Planeta Forum

[planeta]

If ecotourism is to deliver on its promise of benefiting locals, travelers and conservation, cities play a vital role. With that in mind, Planeta presents our 14th online event, the Urban Ecotourism Conference which takes place September 20-30, 2004.

Details
>> http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/urban.html

Anuncio en español
>> http://forum.planeta.com/viewtopic.php?t=238

Definitions
>> http://forum.planeta.com/viewtopic.php?t=257

REGISTRATION

Registration is free, however Planeta welcomes voluntary contributions. Financial support is appreciated. Send a contribution (suggestion -- $50 US or more) via check or Pay Pal and your name will appear on the conference page

Details
>> http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/urban.html#Reg


PREPARATION

Please consult the index of cities
>> http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/urbanspot.html

And our essay on conferencing in the virtual and natural worlds
>> http://www.planeta.com/web/conferences.html


ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHO CAN READ THE MESSAGES? -- This is a public conference and messages can be read by anyone who logs in.

HOW DO I POST A MESSAGE? -- After you register, locate the appropriate topic, read the posts and click 'post reply.'

WILL MESSAGES BE EDITED OR DELETED? -- Messages may be lightly edited in the preparation of the summary of this conference. The only messages that would be deleted are those off topic or that do not follow the forum guidelines.
>> http://www.planeta.com/worldforum.html

HOW DO I PROPOSE A NEW TOPIC? -- If you care to introduce and shepherd a topic -- define the topic, how long you'd be willing to discuss this and commit to writing a contributing a summary at the end of this conference. Contact Planeta.com via email.

[planeta]

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE -- As we begin this conference, we ask participants for a short introduction. Your first post introduces you to people who are not familiar with your professional background or interest in this topic.

[jmorfin]

Living in this crazy city and working with conservation NGOs, I have noticed the immense importance of Urban Ecotourism.

We welcome everyone to share their knowledge and experiences where we all can learn from each others' practices to improve our quality of life.

I'm eager for the dialogue to start.

Best regards,

Jennifer
http://www.imacmexico.org

[Antonis]

Dear Colleagues

Urban Ecotourism, in more ways than one, can be more ecological than many other types of Ecotourism.

It baffles me why so-called 'official' definitions of Ecotourism start with 'travel to natural areas'. This could not be more irrelevant. Ecotourism, is ecological tourism, period. And thus, it covers urban areas just as well. Urban areas are not unnatural in any sense. Urban centres go back 10,000 years and are an integral part of what we call human civilisation. Urban areas can be far more efficient in terms of consumption of raw materials and production of raw ideas. Urban areas are where all new trends originate and where most revolutions start. Most Ecotourists live in urban areas. They say charity begins at home, and so does Ecotourism.

Isn't it far more ecological to take a 6 km walk in the urban jungle of your city on a Sunday morning and meet friends rather than to drive alone your suv through a national park some 200 km away to be isolated in the 'wilderness'?

But if many would believe so, what would happen to all those glossy tourism mags (some offering ecotourism awards!), their adventure gear, cars and other so useful accessories that make 'beautiful life' for 'beautiful' people, the very people you are not likely to meet in your down town stroll?

Antonis B. Petropoulos
Director
ECOCLUB, International Ecotourism Club

proud co-Sponsors of the Urban Ecotourism Conference.

[planeta]

Greetings and Saludos

Many thanks (again!) to our co-sponsors. And a request of those registered and supporting the Urban Ecotourism Conference
>> http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/urban.html

If you have photos of city environments, please send up to three pictures via attachment (something requested infrequently by Planeta.com) in JPG or GIF format, preferably less than 300K in size.

Photos submitted will be considered for publication on our website rotating with the city picture currently featured online the conference home page.
The city and you will receive the credit.

The Urban Ecotourism Conference begins Monday. Thanks again for your participation.

Ron Mader

[jshores]

Dear Colleagues:

It is a pleasure to join Ron Mader and the other sponsors in welcoming you to the Urban Ecotourism Conference.

My name is John Shores. My academic background is in natural resource planning and conservation, and for the past four decades I have been working on environmental projects worldwide with a special interest in biodiversity, conservation finance, and ecotourism.

I approach urban ecotourism as a regional planner with a special interest in natural resources and ecosystems. If I were starting a new academic program on urban ecotourism, my guiding question might be: How can we make urban spaces more livable while ensuring protection of the natural resources and ecosystems that sustain us?

I was born in Washington DC, USA, which has a marvelous example of an urban park system based on Rock Creek Park -- essentially a protected watershed in the middle of a city of 600,000 and a metropolitan area of several million. I now live in Silicon Valley/Bay Area of California, USA, which has plenty of biking trails, city and regional parks, open space preserves, and restored wetlands ... much of which is based on a system of protected watersheds and creek channels. Water, because of its vital importance to human life and urban living, is a recurring theme.

I am an advocate of encouraging local residents to visit and enjoy their urban natural areas. For me, one of the major constituent audiences for urban ecotourism should be our neighbors.

