IUCN

Community members at Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Nature Reserve in Vietnam are putting their newly acquired skills in sustainable tourism operations to the test by hosting real visitors.

The teams at IUCN and Planeterra have organized pilot excursions to the protected areas, so community members have the chance to be exposed to different visitor markets, allowing them to practise what they have learned in the past few months during the training sessions, in real-life situations.

The pilot trips offer travellers two itineraries:

A weekend getaway in Van Long Nature Reserve

Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve is one of the largest wetland nature reserves in the Vietnamese Northern Delta. The natural land area is more than 3,500 hectares and consists of eleven ecosystems, the two major being the limestone forest and wetland ecosystems.

Travellers that joined this trip, are amongst the first visitors to be welcomed by the local communities of Gia Hoa commune (Gia Vien district, Ninh Binh). Here are some of the activities that they enjoyed:

• Getting to know the pristine and charming beauty of “Ha Long Bay on land, still relatively unknown to most tourists.
• Discovered the authentic northern lifestyle while learning about the livelihood of the locals.
• Sampled some delicious dishes prepared with fresh ingredients grown locally.
• Went for a boat ride through the vast area of Van Long wetland to enjoy the peaceful scenery.

Explore Muong Culture in Cuc Phuong National Park

Cuc Phuong National Park is the oldest national park in Vietnam. It was founded in 1962 and it is already a well-known tourist destination. Cuc Phuong’s ancient forest is home to more than 2,234 vascular and non-vascular plants, 122 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 135 species of mammals, including clouded leopard, Delacour’s langur, Owston’s civet, and Asiatic black bear.

The activities that the communities of Khanh village (An Nghia commune, Lac Son district, Hoa Binh) specially designed for this itinerary are:

• Exploring the rich culture of Muong ethnic people, one of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups.
• An immersive culinary experience, including a trek in the primary forest to explore the abundant flora and fauna of this region.
• Get a taste of delicious mountainous dishes made from local fresh ingredients.
• Discovering how local communities / indigenous groups are integrated into the work of the protected area’s management.

Outcomes of the pilot trips

One of the main problems that arise when developing community tourism experiences, is the lack of infrastructure to accommodate visitors and offer them the services they need for a comfortable stay. Building the facilities is the obvious solution to this issue, but what if we also took advantage of the chance to give the residents an additional source of income? That is where the Cash-for-Work (CFW) mechanism comes into play.

CFW interventions aim to create opportunities for local communities to strengthen their economies and empower their sense of ownership. For that reason, CFW is one of the main initiatives included in the Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas in a Post-COVID World project for the communities in Peru.

Community members have previously identified in their Action Plans construction works that needed to be given priority. These interventions are fully funded through the CFW mechanism. During the past few weeks, ten communities in Amarakaeri Communal Reserve and Río Abiseo National Park have been working to build the needed infrastructure and facilities.

These are some of the results of their work:

In around five months of work in both protected areas, all these interventions have positively impacted 243 individuals (152 men and 91 women). The Planeterra team has been supervising the process in each community of the Río Abiseo National Park between September 19 and 30, 2022.

With this activity, we aimed to provide suggestions on operational procedures to manage health risks for tourism-related experiences in a post-COVID-19 era. We also wanted to share public space renovation ideas to create a safe tourism environment in the communities and guide service providers in good practices for waste treatment.

A total of 58 people attended the H&S workshops at two villages in Cuc Phuong National Park and 125 at three villages in Van Long Wetlands Nature Reserve.

During these sessions, community members became aware of the Rules and Regulations in H&S and community tourism services proposed by local authorities and developed a Code of Conduct for H&S and Services, including a set of rules that guests should follow during their stay in the villages.

In addition, the local community agreed on an Action Plan for renovating the public space to create a clean, healthy, and safe environment to welcome guests. Some of the proposed interventions are:

• Transforming a designated area in Khanh village into a parking lot and planting tall trees to provide shade.
• Reducing waste in every household.
• Making the villages even more picturesque by planting more flowers and decorating trees in front of local family homes.

Community members have also compromised to follow H&S procedures when welcoming guests and gained knowledge about the cleaning and waste management processes. 

While conducting the H&S training, our team in Vietnam reflected on the importance of sharing information about H&S-related issues with the community in general, not only with those involved in tourism. Therefore, they decided to hold different sessions, one for all residents and another for the households that provide tourism activities.

They also realized that, when working on a project, it is crucial to have in-depth knowledge about situations, beliefs and the characteristics of each community to adjust training or activities to their specific needs.

During March and June 2022, our team in the field worked alongside the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in developing two Action Plans led by ten communities from the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve and Río Abiseo National Park. 

Through this participatory process, the communities determined how they envision tourism in their territories and determined concrete steps to achieve it.

One of the key elements of these plans has been the Cash-for-Work (CFW) interventions, through which the Project will finance the construction of the infrastructure and equipment that each community established in their Action Plans.

