I’m currently chair of WIldlife Tourism Australia.
Anyone who would like to join before the end of the year will have a 1/3 reduction in their first year’s membership fees and a chance to participate in this year’s AGM
Visit the WTA website for more details
Potoroo at Wildlife expo, Beaudesert 2010
What wildlife activities would you like to be involved in? Scenic Rim Wildlife (Scenic Rim branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland) is running a survey to find out out the kinds of activities folk would most like to participate in over the next few months. If you live in or near the Scenic Rim (Southeast Queensland) or visit from time to time, please let us know by completing our strictly confidential 2-minute survey
Regrettably the decision was made yesterday to cancel the wildlife tourism conference in September, due to insufficient registrations to cover costs.
Whether or not there will be one in the future is simply not known at this stage.
At least in this age of electronic communication there is ample opportunity to exchange ideas and information without fossil-fuel-burning journeys (although there is still something satisfying about face-to face meetings, round-table discussions and brainstorming sessions).
Some of the details are still being worked out, but it will include the following:
Tuesday: August 31st.
Icebreaker, 6.00- 8.00pm, Currumbin Sanctuary
“‘That’s totally disgusting’: Managing negative emotions within the context of captive wildlife exhibits“ – Nancy Cushing, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle and Kevin Markwell, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University
“Eric Worrell: a pioneer of Australian wildlife tourism – Kevin Markwell, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University and Nancy Cushing, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle
Wildlife tourism potential for the Global Tiger Initiative – Steve Noakes (Griffith University), Richard Damania (World Bank)
Facilitating profound experiences with wildlife – Liam Smith, Betty Weiler and Sam Ham
The Poetics of Wild – Dr Jayne Fenton Keane
A need for promoting care and concern for wildlife: A call for flagship species and anthropomorphism – Amy M. Smith, Liam Smith, Betty Weiler, Tourism Research Unit, Monash University
Kimberley Whale Watching Tourism: Opportunities and Threats – Prof. Jack Carlsen and Dr Michael Hughes, Curtin Sustainable Tourism Centre,Curtin University, Western Australia
Isabelle Wolf –
Ronda Green –
Pip Chalk –
Barry Davies -
others …
One of the reasons I personally went into ecotourism was to provide governments, developers etc. with an economic reason for preserving wildlife and its habitats (my other main reason was to share my enthusiasm with others for the wonderful diversity of wild creatures and wild places on this planet, and hopefully in so doing to deepen their understanding of the same, and appreciation of their intrinsic non-monetary values).
One of the positive benefits of wildlife tourism towards tourism conservation has long been identified as the potential for donations towards conservation, from tourism operators, their guests and perhaps local businesses and governments that directly or indirectly benefit from the tourism dollar.
But to give we need to also receive - at least enough to keep giving without going broke. And tourism operations that make non-financial contributions (e.g. habitat restoration, quality interpretation, conservation-breeding) have to make enough to survive. It also helps if the local community benefits, and continues to support their efforts.
Can all this happen, either at an individual operator level or a regional level?
One of Australia’s best-published economics researchers (amongst the top three in the country according to Wikipedia) – Clem Tisdell - has conducted many studies on the economics of wildlife tourism in Australia and elsewhere, including amongst many other topics rainforests and glow worm caves in Southeast Queensland, Antarctic voyages and an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. Apart from individual studies he has provided a number of very useful and wide-ranging review papers.
We will have a chance to hear Professor Tisdell’s latest information and advice at the Wild Benefits conference to be held at the Gold Coast 1st to 3rd September 2010, and it will be a great opportunity to ask him questions (and listen to his answers to the questions of others, both immediately after his presentation and at other times during the conference).
This is the third national wildlife tourism conference to be held in Australia. There are day registrations and student registrations available, ad the earlybird discount registration is open until the end of July.
channel-billed cuckoo
Perfect weather, a wonderful display of live locally-native animals, interesting displays and presentations and a crowd of cheerful people of all ages made our Wildlife Expo a great success. Visitors got to meet bettongs, potoroos, gliders, fruitbats, owls, cuckoos, flap-footed lizards, turtles, pythons and other creatures and learn about wildlife conservation, care of orphaned and injured animals, wildlife feeding, nesting boxes, wildlife-attracting plants, nature photography, wildlife art, tertiary courses involving wildlife, birding, reptiles shows and more.