I look forward to reading about your experiences in other cities and other countries.

// John //

John Shores
http://www.geocities.com/shores_system/

[planeta]

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE -- The conference begins Monday! Those who have registered will be able to post their introductory messages on September 20th.

ABOUT ONLINE CONFERENCING

Planeta conferences borrow from "Open Space Technology" -- a unique methodology of conference organizing. Complete details are online
>> http://www.planeta.com/web/ost.html

Y en espaÒol
>> http://www.planeta.com/web/ost2.html

One of the more interesting rules is "The Law of Mobility" (or The Law of Two Feet) which states that if persons find themselves in situations where they are neither learning anything or contributing anything, they are responsible for moving to another place -- using their two feet to find a place where their participation is more meaningful.

In an event that takes place in the 'natural' world, this law is easily enforced and observed. Virtual conferencing, on the other hand, still allows for mobility -- though instead of feet, you choose via a click of your mouse.

PRINCIPLES OF OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY

1. Whoever comes is the right people

2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have

3. Whenever it starts is the right time

4. When it is over, it is over

More tips and suggestions about online conferences are accessible in our web seminar feature
>> http://www.planeta.com/web/conferences.html

Enjoy! If you have any questions, just ask.

Ron Mader
Planeta.com

[ednaa]

Hola,

My name is Edna AguiÒaga, I¥m Mexican and I work in the Mexican Nature Conservation Fund in the offices in Xalapa, Veracruz. The last couple of years I was involved with eco tourism projects, more outside the cities, but I think we should also be promoting a way to interact with nature in our closer environments. I have had the opportunity to live outside Mexico and have lived in some cities that offer quite a bit of options for recreation within the cities and I think we should develop ìmodelsî or ideas that can be implemented in our local environments.

One other aspect that I consider very important is the interaction with people from our own environments, which can certainly increase when there are recreation areas in our neighbourhoods. I am very much looking forward hearing different experiences and ideas in this conference!

Edna

[planeta]

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE -- The conference opens Monday. Those who have registered and who have received a confirmation email will be considered 'co-moderators' with permission to post a reply to this topic.

TIP -- If you wish to measure the popularity of this conference, one way is to check the number of "views" the topics receive during the course of the event.

As of September 18, 2004, here are the current stats:

Announcement: Recommended Reading 163
Announcement: Urban Ecotourism Conference 31
Anuncio: Conferencia de Ecoturismo Urbano 69
Urban Ecotourism Dialogue 112
Pre-Event Chatter 331

TIP -- You might wish to print
>> http://forum.planeta.com/viewforum.php?f=36

It's just 1-page. Consider it artwork for your cubicle!

[planeta]

Greetings, all

This conference is Planeta's 14th online event and the first to use the Phpbb software <http://www.phpbb.com>. Those whose applications have been accepted are co-moderators in this discussion.

Online conferencing (particularly in the ecotourism niche) is akin to
herding cats. Everyone is going to go their own way, so we might as well
let them. The discussion may appear to be unfocused at times, so three
general tips:

1) Focus on your interests and questions.

Don't wait for someone else to bring up something for you to respond. Let
us know now what you're doing in urban ecotourism and what you'd like to
learn.

2) Be selective in your responses

Don't try to respond to every post.

This conference is more of a brainstorming session, so let your creative
juices flow and add new thoughts and tangents, rather than debating each
statement.

One of the objectives is to create a summary -- not a conclusion or set
of proposals agreed upon by all the participants. If we were to hold "Urban
Ecotourism Conference 2" we might be able to work toward conclusions. At
this stage, however, we are exploring the topic. We all have much to
learn.

3) Be succinct.

Brevity is the soul of wit. Please keep you posts limited to less than
500 words.

- Ron Mader/Planeta.com


REFERENCES

Stones in the Road
- This essay explains a bit more about the notion of "cat herding." And there's a link to an amusing video.
>> http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/stones.html

World Forum Guidelines
- Trouble-shooting tips and good advice on using this forum.
>> http://www.planeta.com/worldforum.html

[planeta]

The Urban Ecotourism Conference is officially open. Please share your comments by clicking 'post reply.'

[Gerhard]

Hello

My name is Gerhard Buttner. I was born and grew up in Cape Town (South Africa) where I worked as development consultant and tourist guide. After a while in London (UK) I moved to Celestun, Yucatan (Mexico), where I assisted an NGO on a rural community ecotourism project. I have recently moved to Oaxaca, working for an NGO as rural development cartographer and as part-time teacher.

In the past I usually thought of ecotourism in terms of remote natural locations (visiting remote areas is a personal hobby). However, I also believe that it is in fact more ìecologicalî - rather than venturing into the ìlast frontiersî and ìuntouched paradiseî - to travel to closer nature destinations, possibly less pristine yet of sufficient beauty or interest to attract tourists. Exactly because of visitor interest we can create an incentive to conserve them.

