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Conservation/Smart Voyager |
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| Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve - A Natural Sanctuary in the Mindo area of Ecuador |
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At Bellavista, we strive to operate a lodge and reserve that obeys the rules of sustainability and low environmental impact as demanded by internationally accepted standards of ECOTOURISM. What does this easy buzzword mean? Basically, there are a few main areas that need to be considered:
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a) RESOURCE USE:. As part of our work towards achieving “Smart Voyager” status – a qualification of tourism operations as to sustainability into the future – we are installing water efficient taps, and meters to monitor water and electricity usage, in other words to monitor ourselves in more conservation-minded use of resources. The grey water system is being redesigned in order to achieve better purification results. Garbage is recycled as far as possible – returnable bottles, composting kitchen waste etc. But this needs to be part of a broader local initiative.
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b) EDUCATION: Education for conservation, the importance of this cannot be stressed enough. We have a self-guided trail, and guides strive to educate visitors about the forest and its importance, about how conservation of different ecosystems is essential to preserve quality of life on our planet. We are promoting visits from local schools, and a reforestation programme with local schools will begin late 2006. |
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c) PRESERVATION OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND ITS BIODIVERSITY: Among the most satisfying parts of our work is the knowledge that the Reserve is protecting a meaningful piece of land, with exceptionally high biodiversity, and that our ideas of forest conservation and ecotourism are now seen locally as pioneering and valid. |
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d) COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: There are few truly neighbouring families here! But we do work with some direct neighbours, and otherwise with people from the immediate region as one of our main sources for our labour force. There is room for improvement - broader local community outreach - and one goal is to promote visits from local towns and villages at reduced rates, so that our education goals can be more broadly realized. Education is indeed one of the main goals of the incipient Committed Conservationists of Ecuador Foundation, which intends to begin working with school groups, providing free transport to private reserves. |
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e) COMMITTED CONSERVATIONISTS OF ECUADOR FOUNDATION This foundation hopes to be 100% legalized by the end of 2006 (hopefully before)! We at Bellavista are indeed the original initiators, but are part of a diverse founding group that seeks to avoid personal interests. This foundation is born of the realization that it is not enough to simply buy land, it needs real protection too, to prevent projects that could destroy or severely impact the resource (such as hydroelectric projects), to avoid land invasions, and to be proactive in education, as one of the keys to a conservation-aware future. |
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Forest preservation and education for conservation - our work is ongoing. Bellavista as a project grows with the creative ideas of many. Please SHARE YOUR IDEAS with us - thanks! |
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