Ecotourism for the common good

Ecotourism, green certification and the common good -- what do these terms mean? Since the Bali Conference on Climate Change last December, these and many similar concepts have been bandied about.

Ecotourism is defined as: "Responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people". Often a facility wears the tag "ecotourism", but closer examination reveals it is just a hotel in a "natural area".

Fortunately there are those who know that life consists of more than just bowing down to the god of mammon. These are people who see with the eyes of their soul. To use an old clich*, "they step to the beat of a different drummer".

For these people and the institutions they support, ecotourism is not just a business decision -- it is descriptive of what they believe in, what they value.

Bali's Wisnu Foundation works directly with local communities developing ecotourism initiatives. Two others are Alam Sari, a privately-owned, 12-room plus villa boutique hotel in the hills near Ubud, Bali, and a Raptor Rehabilitation Center managed by Yayasan Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) on Kotok Island, of the Thousand Islands.

And how do they work toward "responsible travel"?

An important measuring tool is now referred to as our "carbon footprint", a computation of human activities on the environment -- including what a hotel spends in fuel costs to keep its tourists happy -- measured in carbon dioxide, a nasty pollutant which contributes to, among others, respiratory diseases.

Those dedicated to ecotourism want to shrink that footprint down to toddler size -- they find creative ways to be energy efficient, and not just because it impacts their financial profit.

"Every bungalow has roof-top solar panels which provide hot water, with gas for backup, thus reducing our carbon footprint," said Hugh Collett, who along with his wife Aprile, are owners of Alam Sari.

The Lonely Planet describes Alam Sari as having an environmental focus, but that does not stop the Colletts from developing other initiatives.

"Future plans include carbon offsetting schemes to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions due to air travel and working towards Green Certification...."

A true ecotourist facility not only recycles but does not sicken its neighbors by dumping its wastes over the metaphoric wall onto someone else's property.

A popular ecotourism fa*ade is requesting the guests to reuse their bath towels and only toss them on the floor when wanting clean ones. Meanwhile, the hotel's unfiltered sewage is dumped directly into the nearest stream, river, lake or ocean.

A polluting hotel does not consider the costs that its pollution imposes on society in terms of an increase in medical costs, unemployment due to illness and economic loss if the fish die.

In other words, the hotel has not included all the economic costs of their actions and hence they are not subtracted from their revenues, leading to an inaccurate portrayal of benefits. This can lead to an inefficiency in the allocation of resources -- more polluting hotels are added to the tourist industry with increasing losses to society.

Aware of their impact on the community, April said, "We have installed our own on-site Australian Enviro-wastewater treatment facility to take care of the hotel's sewage, keeping the local environment clean."

In addition, ecotourism builds cultural awareness and respect and will empower the local community. Oftentimes digging a little deeper into a supposed "ecofacility" reveals that all profits are exiting the country to shareholders of a multinational corporation -- with the exception of poverty-level wages for the local staff and bribes to the officials.

That is not "empowering" a local community. Or maybe they've jumped onto the Corporate Social Responsibility bandwagon and 0.005 percent of their profits enable two people annually to have cataract surgery.

Yayasan JAAN sees things differently. Besides rehabilitating raptors, it has several other conservation projects underway on Kotok Island.

Due to its poor soil, the islanders must import 95 percent of their vegetables from Jakarta. Therefore a pilot organic gardening project is underway and will be duplicated on the other islands, "to empower the local communities", said Rio Kornel, coordinator for JAAN's community development program.

Marine conservation is a high priority for JAAN.

"Of Indonesia's reefs, only 6 percent are in excellent condition while 70 percent are in fair to poor condition -- and world demand for coral is high.

"Therefore, working with the national parks department, the local communities are taught sustainable reef farming techniques which provide them with an income and help preserve our national resource," said Ade Ardiansyah, JAAN's coordinator for the marine program.

Another term tossed around these days is "the common good", often referring to the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number of individuals.

In a perfect world, "the greatest possible number of individuals" would include the natural communities/ecosystems which humanity -- as well as the tourism industry -- is embedded within.

The Wisnu Foundation, Alam Sari and JAAN are examples not only of ecotourism, but also of people and communities who have vision and passion to increase the common good for all and have given us the privilege of participating in their visions.