Events

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Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website (ITBW) Award

Planeta.com and the Secretariat of the CBD are collaborating to showcase best practices in web-based technologies helping indigenous people manage tourism in a biodiversity-friendly way. The main objectives of this award are to motivate candidates to improve their online communication on biological and cultural diversity, to highlight their best practices in managing tourism in a biodiversity-friendly way, and to raise tourism operators and public’s awareness on biodiversity. Each year there are two winners of the ITBW Award, one selected by an expert jury panel and another selected by online popular vote.

Second ITBW Award - 2010

WINNERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED! THEY WILL RECEIVE THEIR PRIZES AT THE ESTC CONFERENCE, 8-11 SEPTEMBER, PORTLAND, OREGON, USA (see advert in the right column).

The Winner of the judged 2010 ITBW Award is Nutti Sami Siida (www.nutti.se), a company that arranges nature and culture tours based on the Sami culture. Owners Nils Torbjörn Nutti and Carina Pingi are both Sami from Gabna Sameby, Sweden.

The Winner of the popular count 2010 ITBW Award is TIME Unlimited Tours (www.newzealandtours.travel) from New Zealand, operated by the Maori-European couple Ceillhe Tewhare Teneti Hema Sperath and Néill Sperath, and providing personalized and interactive Auckland & Maori Indigenous Cultural Tours.

Visit the site for more : 2010 ITBW Award.

First ITBW Award - 2009

The winner of the judged 2009 ITBW Award is Guurrbi Tours (Australia) and the winner of the popular count 2009 ITBW Award is Indigenous Trails (New Zealand).

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Workshop Series on Indigenous Communities, Tourism and Biodiversity: New Information and Web-based Technologies

In line with CBD Decisions IX/13 E and VIII/5 D on Article 8(j) an related provisions and Decision VII/14 on Biological Diversity and Tourism, the SCBD is currently organizing a series of workshops on new information and web-based technologies within indigenous communities. The workshops are intended to support the sustainable use and management of biodiversity in tourism through bolstering the web-based capacities of indigenous tourism operators.

The workshop series aims to support the management of biodiversity-friendly tourism activities, the web-based capacity of indigenous tourism operators, and the marketing of the culturally and biologically sustainable aspects of indigenous tourism products. The workshops are also intended to be fora for networking and exchange of information on specific challenges facing indigenous tourism operators.

The workshops are being held in five bio-geographical regions of the globe (the Arctic, islands, dry lands and deserts, forest-basins and mountains), areas whose beauty, isolation, significant biodiversity and indigenous communities attract large numbers of eco and cultural tourists.

Third Workshop of the Series: Forests (April 2010)

Second Workshop of the Series: Islands (November 2008)

You are also invited to visit the workshop web site created by NZTRI, Auckland University.

First Workshop of the Series: The Arctic (November 2007)

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6th Brazilian Congress on Protected Areas in Curitiba, Brazil

The Secretariat participated, from September 20 to 24, 2009, in the 6th Brazilian Congress on Protected Areas in Curitiba, Brazil, with the support of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Fundacao Boticario, where 1,200 professionals from government, the private sector and NGOs, from 27 countries, discussed the status and trends of the implementation of the programme of work on protected areas in South America and Brazil. The Secretariat contributed a paper on carbon emission offsets from tourism to benefit parks (click here to read the paper), and participated in a technical session on tourism concessions in Protected areas with the objective of preparing a reference publication on the subject.

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Biodiversity and Tourism for Development

The SCBD organized, jointly with UNEP and UNWTO a series of three roundtables on Sustainable Tourism, which took place on 27 February 2009 during the Reisepavillion - International Fair for Alternative Travel in Munich.

Have a look at the presentations of the Reisepavillon on the Tourism and Development pages of the GTZ web site.

For more information on Tourism and Development at the CBD, visit the Biodiversity for Development pages.

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Workshop on Biological Diversity and Tourism: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 2001

The Workshop on Biological Diversity and Tourism was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 4 to 7 June 2001. It was convened pursuant to decision V/25, paragraph 2, of the Conference of the Parties, in which the Conference of the Parties accepted the invitation to participate in the international work programme on sustainable tourism development under the Commission on Sustainable Development process with regard to biological diversity, in particular, "with a view to contributing to international guidelines for activities related to sustainable tourism development in vulnerable areas, including fragile riparian and mountain ecosystems, bearing in mind the need for guidelines to apply to activities both within and outside protected areas, and taking into account existing guidelines..."

To facilitate the development of such guidelines, the Conference of the Parties further requested the Executive Secretary to prepare a proposal for the contribution on guidelines, "for example, by convening an international workshop".

Workshop on Biological Diversity and Tourism (2001)

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For more information, contact chantal.robichaud@cbd.int.