Ecotourism

This manual is based on, and represents an expanded and updated edition of the first MEET manual. The purpose of this manual is to provide protected area managing bodies and the local ecotourism sector with a clear pathway to plan and enhance engaged conservation-focused ecotourism in their areas.

The Shouf Biosphere Reserve is the largest nature reserve in Lebanon. This field guide provides visitors with a broad introduction to the reserve and serves as a guide for hikers, bikers, nature lovers, students, and people escaping the crowded life of big cities. It sheds light on the remarkable biodiversity, beauty, and cultural heritage of the reserve and introduces the visitor to a more responsible and sustainable form of ecotourism.

This field guide aims at giving comprehensive information about the key species endangered, vulnerable or critically endangered in Lebanese and Jordanian protected areas of the MEET project.

The Responsive Forest Governance Initiative (RFGI) is an Africa-wide environmental-governance research and training program focusing on enabling responsive and accountable decentralization to strengthen the representation of forest-based rural people in local-government decision making.

Globally rainforests are under threat on numerous fronts, yet they have a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and providing other ecosystem services. Rainforests are also attractive tourist spaces and where they have been used as a tourism resource they have generated significant income for local communities. However, not all use of rainforests as a tourism resource has been sustainable.

In an increasingly crowded world reconciling environmental ‘conservation’ with the ‘sustainable use’ of natural resources is now our greatest challenge. Nature conservation has traditionally focused on protecting iconic and important areas of biodiversity from human exploitation through the establishment of National Parks and World Heritage Areas.