference material rather than guiding tools for PA managers. It is for
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this reason that KWS, in early 2006, initiated the development of the Protected Area Planning
Framework (PAPF) as a way of ensuring that all new management plans provide practical and
effective guidance for PA management, that new management plans are developed according to
a common process and have a similar and easily understood structure, and that PA plans are
actually implemented.
To protect, manage and develop wildlife protected areas (PA) KWS has adopted a model known
as Protected Area Planning Framework (PAPF). The plans are aimed at providing practical and
effective guidance for PA management. Basically new management plans are developed based
on a standard process and have a similar and easy to understand structure. A pilot project was
launched in Meru conservation. Others including Amboseli, are in the pipeline with the intention
to encompass and spread the concept to other areas if it works.
Key features of the PAPF are:
 Zonation of the PA into different management zones and associated management
prescriptions accommodate different PA uses and activities
 Plans organised into Management Programmes aligned with PA departments to
facilitate implementation
 Logical Framework Approach used to structure management objectives and actions
to improve understanding
 Plans have a 10-Year outlook to guide long-term management strategies, and a 3Year outlook to guide day-to-day management activities
Stakeholder Participation throughout the planning process ensures ownership and that
the plan is relevant and achievable
Key issues addressed by the PAPF are:
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Rapidly increasing tourism pressures both inside and outside of PAs, including:
Planning for appropriate tourism infrastructure
Planning for diverse tourism activities
Conservation of exceptional PA biodiversity and habitats
Building good relations with PA stakeholders, especially neighboring communities
Ensuring that park operations are efficient and effective
Addressing long-term external threats impacting on PAs, such as diminishing water
supplies and loss of wildlife dispersal areas
The conference was concerned by the PAPF approach in particular its perceived exclusive
approach to planning. Some key concerns include:
 Ability of plan to address sustained adversity between communities and KWS
 Ability of plan to amicably address issues of grazing in parks
 How does PAPF address cross boundary resources?
 To what extend does PAPF allow for collaborative management?
 How does PAPF support communities to benefit from tourism and appreciate
conservation?
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Wildlife Dispersal Areas – Approaches to Sustainable Management
The protected area model is a well-known model for conservation but protected areas do not
represent complete ecosystems. Similarly it is not possible to put all areas of significant
biological diversity under protected area, hence dispersal areas. How do dispersal areas survive
with legislative protection? There are a number of models presently being applied in Kenya –
community conservancies, private conservancies, group ranches, leases etc. Are there better
models or right conditions for successful management of dispersal areas?
The conference observed that successful management of dispersal areas is dependent on good
conservation practices and economic planning. This involves:
 Maintaining ecosystem integrity (conservation planning)
 Providing space for wildlife (Land use and ownership)
 Creating incentives to have wildlife (incentives and benefits)
 Poverty reduction
 Economic development (conservation investment)
It was noted that conservation success is limited in Kenya
 Because wildlife is a liability to most rural people rather than an asset
 Wildlife Dispersal Areas are ignored despite being Areas for Wildlife and of more
importance than formal protected areas owing to the scale.
 Management to increase wildlife numbers is not currently practiced in Kenya.
 Because sufficient land needed for wildlife is not being made available. This has led
to crisis for National Parks & Reserves
 There are no incentives and benefits for creation of space for wildlife
Sustainable management of dispersal areas will be guaranteed if
 Rural Kenyans provide space for wildlife
 Rural Kenyans will derive a livelihood from wildlife
 If that livelihood it is economically competitive with other forms of land use
 Rights and management responsibility will be delegated to resource users
Carbon sequestration in protected areas: Baseline studies in Kakamega, Lower Tana, Arabuko and
Mandanguni forests
The conference was introduced to various terminologies related to carbon sequestration as
follows:
Carbon sequestration refers to the provision of long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial
biosphere, underground, or the oceans so that the build-up of carbon dioxide (the principal
greenhouse gas) concentration in the atmosphere will reduce or slow. In some cases, this is
accomplished by maintaining or enhancing natural processes; in other cases, novel techniques
are developed to dispose of carbon.
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Carbon Trading: Carbon emissions trading is emissions trading for carbon dioxide It is one of
the ways countries can meet their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon
emissions and thereby mitigate global warming.
Within each country, companies have an allowance of credits, where each credit unit gives the
owner the right to emit one metric tonne of carbon dioxide . If businesses are about to exceed
their quotas, they can buy the extra allowances as credits, privately or on the open market.
Carbon offsetting: is the act of mitigating ("offsetting") carbon dioxide emissions. A wellknown example is the purchasing of offsets to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions
from personal air travel. In contrast to emissions trading, which are regulated by a strict formal
and legal framework, carbon offsets generally refer to voluntary acts by individuals or companies
that are arranged by commercial or not-for-profit carbon-offset providers.
Carbon Sinks: store carbon over time – photosynthesis/tree
decomposition/burning. A regenerating forest is typically a sink.
growth
faster
than
Carbon Stores: carbon stored in a terrestrial pool rather than the atmosphere (land-use pools:
vegetation and soil). A mature forest is typically a store, sometimes a sink
Additionality: carbon stored over and above the baseline situation as a response to the need to
mitigate carbon pollution
Leakage: carbon stored within the project area that is negated by carbon released elsewhere as a
result of project activity (example: displacement of forest clearance)
The conference noted that there was potential for carbon trading projects to help sustainable
protection of Kenyan indigenous forests. This was however dependent on specific knowledge
including:
 How much carbon is stored? How much could be stored?
 What activities could increase carbon stocks?
 Are these activities feasible in the forest area and feasible for carbon trading?
 Need to establish baseline by measuring amount of carbon present
According to research done in Kakamega, Lower Tana, Arabuko and Mandanguni forests,
forestry based carbon emissions offset projects have potential to both mitigate climate change
and foster sustainable forest management. Degraded African tropical forests could sequester
large amounts of additional carbon, but the lack of empirical data limits the feasibility of
initiating carbon offset projects in many threatened forests.
It was observed that there potential for ecotourism involvement in Protected Area (PA) carbon
trading because:
 Baseline data has been established for four forests, an essential pre-condition for
carbon trading
 Highest densities of carbon and maximum value for carbon trading at Kakamega
(restoration of 1,550 ha of degraded forests)
 Immediate possibility for reforestation greatest at Madunguni (86% cleared)
 But has to be voluntary as forest was cleared post 1990
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5.Air travel offsets and voluntary individual contributions could fund reforestation at
Madunguni
Airlines flying into Malindi pass close to Madunguni offering passengers an
opportunity to see the problem and monitor the reforestation
Tourist operators need to engage with Kenya Forest Service to explore possible
mechanisms for carbon trading
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