other resources, and to improve the 

 management of waste. In Jamaica, for 

 instance, dozens of hotels — from small, 

 family-run operations to Sandals, the 

 islands largest hotel chain — are 

 now Green Globe 

 certified. 



There is nothing 

 mystical about the proc- 

 ess. To get certification 

 from such an organiza- 

 tion, hotels can make 

 headway just by eliminat- 

 ing leaks, using water-sav- 

 ing toilets and showers, 

 turning sprinklers on in the 

 morning or evening instead 

 of in the evaporative heat of 

 the day, and avoiding clean- 

 ing products that contain 

 bleach. And in meeting those require- 

 ments, the hotels are not only able to 

 do good for the environment, but also 

 for the bottom line. Small hotels, which 

 typically spend between $700 and 

 $1,500 to make the needed improve- 

 ments, usually find that the changes pay 

 for themselves in less than a year. 



When Peynado built his hotel in 

 Bocas del Toro, he believed in 

 sustainable tourism, but he wasn't sure 

 how to put it into practice. Last year he 

 and other business owners from his area 

 took part in a conservation training ses- 

 sion hosted by the Rainforest Alliance. 

 As of April 2006, more than 2,000 

 people had attended Alliance work- 

 shops throughout Belize, Costa Rica, 

 Ecuador, Guatemala, and Panama. The 

 workshops are held to show the own- 

 ers how to cut costs and mitigate the 

 negative eftects of their hotels on the 

 environment by reducing energy and 

 waste. Alliance workshops also intro- 

 duce many business owners to sources 

 of funding that can help them meet 

 those goals. For example, participants 

 are encouraged to apply for "green 

 funds" such as Verde Ventures, a $7 mil- 

 lion investment fund managed by Con- 

 servation International, a nonprofit en- 

 vironmental organization, which offers 

 grants to programs that benefit the con- 

 servation of biodiversity. 



Ten years ago an American expatri- 

 ate named Eddie Ryan bought a patch 

 of rainforest along Costa Rica's south- 

 ern coast near Puerto Viejo. There he 

 built a small hotel called Costa 

 de Papito, and now he is reap- 

 ing the benefits, because Costa 

 Rica has come to be consid- 

 ered a mecca for sustainable- 

 tourism development. Ryan, 

 a regular at Rainforest Al- 

 liance workshops, asked his 

 guests to recycle garbage, 

 turn otf lights, and reuse 

 their towels. Many of them 

 return home converted by 

 his missionary zeal. Local 

 neighbors, too, seem to be 

 picking up on the envi- 

 ronmental doctrine. And Costa Rica's 

 lead has spread to other Latin Ameri- 

 can countries and around the world. 



Helping consumers choose among 

 the hundreds of certified options 

 remains a challenge. Every certification 

 program seems to have its own set of 

 criteria, and the degree of compliance 

 with them varies widely. Some hotels 

 consider themselves "green" if they put 

 a sign in their guests' bathrooms asking 

 them to reuse the towels. But slowly, in 

 the past few years, a common language, 

 along with minimum standards, has 

 begun to emerge as regional networks 

 have grown up. 



The regional approach has devel- 

 oped as people realized that what is 

 needed to make an environmentally 

 sustainable and socially responsible en- 

 terprise varies enormously with loca- 

 tion. What might work for a business 

 in, say, the Gobi desert, might be to- 

 tally inappropriate in a Guatemalan 

 rainforest or in the mountains of Bo- 

 livia. The most highly developed re- 

 gional networks are VISIT and ECO- 

 TRANS in Europe and the Sustainable 

 Tourism Certification Network of the 

 Americas (STCNA). (The Rainforest 

 Alliance currently serves as the secre- 

 tariat for STCNA.) Strong, fledgling ef- 

 forts are also underway in Africa and 

 in the Asia-Pacific region. 



In September 2005 STCNA ratified 



Your 

 Caribbean 



Gateway 

 to Central 



America. 



Dive the longest barrier 

 reef in the Western 

 Hemisphere. And when 

 you surface, explore Maya 

 temples, listen to exotic 

 Garifuna music. Discover 

 inland streams, waterfalls 

 and even Mennonite 

 villages. And at day's end, 

 you'll discover that the 

 people are as warm and 

 friendly as the climate. 

 Experience the diversity 

 of Belize, your English- 

 speaking neighbor on 

 the Caribbean coast of 

 Central America, only 

 2 hours from the U.S. 



Call 1-800-624-0686 or visit our 

 website: www.travelbelize.org 



18 



NATURAL HISTORY July/August 2006 