In Río Abiseo and Amarakaeri, these include the renovation of bridges and accessible tourist trails, the implementation of a restaurant, a reception house for guests, and a tourist viewpoint, among others.

With the CFW programs, Planeterra and IUCN aim to impact 107 families in the Río Abiseo National Park and 75 families in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve.

The benefits not only include purchasing construction materials, but also providing jobs to the community members participating in the Project.

The success and continuation of this process lie in the collaboration of several stakeholders. These include local offices from the protected areas of Río Abiseo and Amarakaeri of the SERNANP (the Peruvian National Service for Natural Areas Protected by the State) and the Amarakaeri Administration Contract Executor (also known by its acronym in Spanish, ECA) and of course, the representatives from the local communities. 

Additionally, between June 10 and 21, 2022, 145 participants from five communities of Río Abiseo National Park were trained on how to create Ecotourism Itineraries and Products.

The training sessions were developed in collaboration with the IUCN and aimed to evaluate and create specific knowledge in the following areas:

• Ecotourism and its different types of experiences: Each session explained the opportunities of ecotourism-related activities and their connection with conservation.
• Developing tourism products: Tailor-made itineraries according to the local context and market opportunities.
• Measuring the potential of an attraction: Through in-field technical visits to the main attractions of the communities.
• Itinerary planning and costs: Practical workshops to build itineraries based on the experiences and expectations of community members.
• Communication management between stakeholders: To create the final itineraries, it was important to keep in close communication with stakeholders such as the SERNANP.

Training sessions were tailored to meet the needs and potential of each community. 

As a result, five communities in Rio Abiseo have itineraries that include traditional activities, costs, and the number of people responsible for each experience, making them an attractive option for local and regional tour operations to promote the destination. 

As the tourism industry begins to recover, Planeterra is working around the world to ensure that more communities will have access to the positive impacts of the tourism industry as it returns! One of the ways we are doing this is through our partnership with IUCN in Peru.

Planeterra’s local team has identified local tourism entrepreneurs in protected areas looking to create new or improve existing tourism experiences.

When done sustainably, tourism in protected areas provides a way for community members and travellers to enjoy and celebrate the natural beauty of the lands, while increasing our overall well-being and connectedness to nature.

Meet some of the local entrepreneurs in World Heritage Site, Río Abiseo, in Peru who will be improving and developing their products with us over the coming months:

Clara del Águila Aspajo, Santa Rosa Community, Rio Abiseo National Park

Clara is an artisanal baker. Her bread is consumed daily by community members in Santa Rosa. She bakes using local ingredients, including flour, egg, oil, yeast and occasionally cheese.

Through the project, Clara and her family hope to offer their baked goods as an experience to visitors. To accomplish this, they will be working to diversify the types of bread they produce and how to turn the bread-making process into a fun experience. 

Clara hopes to showcase locally sourced ingredients with her bread, like cocoa, sausage and yucca. She also wants to show visitors the important role her bakery plays in community life in Santa Rosa!

Jerly Huaman Quispe, San Juan del Abiseo – Rio Abiseo National Park

Jerly wants to create an ecotourism product which highlights natural drinks made from medicinal barks from trees in San Juan del Abiseo.

In order to do this, Jerly is looking for support through the project on how to create a sustainable tourism experience that is aligned with conservation goals in his protected area. 

His location is accessible to the flow of visitors coming to Rio Abiseo. With the new experience, Jerly hopes more people will visit his community and see its natural beauty.

Sandro Sandoval Caballero, Pucallpillo Community, Rio Abiseo National Park

Sandro is a cocoa farmer. He hopes to create an ecotourism experience that will allow visitors to understand the full cocoa production process. Visitors will learn about (and participate in!) planting, harvesting, post-harvest and marketing of cocoa.

Through the project, Sandro hopes to learn more about tourism, and how he can turn his cocoa production into a fun and educational experience for visitors to Pucallpillo.

The community currently sells cocoa products to the European market through their own community-based enterprise called “Choba Choba”.

Rodolfo Vargas Vásquez, Pizarro Community, Rio Abiseo National Park

Rodolfo is a beekeeper and honey producer. He and his community hope to teach visitors about Meliponas (stingless bees), including a demonstration of how they take care of this special bee.

Breeding of Meliponas is a livelihood of community members. They aim to create an ecotourism experience that complements this livelihood without compromising the conservation of the species. 

A beekeeping tourism experience in Pizarro would be the first offered in the protected area and a special experience for any visitor.

In Peru, community members along with protected area site managers have developed Action Plans to recover the local tourism industry and ensure that there will be even more benefits for the local communities in the future!

These entrepreneurs will receive training on product development, marketing, and health and safety over the coming months to improve their overall products.

