Your Eco-responsibility?
from Josh Berman & Randy Wood, Moon Handbooks

The word "eco-tourism" was created in the 1980s with
the best of intentions--ostensibly, to describe "travel
to natural habitats which creates an understanding of
the cultural and natural history pertaining to the
environment, emphasizing care not to alter the integrity
of the ecosystem, while producing economic benefits
that encourage the preservation of the inherent
resources of the environment" (as defined by the
Ecotourism Society). The success of the concept and
its accompanying marketing label led directly to a
worldwide boom in the usage of that warm, fuzzy
prefix that we know so well, even if its actual practice
has sometimes fallen short of the original intentions.

"Eco" has been used, abused, prosituted, and
bastardized all over the world, and Nicaragua is not
exempt. Surely, anything "eco" has something to do
with the outdoors, but that's all we can promise you.
We've limited our eco-writing, not because we don't
believe in its precepts, but because we're wary of
what it means in this day, age and place. Some word
savy tourism marketers have tried to freshen things
up by using "alternative" or "adventure tourism," but,
when trying to describe an operation that practices
the original definition of ecotourism mentioned above,
we prefer "sustainable," "responible," or "ethical."
There is power in words, but there is more power in
your critical intelligence, which you should always
use when confronted with so many eco-options.

Semantics aside, as a visitor, you should never forget
how incredibly important and vital your role is in
helping to pretect Nicaraguan natural areas. The
concept of protected areas is new in Nicaragua and
viewed with great skepticis, especially by the rural
folk who live near (or sometimes within) these areas.
Left to maintain their own devices, the desperately
poor, sometimes even starving campesinos use the
wilderness to supplement their paltry incomes, by
chopping wood for fuel, cutting out badly needed
farmland, or hunting wild game. MARENA, the
government ministry charged with protecting
Nicaragua's vast system of parks and refuges, has
scant enforcement resources to prevent such
activities.

Thats's where you come in. By contributing some form
of economic benefit to the people who live nearby,
foreigner can help encourage locals to view a natural
area as a resource worth protecting, as it can attract
tourists. This economic benefit can mean hiring a local
guide, buying a meal from a family, or paying a few
cordobas to pitch a tent or hang a hammock outside a
farmers hut. Those going on a trip with a tour company
are not exempt from this--you must be sure that the
company you go with leaves some money behind,
rather than using their own guides, transportation,
food etc. Just imagine how a self sufficient trip must
look to the locals--here come these unfathomably
wealthy foreigners out enjoying themselves in our
forest that we are no longer supposed to touch, and
they don't leave us a single cordoba! And after that, they
really expect us not to go hunting to feed our families?