The photo shows Martin Fingland of Gecko’s Wildlife, with one of his tame local species.
The Expo was run by the Scenic Rim branch of the WIldlife Preservation Society of Queensland.
For details of this great day, visit Scenic Rim Wildlife, and stay tuned for the next expo (either 2011 or 2012)
A reminder: the third national wildlife tourism conference is to be held at the Gold Coast, Australia from 1st to 3rd September.
The conference will present the latest on the economics of wildlife tourism (relevant to both strategy planners and individual tourism operations), environmental benefits and risks associated with wildlife tourism, and the social and psychological benefits of animal-human interaction. There will be workshops on how to make wildlife tourism cater better to wildlife conservation and how to interpret wildlife to people of different backgrounds, plus ample time for other discussions – a great opportunity to toss around ideas, exchange information and discuss problems and potential solutions
Visit www.wildlifetourism.org.au for details, and get your registrations in ASAP. There may still be an opportunity to submit a belated abstract if you act swiftly
Members of the Scenic Rim branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland will be meeting at 4.30 pm on Sunday 18th July, at the close of the (free) full-day Wildlife Expo at Enterprise Drive, Beaudesert.
Non-members are cordially invited to come along and meet members and join in our discussion of the Expo and activities for the coming year, including our efforts to collate information on wildlife needa and potential habitat corridors in our region.
A suggestion for those who are joining the discussions on positive effects of wildlife tourism, whether as comments to this blog, the workshop on the theme at the Wildlife conference in September, or any other venue.
Some years ago I was co-author of a Sustainable Tourism ‘The positive effects of Wildlife Tourism on Wildlife’ with Karen Higginbottom (senior author) and Chelsea Northrope. That report is available for free download on the Sustainable Tourism CRC website.
If you don’t want to download the whole report (603kb), there is a summary sheet (92kb) with the main conclusions and recommendations
There are a number of other very relevant titles available also (some free, some not), which anyone interested in joining the discussion on how wildlife tourism might benefit wildlife conservation may like to read – plus of course various other publications on many other aspects of wildlife tourism (47 wildlife tourism titles currently available).
From the introduction to the Positive Effects paper:
“In principle, wildlife tourism can have various positive effects on wildlife species and their habitats. However, to date we know much more about negative effects of wildlife tourism on wildlife; very little systematic research has been conducted on positive effects. These positive effects work through four main mechanisms: (1) financial contributions, (2) non-financial contributions, (3) socio-economic incentives, and (4) education. The contribution may be to conservation, animal welfare, or both.”
Reminder – abstracts for Wildlife Benefits (Australia’s third national wildlife tourism conference) 1-3rd September (Gold Coast) are due by 30th June, and earlybird registration by mid-July
Wild Benefits explores the diversity of positive impacts of sustainable wildlife tourism, as well as strategies to achieve and maintain them. Sub themes include:
• Going for the Green – Environmental Benefits
• Spreading the Wealth – Economic Benefits
• Heart and Soul – Social Benefits
• Reality Bites – Risk and Management Strategies
Keynote Speakers include:
• Steve Parish, Australia’s best-known wildlife photographer and publisher of wildlife books
• Assoc Professor Darryl Jones, Griffith University, Qld , one of Australia’s foremost authorities on human/wildlife interactions
• Professor Clem Tisdell, University of Queensland, Qld , one of Australia’s leading experts on the economics of wildlife tourism
• Nick Mooney, Tasmanian conservationist and 2006 Recipient Australian of the Year
• Shane O’Reilly, Tourism Queensland and O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, Queensland’s first and most famous ecotourism lodge with long experience of wildlife activities and a mecca for domestic and international birdwatchers
• Assoc Professor David Newsome, Murdoch University, WA, author of the book ‘Wildlife Tourism’
Join a stimulating range of plenary and contributed presentations, workshops, social events and field trips (e.g. whale watching, behind-the-scenes tours of Dreamworld’s Tiger island).
Enter the wildlife photography competition (great book prizes sponsored by Steve Parish Publishing)
Members of Wildlife Tourism Australia get discounted registration – if you’re not yet a member you can join when you register
For more details visit Wildlife Tourism Australia