Taking advantage of the increasing flow of foreign tourists in the Itacaré/Serra Grande Environmental Protection Area, the “Solidarity English Course” brings the proposal to fill the gap of language in this region, offering local residents the opportunity to increase their capacity and thereby expand their professional horizons and possibilities to get better jobs in the tourism industry.

The good new is that, as of April, one of the classes of the course will be sponsored by the Apprentice Village Project,  an action of Arapyaú Institute (through the activities and actions of this project, children and young people from public schools are encouraged to – in a playful manner (educational games) – learn how to pay attention in class, read and write, think, calculate, solve problem-situations and act in a context of rules and tasks to be accomplished – sharing goals, willing to learn, overcoming mistakes, valuing life together and being creative.

The methodology of Solidarity English is fully adapted to the daily reality of local students, who have little or no contact with the English language and little or no access to the media where this language is used (movies, cable TV, newspapers, magazines, books and internet). All materials used in class (text, music CDs and DVDs) are based on existing English courses, which were compilated in order to providing an easy to assimilate material.

The completion of Solidarity English is only possible thanks to the patronage of the students who pay the monthly cost of R$ 30,00 by student. In 2009, 22 out of 42 students were “adopted”, 6 were paying-students and 14 students didn’t pay at all. Starting this year, the funds raised from sponsors and from the support from Arapyaú Institute will be directed solely to the purchase of teaching materials (dictionaries, texts, CDs, notebooks, folders, etc..) and logistics (fuel for the displacement of a teacher who lives 5 km from the village and acts voluntarily in the project).

This year, the Solidarity English involves 50 students divided into four classes in four levels: Beginners I & II, Intermediate I & II. Classes are held in the Missionary Sisters’ House on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:15 PM & 6:30 PM (Beginners I & Intermediate II), and Monday and Wednesday classes are held at Casazul at 5:15 PM & 6:30 PM. Each class lasts one hour and fifteen minutes.

So? Want to help being a Godfather/Godmother to one or more students? More young people and adults benefit the better! It can be for 3 months (R$ 90,00/student), for 6 months (R$180,00/student) or for a year (R$360,00/student). Email us : contato@mecenasdavida.org.br and we will send a bank transfer to facilitate your donation.

WE THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR DONATION and THANKS ARAPYAÚ INSTITUTE !

*

The CO2 Neutral Tourism Program has started 2010 with the participation of 100 tourism-related businesses in the cities of Itacaré and Serra Grande. Since December 2008, entrepreneurs and traditional small scale farmers have been building an agreement for the reduction of global warming through conservation and socioeconomic and human development.

COP 15? UN Conference on Climate Change? Copenhagen? Agreement? It would be great if the leaders who were there could come here to get to know the experience that it was born here on our land. The equation is simple: those who emit CO2, neutralize and reduce it and those who have the talent to take care of the land and need support, do the reforestation and preservation. That’s the equation entrepreneurs of the Itacaré/Serra Grande Environmental Protection Area and its traditional small scale farmers are developing and solving.

More than an equation, what it was born and it is happening here is a fine agreement, as peculiar as essential and as dreamed as real. The CO2 Neutral Tourism Program has been working through the tourism business universe with a fairly new concept, proposing the local businessmen to invest in the business relationship with nature – taking into consideration that the success of tourism business has close relation with the nature in its surroundings. But it does not stop here! The program also offers these businessmen the opportunity to invest in their business relationship with the countryside – taking into consideration that the tourism business also has a close relation with migration of people to the outskirts of large cities. Is that all ? No. The program starts to expand this proposal to tourists, inviting them to invest in the relation between leisure and planet conservation – also taking into consideration that their leisure is closely related to the various interferences and impacts they cause in the touristic destination.

Will the Carbon Neutral Tourism Program, the entrepreneurs and the traditional small scale farmers’ families solve all environmental, social and structural problems of our destination? Certainly not. To make it happen, it is necessary to make many other agreements among the different segments which are part of this scenario. There is a poet who said “those who really know their village know the world.” Make an agreement is not a simple task anywhere in the world, regardless the nature and scale of the problems but the important thing is the attitude and the willingness to reduce or erase differences. We have a mini COP 15 here, built step by step, with concepts, practices and financial responsibility being gradually integrated by its participants. A good start from our villages to the world!

