Wild Asia is a young, Malaysia-based organisation helping to lead the charge for nature conservation and ‘green’ business practices in Southeast Asia. Established in 2003, it is a social enterprise sensitive to the connections between natural areas and communities reliant upon them. Fundamental to its growth has been the equally sociable building of partnerships with businesses that share similar social and environmental sensitivities.

Put succinctly on the Wild Asia website: “Our ultimate goal is to promote sustainable practices that will minimise adverse impacts on the environment, ensure that local communities are engaged and that local cultures are respected.”

Responsible Tourism Initiative

In addition to several other programs and initiatives – focusing on sustainable agriculture; the establishment or enhancement of ‘natural corridors‘ where wildlife can live and move with minimal human interference; and direct financial support (amounting to 25% of Wild Asia’s annual profits!) to causes in Asia, for example, through seed grants – Wild Asia directs a far-reaching Responsible Tourism initiative (RTI).

Ecosphere Spiti, India, is a homestay programme started in 2002 to develop models of envionmental and social sustainability. It was a winner of Wild Asia's Responsible Tourism Award 2008.

The RTI “aims to promote the best practices of sustainable tourism in Asia. Our goal is to demonstrate that there are clear financial incentives for doing the right thing. The reward for tourism operators is simple; we offer them unique marketing opportunities to reach out to a growing global market for responsible tourism. The reward for travelers – ecologically and socially sound tourism – is just as important, because they make choices with their conscience and their budget alike.”

To achieve these lofty goals, the practical and intuitive professional services Wild Asia offers include responsible tourism reviews and assessments, the documentation and communication of best practices, rewards for best practices and opportunities for training and education. Also available free of charge on the Wild Asia website are thought-provoking prompts for businesses and, specifically for tourism operators, carefully assembled responsible tourism checklists used even well beyond Asia’s borders as superb benchmarks taking into account our common future welfare.

For travellers, there are clearly presented responsible tourism guidelines and an interactive responsible tourism map spotlighting tourism practitioners in Southeast Asia committed to responsible tourism. (Far from compendious, the map is more of a demonstration of how little is out there right now, something sure to change in the years ahead.)

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

CAPTCHA Code

Receive email updates when new comments are posted about this article.