Embedded Files
The Caribbean Biodiversity Hotspot hosts 180 bird species found nowhere else in the world. The goal of the Caribbean Birding Trail (CBT) program is to work with local partners throughout the region to develop sustainable tourism opportunities around birdwatching and nature, to raise awareness and build support for conservation of birds and important sites. Over the last 12 years, we have been building sustainable tourism capacity in the Caribbean through improving infrastructure (e.g, interpretive signs, trails and boardwalks) and training guides through the CBT Interpretive Guide Training Program. At the same time, we are working to build the demand for bird and nature tourism through marketing and promotion, using our CBT website to reach a global audience about what the islands have to offer. Bird tourism is growing in the region—we want to capitalize on and learn from our successes, and discuss next steps for the CBT based on experiences and lessons learned.
Organizers: Lisa Sorenson, BirdsCaribbean, and Holly Robertson, BirdsCaribbean/ American Bird Conservancy. Emails: lisa.sorenson@birdscaribbean.org, holly_robertson1@yahoo.com
Purpose: Participants will share recent advances in developing bird and nature tourism around the region. We will highlight recent guide training workshops and projects that support sustainable livelihoods through bird tourism, and share experiences, challenges, successes, and lessons learned. We will assess our progress to date as well as needs for the future, including how to increase the positive impacts of this project, develop the project in new countries, and actions that can be taken to continue to engage local stakeholders, including tourism interests, decision makers, local guides, and communities. The ultimate goal is to ensure that local people are being empowered and benefiting from this project, demonstrating that protecting nature is good for the economy and human well-being.
Overview: The Caribbean Biodiversity Hotspot hosts 180 bird species found nowhere else in the world. The goal of the Caribbean Birding Trail (CBT) program is to work with local partners throughout the region to develop sustainable tourism opportunities around birdwatching and nature, to raise awareness and build support for conservation of birds and important sites. Over the last 12 years, we have been building sustainable tourism capacity in the Caribbean through improving infrastructure (e.g, interpretive signs, trails and boardwalks) and training guides through the CBT Interpretive Guide Training Program. At the same time, we are working to build the demand for bird and nature tourism through marketing and promotion, using our CBT website to reach a global audience about what the islands have to offer. Bird tourism is growing in the region—we want to capitalize on and learn from our successes, and discuss next steps for the CBT based on experiences and lessons learned.
Objectives:
To share results, insights, challenges, and lessons learned from the CBT Project through organizations and guides sharing experiences about their businesses and efforts to grow bird tourism, infrastructure projects that enhance visitation of sites, and working with local governments, partners, and tourism boards.
Discuss how bird tourism projects have helped raise awareness, benefited communities, and advanced protection of sites and birds.
Decide on next steps for the project and how we can build on our successes and be more effective, based on needs and lessons learned shared by participants.
Google Sites
Report abuse