*

The project is a partnership between Patrons for Life Movement, the Biological Sciences Dept. at UESC (Santa Cruz State University at Bahia / Brazil) , the Research Group on Scientific and Environmental Education – Greco’s UdG (Universitat de Girona – Catalunha / Spain) with the collaboration of GRUPO OLHO ( EYE Group- Laboratory of Audio-Visual Studies at UNICAMP (State University at Campinas / São Paulo), and sponsored by FAPESB (Bahia’s Foundation for Research).

The proposal depends on the development and diffusion of innovative technology on the CO2 Neutral Tourism Certification creating bridges and connections between different agents at the Itacaré/Serra Grande Environmental Protection Area (entrepreneurs, tourists, traditional small scale farmers and the community), building a network that promotes sustainable tourism in the region, focusing on improving the quality of life of the traditional small scale farmers’ families, through environmental preservation and implementation of new farming practices in the degraded areas of their properties, offering them new income sources and good quality food.

The project’s goal is to contribute with the actions developed by the Carbon Neutral Tourism Program and with the transference of this socio-environmental technology through a training program for the traditional farming families and through increase of their self-esteem, as well as to increase awareness of the entrepreneurs involved.

Through photography the project intends to capture/generate knowledge about / with the communities involved in this program and, at the same time, evaluate and disseminate the “CO2 Neutral Tourism Certification” The idea is to make use of democratic practices, which encompasses life in its multiple dimensions ( socio-environmental, ethical and aesthetic) and the exchange of knowledge (academic and regional).

In this context, there will be two areas: the rural and urban areas. In rural areas, work will focus on technical skills, environmental, social and humanities; in the deployment of new alternative sources of income and on the “Bolsa Conservação” (a monthly grant paid to small scale farmers participating in the program). In urban areas, the program will focus on raising awareness and in the certification of new projects and empowerment of the public on neutralization / production of CO2 generated from activities related to tourism.

In order to evaluate the impacts of the CO2 Neutral Tourism Certification, the project proposes three different strategies:

1) An initial approach, focused on the impacts caused by the implementation of technology. This first approach will happen in 3 different working groups (children / teenagers, farmers/women and entrepreneurs) through the analyses of the images to be registered considered as true indicators of quality.

2) The second strategy consists in planning and implementing social and environmental indicators achieved by the executing team, which will offer a more objective look at the results

3) Finally, the project intends to organize a seminar and an evaluation of the entire process with the participation of everybody involved (farmers/women, children/teenagers, entrepreneurs and executing team) to, jointly, obtain results that will contribute in improving the technology.

The end result will lead to the preparation of material for diffusion of the socio-environmental technology of the CO2 Neutral Tourism Certification through three stages: a photographic exhibition, the publication of a book (to be distributed in schools and in government and non-governmental institutions) and a video, in addition to lectures in the partner’s institutions and a space at the site of the Patrons for Life Movement.

As you can see, there are a lot of work to be done ! We will keep you posted on other activities of this wonderful project. See you !

The construction of dry toilets became one more action that brought a lot of positive effects in the lives and properties of families participating in the program, worth saying, both expected and unexpected effects.

 Like everything else that the program builds on the framework of field activities, this was also an action that only had its beginnings after careful share with farmers and their families, consulting them and feeling the possibility of changing their practices.

 As per farmers, during and after the installation of the 7 dry-toilets, the news of this “technology” has spread in the neighborhood and now they are being sought by local residents who wish to understand and learn this technique in order to replicate it in their areas.

At a sustainable tourism conference, the country’s ecotourism organization (CANAECO) and the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications signed an agreement that puts in place a system to cover the offsetting of tourists’ flights. The program is designed to address the glaring lack of accountability in the area of international fuel: Though airline fuel is purchased in one country, no system is in place to assign responsibility for emissions released during international travel to either the country of departure or arrival.

 The plan has been designed for December’s Copenhagen climate-change conference, and is a part of Costa Rica’s commitment to become carbon-neutral over all by 2021. While the tourist receives a carbon-offsetting certificate, the money raised – ranging from around $10 to $30 per visitor – will go to the nation’s forestry financing fund (FONAFIFO) to plant what will basically be carbon-absorption forests

 “Beginning today, Costa Rica is on the way to becoming the first carbon-neutral destination in the world,” said Jurgen Stein of CANAECO.

A “CARBON-NEUTRAL DESTINATION”

AN EXPERIENCE THAT IS ALREADY ONE YEAR OLD

AT THE ITACARÉ/SERRA GRANDE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AREA.

