Ecotourism UNESCO

RESO RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Dr Surender Kumar

Sustainable Ecotourism & Ecosystem Conservation | #sustainableecoturism #naturebasedsolutions    Join us for an inspiring conversation with Dr. Valasia Iakovoglou, Director of Ecotourism Sector, UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect, as we dive into the world of sustainable ecotourism, biodiversity, and climate resilience.  Sustainable Ecotourism & Ecosystem Conservation | Dr. Valasia Iakovoglou | RESO Podcast  In this episode, we explore:   1. How can ecotourism balance conservation and local economic growth?   2. The biggest climate threats to riparian and deltaic ecosystems.   3. The global role of UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect in environmental policy & education.   4. Why community involvement is the heart of sustainability.   5. The top trends shaping the future of ecotourism in a changing climate.   About the Guest:  Dr. Valasia Iakovoglou is Director of the Ecotourism Sector at the #UNESCOChairConEECt, a leading voice in #EnvironmentalScience with over 100 publications on #ClimateAdaptation, #Biodiversity, and #NatureBasedSolutions.    Subscribe for more global discussions on sustainability, sociology & human rights.   Don’t forget to LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE for more empowering content!  Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon for more guidance on relationships, personal growth, and mental wellness.  https://www.instagram.com/carpainter.tree  https://twitter.com/DrSurender77715  https://www.facebook.com/share/1DiGyTXkyohttps://www.instagram.com/carpainter.tree  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-surender-kumar-88533170  https://medium.com/@research.drsurender/india-today-the-rise-or-fall-of-democracy-ecca5ff0cb45   Kindly subscribe to RESO RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Channel: https://youtube.com/@RESOResearchSociology   #Ecotourism #Sustainability #ClimateChange #UNESCO #RESOPodcast #Environment #DrValasiaIakovoglou #Conservation #NatureBasedSolutions #Biodiversity #Sociology #CommunityEmpowerment

Transcript

00:00so thank you so much once again joining Valacia from Greece and again a

00:15possibility and opportunity for people like us and for Riso platform to have

00:20people like you with expertise and dexterity and outstanding professional

00:24and experience practically as well today we are going to cover a wonderful topic

00:31sustainable ecotourism and ecosystem conservation and before I do that before

00:36we pitch into questions I would also like to it's my pleasure to give a little

00:41brief introduction about yourself about you your PhD in eco physiology and

00:49silviculture from Doha State University USA and your expertise is certainly

00:56tremendous eco restoration biodiversity conservation and climate change

01:00adaptation and you will at this point of time director of the ecotourism sector at

01:06the UNESCO and chair International Hellenic University Greece and you pen down

01:11over 100 publications books good number of books and chapters and peer-reviewed

01:19articles for 25 years of experience international experience in

01:23environmental research outreach and education and in the same time you're

01:27also MSc urban forestry and BSC forestry biology this is just a tiny brief

01:33introduction about yourself you are much more than that and once again we are

01:37very glad to have you on this platform ma'am so I would like to move on

01:41to my first question which is certainly a very important question says how can

01:46ecotourism balance conservation and local economies well first of all thank you

01:52very much for having me it's a really pleasure being part of this effort and it's

01:57really great to share this this experience it's more than 25 years of

02:02international experience sharing this with you so thank you very much for the

02:06invite Omar really great pleasure being part of the effort that is

02:11sharing this knowledge so your question was how ecotourism balance conservation

02:20and the local communities this is this is very important because it's hard to do

02:26that actually and if we think about about ecotourism and community and

02:32conservation the environment is two of the main pillars that shape ecotourism plus we do

02:39have you know also the tourists that they go and visit on the side so ecotourism

02:46really is can be used as a mean to educate and combine all this knowledge to show the

02:55local communities how it can be sustainably done and this is the balance to bring

03:03only by educating the people and understanding the benefit that they can get actually from this

03:10once they do that and they know that once they sustain the environment then they can achieve this

03:17long-term sustainability and the long-term benefits that they get then ecotourism has really

03:26been successful to do what it's supposed to do so I don't know if that answers your question but

03:35local economies can really benefit from this because ecotourism is about mainly ecosystems that they are at the

03:44rural sites also so people from rural areas not just the urban areas can benefit from their economies

03:51these economies responding this important question and your narratives are certainly wonderful and

03:58helpful to our audience would like to move on to my second question again one questions is what are the

04:04biggest climate threats to riparian and deltech ecosystems well climate change well any alterations of the climate

04:16climate really bring um and sometimes really uh big uh events and they threat ecosystems either from the floods

04:25either from other kinds of bad disturbances so I'm bringing up the floods here because the ecosystem that you're

04:32addressing is mainly the riparian and the delta ecosystems so over there one of the things is the floods the

04:40fatalities that the fatalities that the floods can bring they're very crucial so those ecosystems they have many

04:49areas that they're highly preserved and they are areas that they can actually provide a lot to the production so the

04:58biggest threat for those areas for climate change is the floods the extreme events that we might have there but at the same time when we have all this

05:07activity for humans for all this activity for humans for those areas we tend to use those as our garbage place so all the

05:13all all the debris and everything from the industries they just depleted in there so climate change is the ask combined with the human

05:25intervention and all these human activities that it takes place in those areas really poses those sites as one of the biggest um and all the

05:35uh threats and polluted areas for our ecosystems so they really need to uh we really need to have

05:44our attention to those those ecosystems because they're also highly producing areas for us so I don't know if that

05:53really addresses the question if you want me to uh give you more information and I'm really happy because I'm

06:00um part of uh many international projects that they are really addressing uh riberian areas and this is part of the

