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Excerpt from The Rethinking Tourism Project
Special Report on International Tourism Policy and Indigenous Peoples
Electronic News July 27, 1999
This newsletter is brought to you by:
The Rethinking Tourism Project
Protecting & Preserving Indigenous Lands and Cultures
PO Box 581938
Minneapolis, MN 55458-1938 USA
Saint Paul, MN Office Phone/Fax: 651-644-9984
Email: RTProject@aol.com
http://www2.planeta.com/mader/ecotravel/resources/rtp/rtp.html
* Participation in the CEC Sustainable Tourism Conference,
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, June 1999
RTP also participated in the tourism workshops organized by the Commission
for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in Mexico. The workshop was coordinated
to obtain input for recommendations to the three NAFTA countries (Mexico, the
US, and Canada) regarding trade and environment initiatives, specifically
sustainable tourism development. RTP participated a sub-group on community
participation. The latter group was concerned that the focus on community
participation and protection of the environment was trivial and could be
considered
simply "consulting with NGOs" while in reality, the environment and community
priorites are at-risk from NAFTA. This was brought up again at the plenary.
There
was no substantial answers provided to assure that this workshop and meeting
will be meaningful in any capacity.
The CEC is based on a cooperative mechanism between the NAFTA countries
that focuses on six preliminary hypotheses to focus the analysis
1.Does NAFTA reinforce existing patterns of comparative advantage and
specialization to the benefit of efficiency?
2.Does NAFTA trade liberalization lead to a regulatory/migratory "race-to-
the-bottom"?
3. Does NAFTA give rise to competitive pressures for capital and
technological modernization?
4.Do liberalized rules under NAFTA serve to increase the use of
environmentally-friendly products?
5.Does NAFTA lead to upward convergence of environmental practice
and regulation through activities of the private sector?
6.Does NAFTA lead to upward convergence of environmental practice
and regulation through activities of the various levels of government,
and if so, how?
Despite these questions as the basis for CEC's trade and environment
initatives, many of the NGO participants at the meeting believe that none were
answered as to guarantee sustainable development methods, policies,
regulations, or model projects resulted. Few Indigenous Peoples were
invited to attend the CEC, although the meeting was actually held on Mayan
lands in Quintana Roo, Mexico, and there are numerous threats to both
the environment and culture due to the rapid, sometimes illegal tourism
development in the region.
The entire newsletter is online
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or available via email -- contact RTProject@aol.com
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