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Birthright Earth & the Rainforest Alliance

Working together for Sustainable Travel

Birthright Earth and the Rainforest Alliance have established a partnership to promote sustainable tourism operations that are part of the Rainforest Alliance’s Best Management Practices in Sustainable Tourism Program.

The Rainforest Alliance provides tourism entrepreneurs and community-based businesses in Latin America with the tools and training they need to become more environmentally and socially sound, and to gain access to and be more competitive in the marketplace, while contributing to the conservation of the local culture and nature.

How the Rainforest Alliance works

The Rainforest Alliance works in agriculture, forestry, and tourism to implement global standards for the sustainable management of forestland, farmland and tourism operations.

The Rainforest Alliance:

• Builds market demand for sustainably harvested products and sustainable tourism options.
• Monitors and evaluates progress and compliance through on-site investigation and, in forestry and agriculture, certification.

Towards better land use practices: the Rainforest Alliance, certification and Birthright Earth – approaches to combating deforestation

The Rainforest Alliance’s expertise in sustainable farming, forestry, tourism, and certification directly relate to Birthright Earth’s mission to inspire young adults to action against man-induced environmental hazards like deforestation and other threats to livelihoods and sensitive eco-systems.

• Twenty percent of global warming is caused by tropical deforestation, and 70 percent of deforestation is due to agricultural conversion.
• Unsustainable agriculture threatens more than half of the world’s protected areas and 90 percent of the world’s forests lie outside of these government protected areas.

The Rainforest Alliance’s pioneering certification programs have significant effects on the way forestry and agriculture are practiced.

• In working with indigenous forest communities, the Rainforest Alliance helps them produce more efficiently and at higher quality for international markets.
• Birthright Earth guides currently in training in the Peruvian Amazon work with indigenous peoples such as the Machiguenga tribe. In an example of how eco-tourism can help protect the forest and sustain livelihoods, members of this tribe are engaged in activities such as riverboat tours for eco-tourists, negating the need to engage in poaching and destructive logging. See http://www.birthrightearth.com/blog/ for more.
• The agreement between the Rainforest Alliance and Birthright Earth will better ensure that our trips encourage such practices to continue.

 

What Birthright Earth’s commitment to the Rainforest Alliance means…

• It means we have committed ourselves to a higher standard whereby, from our President to our guides, Birthright Earth will plan and conduct its business according to strict standards for protecting the environment, wildlife and the well-being of workers and local communities.
• Designed in conjunction with scientists, conservation experts and tour operators, the best practices expected of businesses working with the Rainforest Alliance cover a host of environmental and social concerns such as:
  • low-impact travel
  • reductions in consumption of water, energy and other resources
  • protection against potential sources of pollution and responsible waste disposal
  • criteria for the procurement and management of supplies
  • defense against the introduction of alien plant and animal species

As a responsible traveler, you can feel confident that you are participating in a trip that has proven its dedication to supporting sustainable tourism.

Working together, we can better see it, understand it, love it, and save it.