06:07the the chair of the unesco chair connect because it's specifically addressing those ecosystems

06:15so you've talked about riberian and deltech ecosystems and your information is certainly uh

06:23uh going to uh going to help us now would like to move on to my third question again one questions is how

06:29does the unesco chair continue to global conservation efforts well well these are very important information

06:39all those shares including uh the unesco chair connect uh that is addressing as I already told you it's

06:46addressing you know the conservation of the riparian in the deltanic ecosystems and how we can conserve those those

06:53sites um we are getting involved in international projects we are trying to through the deliverables and

07:03through all the dissemination efforts that they're taking place we're trying to inform people about the

07:08conservation of those ecosystems so it's very uh important for us to actually put into um

07:21connecting you know the the people that they live in those sites with whatever research is taking place

07:28and informing them about what is going on research-wise for nature-based solutions and other solutions that they're

07:35really very prone to whatever nature connects uh all those efforts regarding our projects as we are getting

07:44involved so uh not having only the research based on implementing all those projects but actually trying to

07:53connect and transfer all that knowledge to to the people that they're immediate related to those ecosystems

08:00so it's very important for for this to understand and having the locals also being part of the

08:07conservation of those ecosystems because sometimes you know projects are just projects they are very

08:12important but if you don't get involved the local communities there then most likely this is not going

08:18to have a sustainable long-term effect so it's very important this is what we do we're trying also

08:24regarding to research informing how this can be implemented on the ground with the locals and actually

08:31involve also the locals to have the sustainable conservation of those ecosystems otherwise it's not

08:38going to be for too long there once they see the benefit for sustaining those ecosystems and the income that

08:45they can have then it's going to have a better outcome i hope that helps thank you so much that you responded and

08:55addressed this question in a very uh good way that we understand that now we'd like to move on to my fourth

09:01question very important question says why is the community involvement solution for sustainability i already

09:09answered that a little bit partly at least uh community is one of the main pillars if you don't get a

09:16community involved in those sustainability and matters then uh it's it's having only the environment and the

09:24tourists that they're getting there then it's not going to be sustainably managed uh they need to understand

09:32the benefit they need to understand part of the functions and the structures of the ecosystem they need to

09:38understand how to protect their own ecosystems because they are the ones that they leave there once they

09:44understand that and they do most of them do know that and they know better sometimes their local ecosystems than

09:52us the researchers so it's very important for them to be part of all those efforts if they don't get involved

10:02then most likely the the final outcome is not going to be the best so aiming for the best is undoubtedly

10:11getting involved the local communities in their in these efforts or once again repeating and retraining the

10:19retraining the importance of local community and their involvement and now would like to move on to my

10:28fifth question which is also a rapid question but then one question says what are the key trends shaping

10:34the future of ecotourism this is the toughest one you leave the last for the toughest you know for last right

10:43he has many uh and this is uh this is uh very complex uh where are the key trends for shaping future egos

10:53ecotourism okay i think this is not just a trend uh tourism tourism in general it has to do a lot with economy a lot of

11:02with money uh ecotourism is a different thing it is but it has to do with very um fragile ecosystems because

11:14usually it's connected with highly protected areas uh ramsa areas natural areas so it's it's very uh very

11:25tedious part of the procedure um nonetheless research based uh because i'm involved in many international

11:33projects that they're involved you know at the u uh recently we've been in in one project that is

11:39uh promoting nature-based solutions and this is one of the main trends promoting nature-based solutions

11:47and implementing those at those sites and sustaining um and conserving the ecosystems there uh it's very

11:54important to understand the benefit of that so this is one of the trends the other thing is creating uh

12:00different um for example measurements and try to have those protocols uh to be uh the same with

12:08all the countries like kpis and how we can really use those numbers in order to guide us how to best

12:16perform and how to best uh use all those three pillars in order to get involved the community get

12:23involved the tourists and also having the best for for the ecosystem welcome uh so undoubtedly nature-based

12:30solutions is one of them um recently we're working on something like that with africa

12:38and spain and other european countries including greece and some other projects also that they

12:47involve different countries worldwide and um we are the the team that i'm working and i've been part of

12:56this we're really feel strong very uh about this uh nature-based solutions and how this can be uh shaping the

13:05future of the eco tours undoubtedly this one includes also you know the awareness i'm very feeling very

13:12strong about awareness and informing people about their benefit and it's really amazing to see

13:20how different ecosystems shape the cultures of of uh its country uh and how diverse a country might be by

13:29shaping the uh culture and the housing and the dressing and everything from from uh the locals so getting

13:37all this acquainted we really need to adjust those nature-based solutions based on the different kind

13:45of ecosystems that we're working on so for example um i've been approached and asking to consulting areas

13:53in south arabia really very arid ecosystems so ecotourism really needs to be implemented a little bit

14:01differently there shaping those recent trends learning about this but they need to be adjusted based on

14:09the local ecosystems and the local communities in order to make it work better responding these five

14:17important questions our topic was certainly a wonderful topic sustainable ecotourism and ecosystem

14:23conservation you've talked about eco tourism balance conservation riparian deltech ecosystems and

14:30unisco chair and its role and community involvement in key trends shaping the future of ecotourism and

14:39thanks a lot once again joining this platform ma'am and giving your precious time as you're already

14:44familiar that resource a platform where we try to step through the noise to cause your most relevant and

14:49reliable sociological interpretations and narratives in order to build the society to make it more human

14:55possibility with and that's the reason we are on board today having you on this platform to give some more

15:01database and research based data to help our audience you know to hone up their understanding to make life

15:08more better on this planet so that's the reason we keep conducting international and national interviews once again

15:15thanks a lot ma'am joining us from Greece giving you precious money

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