As a well-known destination in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has beautiful beaches, vibrant cities, diverse cultures, expansive coastlines, mountains, deltas and much more, attracting over 18 million international visitors in 2019.

These visitors contributed over US$ 33.1 million to Vietnam’s growing economy and made it one of the most popular countries to visit in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,  Vietnam’s economy has suffered greatly from the halt in tourism. In 2020, revenue from tourism decreased dramatically, generating only 42% compared to 2019.

This has had a substantial impact on the people and places once frequently visited by international guests.

Planeterra’s work with the IUCN aims to offer and grow the benefits of sustainable community tourism in response to the impacts of the pandemic.

The project targets community members who have suffered financial loss from COVID-19 and introduces community tourism as a way to make the industry more sustainable and beneficial for all people and nature, as tourism returns to Vietnam.

The project is focused on two protected areas in North Vietnam: Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Wetland Natural Reserve.

Introducing Cuc Phuong National Park

In January, Planeterra’s project team in Vietnam visited Cuc Phuong National Park for the first time to kick off the project activities. Established in 1962, Cuc Phuong is the oldest national park in Vietnam, showcasing an engaging cultural and wildlife heritage with enchanting scenery.

Covered in a dense forest, this landscape forms the habitat for some of Asia’s rarest animal and plant species, like the Delacour’s Langur (Trachipythecus delacouri), Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and Vietorchis Aurea Aver Orchid.

The national park’s management board has done an amazing job in offering unique experiences with valuable knowledge in biodiversity conservation to both domestic and international visitors.

In 2020, the number of tourists visiting Cuc Phuong dropped by 50%. Subsequently, the number of visitors to communities around the park also decreased. In other villages with no prior tourism activities, people have also struggled to make ends meet.

Activities in Cuc Phuong over the past months

Working closely with IUCN and the management board of Cuc Phuong National Park, we were able to identify four villages with high community tourism and socio-economic impact potential for project intervention.

In order to better understand their situation, the Planeterra team first conducted a baseline survey of 185 community members.  Through this process, we learned that community members have a high interest to participate in tourism, but very limited exposure and access to the market.

The survey results provide a thorough understanding of how COVID-19 has impacted the communities’ livelihoods, their current tourism initiatives and their interest in engaging in community-based tourism.

Future project activities will be adapted to ensure that the interests of the local community are at the center of our work.

Planeterra is also working in Vietnam currently, and we will update you on that progress soon! We thank you and our entire community for supporting us and the communities we work with.

Stay tuned for our next activities in Van Long Nature Reserve!

Peru is known for its rich natural and cultural history, Peru drew over 4.5 million tourists in 2019, generating over US$ 4.7 million and 3.5 million jobs.

Within its three geographic regions, Peru contains 80% of the world’s climate types and 84 of the 114 life zones. Peru’s people and economy have suffered greatly from a loss of tourism revenue because of the pandemic.

Between January and July 2020, the arrival of international tourists decreased by 67.3%, compared to the same period of the previous year.

Our work with IUCN will support a COVID-19 response to impacts on local benefits from tourism by collaborating with communities in two protected areas in Peru, the Rio Abiseo National Park and Amarakaeri Communal Reserve.

Introducing Rio Abiseo

In January, Planeterra’s project team in Peru visited Rio Abiseo National Park for the first time to kick off the project activities. Rio Abiseo is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering 274,520 hectares of the Eastern Cordillera – a vital part of the Amazon watershed.

The area protects thousands of species of flora and fauna, including iconic, rare and endemic Amazon wildlife such as the critically endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey and the Huallaga Toucanet!

A significant area of the Park is under rehabilitation, which has the potential to provide local employment and ‘green jobs‘ with further investment. In 2019, there were approximately 1,200 visitors, mainly domestic, but the steady increase in international guests was cause for optimism and growth in tourism service and promotion for the area along the value chain.

However, in 2020 this growth substantially decreased. Our team is working to implement the training and development needed to activate the community’s vision for sustainable tourism in the national park; particularly, through community-based tourism initiatives.

Activities in Rio Abiseo Last Month

In the last week of January, the Peru team met with 77 community members across five villages to discuss project goals, better understand the tourism potential of each community, and most importantly, learn about the communities’ vision for their families and how nature-based tourism can play a key role in achieving those goals.

During the first week of February, 150 baseline surveys were conducted to better understand how COVID-19 has impacted the communities’ livelihoods, their current tourism initiatives and their perception about implementing sustainable tourist products in post-pandemic scenarios, so that project activities can be adapted to community needs, and impact tracked over time!

Planeterra and IUCN are working together to ensure that communities will once again benefit from sustainable tourism, and that tourism is better integrated into protected area management planning and operations at both sites in Peru, and inform a blueprint for other places in the country!

We are also working in Vietnam currently, and we will update you on that progress soon! We thank you and our entire community for supporting us and the communities we work with.