For those who do not know, Costa Rica is considered a model in the conservation of tropical forests, as the country has one of the systems of protected areas with greater coverage in proportion to its territory, with about 25% of the country under some category of protection. The initiative of Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral destination, demonstrates how our Carbon Neutral Destination Program is aligned with global environmental trends which are beginning to be carried out by countries that are a reference in these issues.

Our “Carbon-Neutral Destination Program”, initiated in December 2008, is a “local certification” that differentiates the tourist facilities and the tourists that neutralize their CO2 emissions. However, what makes our program unique is that, at the other end of the program, local small-scale traditional farmers ( living in precarious conditions and on a collision course with environmental conservation practices ) take part in the program, taking the leading role of conservation, reforesting degraded areas of their properties and conserving the forests remnants – a very simple and efficient model to democratize forest conservation in Brazil.

But that’s NOT all ! In addition to the neutralization of CO2 and conservation of forest remnants, the program has improved significantly the quality of life of participating farmers. Through : 1) the so called Bolsa Conservação (a monthly grant for conservation, which is given to the traditional small-scale farmers that take part in the program); 2)  the technical, environmental and human skills they receive; 3)  introduction of alternative production practices on their properties; and 4)  exchanging of experiences with experts and tourists who visit their areas – farmers have found out new experiences to help them increase their self-esteem and to strengthen the belief that they CAN stay in the rural area.

Since it is a pioneer program, which is generating many benefits, it is very important to involve the largest possible number of participants (touristic equipments, tourists, and sympathizers) contributing and disseminating this experience.

Join this network that aims to bring to the Itacaré-Serra Grande Environmental Area the status of First Neutral-Carbon Destination in Brazil, an innovative and differentiated identity that is promoting the enhancement of this destination and contributing to the construction of sustainable tourism in the region. CLICK HERE to know how to join this network!

*** The program’s T-shirts are on sale at Marimar Gifts, at Urso-de-Óculos Cultural Bookshop and at Easy Drop – all of them in Itacaré – for the price of R$ 15,00. Try on this idea and let your personal seed of solidarity in our Environmental Protection Area !

The internship experience program is designed to provide participants – 20 undergraduate or postgraduate students from all over the country – the opportunity to experience, for one month, the socio-cultural reality of the Itacaré/Serra Grande Environmental Protection Area , located at the south coast of Bahia.

Through the actions of the Patrons for Life Movement under the Neutral Carbon Tourism Program participants will find a rich “laboratory” to receive and practice new learning, carry out trade with the different social actors in the region and especially discover new ways and practices able to refocus the vision of the role and responsibility that each one (as a person, student and professional-to be) should know to help building a better and sustainable world.

The internship program will take place from Jan 11th  to Feb 10th , 2010 and will cost $400,00 Brazilian Reais. For registration email to contato@mecenasdavida.org.br from Nov 20th  to Dec 11th. – Subject of the message: Ficha de Inscrição.

Last Sunday Oct 11th, the Carbon Neutral Tourism Program received 20 students from FAMEC- Camaçari  Metropolitan College  ( located in Camaçari Petrochemical Complex near the city of Salvador-Bahia-Brazil ). Professor Pericles Alves de Lima Junior and his students of the Environmental Engineering Course visited the properties of two traditional small-scale farmers who take part in the program: the families of “Edivaldo and Jocélia” and of “Domingos and Gicelia”.

The focus of the students was the Recovery of Degraded Areas. Professor Pericles heard of the work developed and implemented by the Patrons for Life Movement in these properties, having tourism as its platform, and decided to bring his students to get to know the construction of this environmental conservation network that became the Carbon Neutral Tourism Program.

The visit started under a light and blessed morning drizzle with an initial momentum for exchanging of information among the groups (students, farmers and the Patrons for Life team) followed by a large number of questions by the visitors. Then, everyone left for a field visit that began in an area of primary forest, through a trail of the farmer “Edi” who guided the group and answered questions from visitors about the flora and fauna.

After a quick stop for resting, the whole group left for the second part of the field visit: observation of an area which is being reforested  through agroforestry systems (AFS-land management involving the growing of trees in association with food crops or pastures). “Edi” continued leading the group and together with the technical team of Patron for Life answered to questions and gave testimony of his experiences in the field before and after his participation in the Carbon Neutral Tourism Program.

