With conflicts over natural resources in Peru escalating, the passage of a new law permitting military intervention to address civil unrest has left Amnesty International concerned about potential human rights violations in the country. On September 11 the military was deployed under the new law in anticipation of protests over a proposed irrigation project in […]
Four of the world’s 10 largest freshwater fish migrate up the Mekong River to spawn, yet the lives of these big fish—which can grow to be the length of a four-door car and weigh over 1,300 pounds—are at risk should a hydropower plant be built on a stretch of the river in northwestern Laos. The […]
You may be used to renting a house or a car when you go on vacation, but how about a cow? An enterprising farmer in Switzerland is offering the chance to do just that. It’s part of a trend toward farm tours, extended farm stays and other vacations that promote sustainability and the preservation of […]
With all the green buzzwords flying around these days, it can be hard for travelers to know what to trust. How do you know if a tourism business is truly sustainable? How can you be certain that an ecolodge is really “eco”? What kinds of criteria should you be looking at? Enter Hitesh Mehta, a […]
An expert on the ethical side of conservation and tourism development has published a controversial new book strongly criticizing current conservation efforts. In Nature Crime: How We’re Getting Conservation Wrong Rosaleen Duffy claims that the dominating Western approach to conservation damages the environment and criminalizes local people. The current approach is based on separating people […]
Imagine having to walk for an hour just to get drinking water or wash your clothes. Or being forced to rely on candlelight and gas lamps for all your household chores and other activities after dark. That’s what daily life is like for many rural people in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the […]
Iran does not top most lists of sustainable travel destinations, but the country’s isolation may have unwittingly made it a pillar of responsible tourism. “Iran has not been McDonaldized yet,” said Jerry Dekker, a former humanities professor who has led over 30 cultural tours for Americans with Iran Traveler and lived there for 13 years. […]
Catalonia became the first mainland Spanish region to outlaw bullfighting after the regional parliament passed the ban by a vote of 68 to 55 with nine abstentions. Many heated debates centering on animal rights versus preserving traditional culture preceded the passing of the ban, which will take effect in 2012. The origins of the corrida—as […]
Jutting out from Argentina’s east coast some 800 miles south of Buenos Aires, the oddly shaped piece of land known as Peninsula Valdés has become known as one of the best places in the world to observe the southern right whale. From May to December, close to 1,000 of these whales gather in the waters […]
