{"id":4329,"date":"2015-05-22T10:30:01","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T10:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=4329"},"modified":"2015-05-22T10:30:01","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T10:30:01","slug":"streamline-ecotourism-in-protected-areas-say-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/streamline-ecotourism-in-protected-areas-say-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Streamline ecotourism in protected areas, say experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"download<\/a>More than 200 experts, policymakers, government officials, and journalists who participated in the three-day international conference on ecotourism in protected areas said streamlining ecotourism in protected areas will go a long way in strengthening livelihoods, conservation, and adaptation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Discussing topics like climate change, spiritual tourism, nature conservation financing, working with host communities, etc., they said creating and sharing new knowledge on ecotourism policy and practice would be crucial to determine the direction of progress countries make in the field of ecotourism.<\/span><\/p>\n

The international conference titled \u2018Ecotourism in Protected Areas: Strengthening Livelihoods, Conservation, and Adaptation<\/span><\/a>\u2019, held from 19 to 21 May 2015, was organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and jointly hosted by Myanmar\u2019s\u00a0Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MOHT)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vice President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar His Excellency U Nyan Tun officially opened the conference on 19 May at the Myanmar International Convention Centre (MICC II) in Nay Pyi Taw. The opening ceremony also saw the launch of Myanmar\u2019s new \u2018Ecotourism Policy and Management Strategy\u2019, developed with technical collaboration from ICIMOD.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his opening address, Vice President U Nyan Tun said that not only is tourism Myanmar\u2019s one of the largest service industries, but it also one of the seven priority sectors spelt out in the country\u2019s economic policy. \u201cThe contribution and cooperation from different sectors of the tourism industry will be critical to the success of implementation of the Ecotourism Policy and Management Strategy,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a closed-door session in the morning of 19 May, Minister U Win Tun of MOECAF noted the opportunities the tourism sector presented in Myanmar. \u201cEcotourism provides an opportunity to fulfil development goals as stipulated by the Government of Myanmar including green growth, people-centered development, people-oriented approaches, and maintaining the national culture and identity,\u201d he said, adding that the ministry is planning to increase the number of ecotourism sites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his closing remarks in the afternoon of 21 May, Minister U Htay Aung of MOHT said that Myanmar\u2019s new Ecotourism Policy has been developed to guide the systematic and sustainable development and management of ecotourism, and to avoid and mitigate any potential negative impacts that may arise from unregulated nature-based tourism development. \u201cWe fully believe that ecotourism will not only benefit the protected areas through conservation, but also the local communities through employment, capacity development, and alternative source of livelihood,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ICIMOD\u2019s Regional Programme Manager\u00a0Dr Dhrupad Choudhury<\/span><\/a>\u00a0said the Conference is an important milestone in the support ICIMOD has extended to the Government of Myanmar in the process of formulating the Ecotourism Policy and Strategy. \u201cWe are privileged to have supported this Policy through the whole process with the strong support of the two ministries. We will look forward to continuing this partnership and foster regional cooperation and knowledge generation,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pointing out the need to engage communities at the local level, ICIMOD\u2019s Theme Leader for Livelihoods,\u00a0Dr Golam Rasul<\/span><\/a>, said, \u201cFor making ecotourism a success, we need to engage the key stakeholders, particularly the local communities, to diversify their livelihood options and improve their lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Conference was endorsed by\u00a0Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)<\/span><\/a>, and was supported by key sponsors, including the European Union, the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) – Environment Operations Center, Empower Consultancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Kempinski Hotel.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 200 experts, policymakers, government officials, and journalists who participated in the three-day international conference on ecotourism in protected areas said streamlining ecotourism in protected areas will go a long way in strengthening livelihoods, conservation, and adaptation.\u00a0 Discussing topics like climate change, spiritual tourism, nature conservation financing, working with host communities, etc., they said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2-150x139.jpg",150,139,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2-300x114.jpg",300,114,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",95,36,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",363,139,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",96,37,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/download-2.jpg",150,57,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Culture<\/a>","tag_info":"Culture","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}