In my mind, October has always been a month packed with expectation and excitement for new projects. The change of season, cooler temperatures (especially when you live in Rome, like I do, and the summer heat starts as early as May) and that unique autumn sunlight all make me want to slow down, gather my thoughts and daydream about the future. This year though, beside sheer contemplation, I chose to plant a seed to give my dreams a chance to grow and blossom. I chose to enrol in the Nature Positive Tourism Field Training by MOYO Training Foundation.
Before leaving for the wild landscape of Abruzzo in Central Italy at the end of November with my fellow trainees, I had the chance to attend the Online Training. Whilst there were so many great discussions and collaborative exercises that aren’t easy to summarise here, I can share a few little snippets of what we learnt during this interactive and super inspiring three-part webinar series.
DISCLAIMER
Being a translator and living in an extremely busy European capital, I was quite concerned that my background might not be the best to attend this training. I am very passionate about nature, but not the most adventurous person (my father kindly defined me as “a child of fear”, to underline the fact that I tend to worry too much about things than I really should). However, I do love to retreat to my almost native Alta Val Trebbia (a rural and still quite unspoilt natural area in the Apennines mountains of Liguria, in the North of Italy) whenever I get the chance. My dream is to one day move back there and start a nature positive business with my husband that will allow more people to discover this wonderful area, while directly contributing to its preservation and sustainable growth.
A welcoming space
My concern of being “out of place” on the training quickly fell apart during the first minutes of webinar one held by Simon and Aukje. Hearing the different backgrounds of the other participants made me feel welcome and at ease: healthcare professionals, academics, biologists, nature guides - all brought together by the desire to be out there in nature. Diversity is an absolute added value to encourage the “out of the box” way of thinking that was introduced as one of the main assets we’ll need on this training.
After a few minutes spent in getting to know each other, it was explained that the online training is essential to establish a common baseline we’ll then use during the field training in Abruzzo and to start challenging our thought process. By fostering interaction among all of us participants, the training will encourage us to become custodians of the Nature Positive principles and create a bigger impact much faster by sharing them within our networks. Think of it as a sort of positive contamination for a greater good.
Halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030
But what is this Nature Positive Tourism concept, then? In a nutshell, Nature Positive means “ensuring more nature in the world in 2030 than in 2020 and continued recovery after that” (Nature Positive Initiative 2023). Why should we do that? This graph by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which was introduced to us, speaks louder than a thousand words.
Source: WBCSD
Being a linguist, maths and statistics are not my strongest subjects, but even I can see how devastating the current situation is. To contribute to the goal of “halting and reversing the destruction of nature by 2050”, the Nature Positive training is built upon four pillars:
TOURISM
COMMUNITIES
ENTERPRISE
NATURE
Current travel trends indicate a growing interest in nature-based tourism. However, the style of tourism witnessed after the global pandemic has not changed much, and is still heavily focused on mass tourism. Many destinations around the world have seen an increase in visitors, but often negative consequences (such as conflict with wildlife, overcrowded spaces, stress on local infrastructure etc.) outweigh the more immediate positive benefits for local communities and ecosystems.
We need to find a way to balance the increase in demand for exploring natural areas with the potential negative impact.
Nature tourism - engaging with vs operating in
Simon and Aukje invited us to join an interactive exercise to reflect together on the value nature provides us as individuals and our businesses (or future projects), reminding us that any ideas are more than welcome, and that we should all feel safe to share our thoughts freely during our training.
Our attention was then drawn to the difference between the concepts of “nature engagement” and “operating in nature”, something I personally never really thought about. Most nature-based activities in the market have been operating in nature, for example utilising natural areas and wildlife, but how are they actually impacting nature? To understand this concept better, he gave us quite an enlightening example:
The famous Plitvice Lakes National Park is a very well developed natural area, with wooden walkways that take visitors around its several lakes to enjoy the majestic scenery. A normal visit would involve walking around, taking pictures, posting the usual selfies and then returning home. Thusnot providing any educational experience to help you understand the place you visited. But how about, instead, creating experiences that would actually enable you to connect in a more meaningful way with the environment around you? For example, evoking mindful moments by encouraging you to simply close your eyes, listen to the sounds of nature and reflect on their effect on you.
Adding an educational activity that explains what makes the ecosystem unique (such as why the lakes look the way they do, why the water is so clear, etc.) and using some of the entry fee to maintain the rest of the natural area and prevent it from being overdeveloped, could be additional ways to move from a model that simply operates in nature to one that engages with nature.
Getting practical
The first webinar also touched upon the practical tools and processes a business can implement to successfully transform into a Nature Positive one, through engaging stakeholders, listening to and understanding the actual needs and priorities of local communities, finding the best partnerships for success and making sure that the operation is financially sustainable in the long term.
Whilst for many the transition to Nature Positive is a matter of the heart, ensuring the financial viability of the whole operation is equally as critical, ensuring longevity and long-term purpose and impact — which is, after all, what we are all striving for.
This first webinar was packed with stimulating insights, and left me super motivated and curious to know what would come next. Keep following our blog for a sneak peak of the content we studied in webinar two!
This blog is part of a three-part series written by Claudia Costa, a MOYO Training participant and volunteer writer.
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