Our ecotourism initiative helps protect the Amazon forest
08 July 2022 (365 visits)At Tambopata Ecolodge, we have understood since we built our eco-lodge more than thirty years ago that ecotourism and ecoadventure activities can help protect the Amazon basin. By creating income and employment opportunities, discouraging deforestation and boosting the sale of local produce, responsible tourism can function as a crucial barrier against the ongoing destruction of the countless natural wonders of the Amazon.
By demonstrating that if forests are left standing they can generate income in perpetuity, responsible ecotourism expressed in green initiatives like our own Tambopata Ecolodge can help reduce deforestation and protect the habitats that are home to one in 10 of all the known species on Earth.
Since 2019, across the Amazon region of South America, the burning of the rainforest to clear land for cattle ranching has increased exponentially, year-on-year. One way to effectively combat this ongoing natural disaster and accelerator of climate change is through ecotourism. This is a form of responsible travel which aims to conserve the environment while seeking to benefit local communities and show them how to turn away from further destruction of the environment. Over recent years, ecotourism has grown significantly, and over the next few years that trend is set to continue, as travelers look for more outdoor experiences in a post-pandemic world.
We have been working to protect our Peruvian Amazon home since the early 1990s, in the knowledge that ecotourism has the potential to ensure that the natural environment is protected, create local employment opportunities, and provide a platform for the sale of local goods. At the same time, we understand that in order for ecotourism to benefit both the environment and the local economy, it is essential that the concept be carefully understood, and viewed as a long-term strategy, rather than a transitory buzzword.
In order to protect our Private Conservation Area and the other areas of forest that the Peruvian government has entrusted to our care, we remain constantly vigilant. Experts maintain that cattle ranching is the main cause of at least 80% of deforestation in the Amazon. But at Tambopata Ecolodge the environmental threats we face down in order to conserve our own small corner of the Amazon forest are many and varied. These include the illegal logging of big trees, the extraction of gold from rivers that border our protected forests, land invasion for farming, and the illicit hunting and fishing of threatened species.
At Tambopata Ecolodge, we protect the forests where we live because we love our beautiful home in the heart of the natural world, and because we want to ensure that it will be around for all our children –both ours and yours- to understand, appreciate and enjoy.
