About one year ago I posted a call for information with regard to
research in sustainable tourism. I noted that a small group of people
resident at Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
were trying to pull together a core of people whose main interest was in
looking at RESEARCH APPROACHES with regard to sustainable tourism.
Many of you on CANGONET sent useful information and I promised to report
back on what had happened. I have been very slow to report back for two
reasons - one workload related and one based on progress to date.
Last year Bellanet <http://www.bellanet.org> - where I am working - was
drawn into planning for the World Bank/Canadian Global Knowledge 97
Conference in Toronto. That took a considerable amount of time.
Also, most of the group at IDRC were not IDRC staff but people there on
a temporary basis and interested in sustainable tourism research
approaches. As a result some small forward movement occured but with no
real basis for an IDRC committment to the initiative. The group did not
have direct access to any of the decision making process within IDRC.
Since IDRC has been facing budget cuts and is currently working on its
internal budgetary strategies it is clear to those of us on the outside
that there will be no movement within IDRC in the near future in this
area. There are bits and pieces of IDRC project linked to ecotourism and
sustainable tourism but - as far as we can determine - none looking
critically at the research methods used to investigate and evaluate
commercial ecotourism, or funded ecotourism projects.
Of course, funded projects have traditional UPWARD accountability built
in to them, and some scope for the capture and diffusion of lessons
learned by traditional means. However, there is no systematic approach
to increased transparency with regard to projects and research. There is
no forum for the analysis and assessment of research methods. There is
no systematic approach to accountability DOWNWARD (beneficiaries)
OUTWARD (interested parties), or even INWARD (those involved in running
and evaluating individual activities).
The rapid growth of human travel for leisure purposes is creating large
opportunities for private profit, and huge risks for the physical,
social and cultural environment. There is a pressing need for better
research methods and better 'reporting out' - both with respect to
research results and research methods.
To illustrate. One growing area in ecotourism is the "leave no trace"
movement. There are large problems with this approach. For example a
group in a project called 'la nina' are going to sea kayak down the
Pacific Coast of Canada this summer. They are billed as a "leave no
trace' exercise. This only has to do with their physical presence at
camp sites along their route.
They do not factor in the environmental consequences of the production
of synthetic materials for their trip equipement and supplies. They do
not factor in the conditions of work in those industries (frequently in
poor counties) which produce the equipment. They do not factor in the
fuel needed to air freight themselves and their equipment from all over
North America. They do not factor in the social and cultural
implications for any coastal communities they might encounter. They only
factor in the fact that they will not leave garbage, and that they will
treat the flora and fauna with respect.
While "leave no trace" is laudable in its own right, the research issue
is where do we start measuring - when the kayak pushes off from coastal
town, or do we include the whole process in the evaluation?
The purpose of this example is to remind us that there is work to be
done in the refinement, and the evaluation of, research strategies. Too
much of the work is still based on a 'looks good, feels good' approach
to tourism.
Since there is unlikely to be significant activity from within IDRC on
this front (at least for the near future) several of the people involved
with the initiative are proposing the following.
STRING: Sustainable Tourism INterest Group List
-----------------------------------------------
It is proposed that a list (to be called STRING@yorku.ca) be set up as
venue for dialogue and discussion around research methods for the
analysis and evaluation of sustainable tourism and ecotourism
activities. It will be hosted by the Distributed Knowledge Project
<dkproj@yorku.ca> under my <lanfran@yorku.ca> direction. The list is
expected to have a modest subscriber base.
The list will be closed, with postings by subscribers. The log files and
subscriber list will be public. Anyone could subscribe so long as they
agree to adhere to the mission of the list (research and evaluation
methods for sustainable and ecotourism), and did so in their postings.
With its research methods focus the list will be particularly valuable
to the widely distributed set of graduate students with interests in
this area, many of whom find themselves as the only researcher with this
interest in their home institution. It will allow a dialogue between
those with different approaches to research on tourism. The list will be
accompanied by an appropriate website.
You are invited to express your opinions on this proposal,
either directly to me <lanfran@yorku.ca> or to this list.
The proposal is only being posted to CANGONET at this time.
You are free to repost it if you feel you have an appropriate
list. After this first round of consultation, and by the 5th
of February, I will report back to CANGONET with an update on
feedback from the proposal.
Sam Lanfranco <lanfran@yorku.ca>
Distributed Knowledge Project