Upon considering the topic of urban ecotourism, I realized that my city of origin, Cape Town, is in fact a prime example of ecotourism potential with a mountain ñ declared a national park - right in the center of the city with an internationally acclaimed Botanical Garden on its slopes and generally stunning coastal scenery as part of the city landscape (including a unique penguin colony mere metres from the first houses of a Cape Town suburb).

I look forward to hearing of ideas and examples from around the globe.

[Paul Radchenko]

Greetings to All

My name is Paul Radchenko. I am a full time instructor and coordinator of a 4-Year Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership at Medicine Hat College in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

This is my third year in the position and have truly enjoyed the many challenges that an industry an profession such as this has brought. From curricular development to industry perspectives, I've realized that ecotourism is many things. I've also come to the realization that it is also one thing - a personal ethic!

By participating in this Conference, my hope is to learn and share ideas and examples on a global perspective from experts in the field so that I may apply them to our curriculum and share them with my students.

I am excited that our 4th year students will be able to participate in the conference as part of a Directed Studies in Ecotourism class for which they will develop a project for as a major assessment item. Please welcome them as they will be identifying and introducing themselves individually under my name (registration) throughout the forum.

I too have realized that my city (Medicine Hat) has examples of urban ecotourism as well as the potential for more as we continue to grow and develop.

I look forward to the next 10 days!

[Mary Finn]

Hello and Hola to everyone ñ

My name is Mary Finn, and I grew up in the Chicago suburban area, in what was the (a few decades ago), mostly open area surrounded by farms. Since then I¥ve lived and worked in many other regions, including California/San Francisco Bay area where I got my Master¥s degrees in Business and then in Environmental Policy. Armed with the latter (and my then rather rusty Spanish), I was off to Ecuador, where for the past few years I worked with a small rural community, to help them develop an ecotourism operation in their cloud forest reserve in the highly biodiverse ChocÛ (http://www.santa-lucia.org)

My return to an urban area in the US Midwest was to say the least an adjustment after rural Ecuador; really it was quite a shock to see how many buildings had sprung up where there had been open fields, and how many cars now packed the many miles of new highways. But bit by bit one finds (if you look purposefully!) that there are also many positive things going on in the midst of all this ¥progress¥ - dedicated people and organizations who are helping to preserve open space, restore natural systems, conserve resources, etc. There are also so many wonderful cultural activities ñ and blendings of different world cultures ñ in our urban areas, that I think (at least in the case of my hometown of Naperville) now makes it unnecessary to travel quite so far to learn (at least something) about other parts of the world.

And I agree with Ron, Antonis, John Shores and others who have suggested that Urban Ecotourism can be a means of (as John put it) making ¥ urban spaces more livable while ensuring protection of the natural resources and ecosystems that sustain us¥. I think it¥s true that many consider ¥ecotourism¥ to be by definition, travel to somewhere ¥exotic¥ and far away, but as environmentalists we also know the importance of knowing ñ really knowing ñ the places (the land, the people, the wild things) where we live. (As in William Least Heat-Moon¥s ¥PrairyErth¥ , where he talks about making ¥deep maps¥ which delve into the many layers of information about a small chosen area, in his case, a single county in the prairie lands of rural Kansas.)

I end with a couple of quotes, the first from TS Eliot: `"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

And the last word I give to fellow Midwesterner, Aldo Leopold: ®The only true development in American recreational resources is the development of the perceptive faculty in AmericansÖthe weeds in a city lot convey the same lesson as the redwoods; the farmer may see in his cow-pasture what may not be vouchsafed to the scientist adventuring in the South Seas. Perception, in short, cannot be purchased with either learned degrees or dollars; it grows at home as well as abroadÖ As a search for perception, the recreational stampede is footless and unnecessary.® (from A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC; 1948)

Many thanks to Ron and the other organizers and sponsors of this conference; I look forward to a very stimulating and productive conference over the next few days,

Paz,

Mary
http://www.mefinn.com

[ecoturismolatino]

Hi Everyone

My name is Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza I am the webmaster of www.ecoturismolatino.com (which you are more than welcome to visit and comment). Originally from Mexico, but also with an English background thanks to my Dad.

I am also studying a master degree on Parks, Tourism and Recreation Management at Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. I live in Christchurch and because it is one of the cities higlighted in this Conference Ron invited me to participate and comment. Funnily enough during the conference I am writing from Mexico City, while I am doing here, in Quintana Roo and Chiapas my fieldwork for my thesis.

With regard to the Conference for me it was a new idea to think about Urban Ecotourism, even more because I am a non-city person, although now that I live in Christchurch, I am becoming a believer again, only when cities remain small and humane becoming quite nice places to live in, but Mexico city is just too much.

I hope to be discussing or talking about my views and experiences in Christchurch, Mexico City and Cuernavaca (where I lived before), and how they work as bridges to get close to the natural protected areas of a country. I would also like to learn about the roof gardens which I see as an only option for cities like Mexico.

Take care and we¥ll see each other along this interesting 10 days.


Allan R. Rhodes E.
Ecoturismolatino