[Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?

[Monika Franck]

Dear Wang Fei

 Regarding your email below, I have sent you a previous Coral List email by Chad Scott who works on Koh Tao for Save Koh Tao Marine. He would be able to give you a lot of information on whether there is a difference between eco-dive operators and non eco-dive operators on Koh Tao as they work with a lot of dive operators there.

 Also I think even if coral degradation rate is faster than a system informing consumers on which destination is more sustainable to support than another, it would still help to raise consumer awareness toward sustainable consumerism, and will contribute toward work against coral reef degradation.

 It has to be implemented correctly of course, and to be effective consumers still need to be educated and understand what it means, just like they have quickly come to understand a five star rating/certification of hotels which is also a consumer information guide already successfully in practice.

 I think it would take as long as it takes for all the various stakeholders (such as divers, marine scientists, tourism industry/agents, hotel owners, local coastal communities, governments, sports fishermen.) to agree to an independently audited and internationally recognised sustainable coral reef certification system that would steer sustainable use of marine resources such as a coral reef in this case.

 Enjoy your PhD; you have picked an interesting one.

 Best wishes
 Monika

----- Original Message -----
From: Wang Fei
Sent: 12/02/11 05:21 PM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?

 Hallo Lister: ``Needed is an internationally recognized indicator/certification system, similar to the 5 star status system of hotels, to enable consumers of coral reef destinations to make informed choices`` i agree 100 percent, But ! i am staying on a small dive island called Koh Tao in the gulf of Thailand at the moment. The plan of my phd study or this visit is too see whether ppl do have the preference towards eco-labeled dive schools and if there is a difference between eco-dive school divers to non. i realize it is easy to say and image rather than apply and control. For example, the powerful family or person may control alot local business.... their business may get green washed, but really grean? i do not say it is unrealistic to achieve this, i just wanna know about how and how long many this take, if it is faster then the coral's degradation rate.... just show corals around yesterday, it was horrible here already. maybe i should google the establish history of 5 !
 star hotel system. by the way, if 
you are on Koh Tao or you know someone is working on Koh tao, please contact me! fei.wang at zmt-bremen.de -- Wang Fei PhD Candidate Leibniz Zentrum f黵 Marine Tropen鰇ologie Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology Fahrenheitstr. 8 D-28359 Bremen Germany Tel : (00)49 - (0)421 - 23800-158 Fax : (00)49 - (0)421 - 23800-30 email:anita.flohr at zmt-bremen.de web: www.zmt-bremen.de _______________________________________________ Coral-List mailing list Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list