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Organizing a responsible visit to sensitive areas like the Galápagos Islands or Antarctica involves research, decoding certifications and possibly a travel adviser.
Like the 18 other passengers on the ship Origin, from the expedition cruise company Ecoventura, I went to the Galápagos Islands in May to be awed by nature. Swimming with barrel-rolling sea lions, seeing a blue-footed booby chick peeking out from beneath its mother, kayaking with flamingoes and experiencing the meditative pace of a giant tortoise — all exceeded the goal.
Along the way, encountering the most beautiful white sand beaches I have ever visited, with no hotels, but plenty of sea turtle tracks and sun-bleached whale bones, I became awed not just by nature, but also by humanity.
Ecuador’s decision in 1959 to create the Galápagos Islands National Park has preserved an archipelago with some of the highest levels of endemism, or species found nowhere else. “I can say without hesitation over 40 years working in and out of there as a tropical ecologist, if the tourism control and management of visitors hadn’t been put in place in the ’60s, it would have been lost,” said Gregory Miller, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Travel, or C.R.E.S.T.
Now it is also up to visitors to do their part to tread lightly in the Galápagos and other environmentally sensitive places.
Interest in sustainable travel is on the rise — in a recent Expedia Group Media Solutions survey of 11,000 travelers globally, 9 in 10 respondents said they looked for sustainable options when planning trips. In the same survey, 70 percent said they were overwhelmed by the process of becoming a more sustainable traveler.
When I was planning my trip last winter and keen to travel as responsibly as possible, Mr. Miller helped me break down the options through the lens of sustainability, which was time consuming. It took months deciding where, how and with what company to go; sifting through operators’ websites for sustainability practices; and committing to putting my money — triple my normal travel budget, in part because the Galápagos is not cheap — where my mouth is.
“Unfortunately, not a lot of sustainability is mainstream yet,” said Paloma Zapata, the chief executive of Sustainable Travel International, which consults with destinations and educates consumers in sustainable travel. “People, businesses and local organizations do not know what sustainability is and how to really fulfill those criteria.”
Here, she and other experts helped provide guidance for travelers who want to plan sustainable trips, especially to sensitive destinations like the Galápagos or Antarctica.
Defining “sensitive”
Fortunately, both the Galápagos and Antarctica make it easier to travel sustainably through their strong environmental regulations, including mandates to leave no trace on shore and ensure that all landings are guided. In the Galápagos, no ship may carry over 100 passengers; in Antarctica, vessels with more than 500 passengers are prohibited from making landings.
Sustainable travel advocates say their best practices apply everywhere, but in such ecologically fragile places — like Antarctica, which most regard as sensitive as it is the last great wilderness where humans have had little direct impact — the urgency is greater.
“If you’re going to walk the streets of Paris, that’s a different thing than Galápagos,” Ms. Zapata said. “When you go to highly sensitive places, be even more mindful of what you’re doing.”
If you buy new clothes for a trip, for example, clip the tags off at home. Or if you must buy a bottle of water, when finished, collapse it and take it home to recycle.
Mr. Miller argues for broadening the definition of “sensitive place” to include not just these pristine ecosystems, but rare areas or refuges surrounded by developed or degraded lands, including parks in East Africa and biodiverse preserves in the United States like Everglades National Park in Florida and Muir Woods National Monument in California, as well as socially sensitive communities, such as Indigenous ones.
“That’s where the traveler should be looking at travel and tourism as a privilege, not a right, where your choice matters,” Mr. Miller said.
This is an excerpt from an article by Elaine Glusac originally published by The New York Times.