Another stop for lunch followed by a moment that is always very special : delivery of the Bolsa Conservação (the monthly payment for conservation services) that this time was attended by the visitors who also helped to handle the payment to the farmers.

In the last part of the field visit, the whole group went to the property of “Domingos” who also led the group and answered to questions. Visitors could see his seedling nursery and ornamental plants, his forest restoration areas and the techniques employed in the manufacture of biofertilizer and organic compos.

Thanks FAMEC students  ! Thanks for coming !

“Those who love life prefer the task of saving.
Those who love the land prefer the task of dreaming”
(Joyce e Fernando Brant).

*

Class actions and guided by common goals almost always result in practical solutions to solve problems. It was precisely for the purpose of joining interests and create convergence toward common goals that the Carbon Neutral Tourism Program was designed.

Given the fact that the Itacaré/Serra Grande Protection Area has several problems, some quite complex, our starting point was to elect a broad convergence platform, which could involve as many social “actors” that communicate directly or indirectly with that platform.

Under this point of view, tourism has been chosen as the support platform capable of receiving simple, gradual, integrating and participative actions that can cope with various demands that threaten environmental conservation, human development of local communities and the sustainability of tourism (the main economic activity in our region).

Considering the basic principle that tourism should serve as a large vector for environmental conservation, socio-economic empowerment and human development in traditional communities, the Neutral Carbon Tourism Program – introducing the practice of neutralizing carbon emissions (CO2) generated by the operation of tourist facilities – built a network of local “actors” to act on :

1) the conservation of forest remnants of rural properties of traditional farmers;

2) forest restoration of degraded areas of these properties; and

3)  the socioeconomic development of farmers.

In this network, each group has a specific and complementary role.

Traditional farmers: protect the forests on their property and reforest degraded areas in order to neutralize the CO2 emissions from tourism facilities and tourists.

Tourism facilities: neutralize their CO2 emissions and – through the financial contribution calculated according to their emissions – enable traditional farmers to conserve their forests and reforest degraded areas as well as to receive technical, environmental, economic and social skills in order to take part in the tourism productive chain.

Tourists: neutralize CO2 emissions generated by the transport they used in and out and – through the financial contribution also calculated according their emissions – contribute to forest conservation, reforestation and for the human development of traditional farmers.

The solution of large problems requires hard work, persistence, continuity and, most importantly, the involvement of people. Last January, when we first started to divulgate the Neutral Carbon Tourism Program, it was common to come across feelings of resistance, pessimism, disbelief and so on. It was just the beginning of a long journey for our small team. But soon came the adhesion of more open and sensitive entrepreneurs and, gradually, the program begun to move forward in the region. Currently, we have the involvement of 88 tourism facilities and businesses, some of whom were important to divulgate the program and to attract other participants.

In the participant hotels and inns we have already started working on the neutralization of tourists. It’s an environmental and peculiar service that these establishments now offer to its guests giving them the opportunity to take part in this network that is building the first Carbon Free Destination.

We are now beginning to develop a Monitoring Program of Practices and a Guide to Neutral Carbon Attitudes to be implemented with the participation of certified businesses and farmers. It’s a proposal to try to solve the problem of solid waste disposal of such facilities and to implement selective garbage collection. In the near future we would like to offer our partners tools and resources that would enable them to adopt environmental and appropriated practices.

There is a long way to achieve the results we all desire. However, it is correct to say that such results will be proportional to the involvement of social actors in the region. There will not exist the construction of a differentiated and sustainable tourism destination without the sum of the energy of all people involved to express such a big difference!

That is what we believe and are working for ! We leave here our gratitude to EVERYBODY who already takes part in this network and our invitation to those who are not yet part of it: CLICK HERE to learn how to enter this network.

 The T-shirts of the Program are on sale for R$ 15.00 at Marimar Presentes at Urso de Óculos Cultural Bookshop and at Easy Drop – all of them in Itacaré.

“Wear” this practice and leave your personal “seed” of solidarity
in our Environmental Protection Area !

Thanks everyone ! The work continues !

*

The training to turn guests into “neutralized tourists” continues in the hotels and inns that take part in the Neutral Carbon Tourism Program. These facilities will be able to offer to their guests an unprecedented environmental service in Brazil. This is the neutralization of CO2 emissions generated by the transport of the tourist coming in and out the cities of Itacaré or Serra Grande.

The simplicity of the procedure allows the tourists themselves, along with the receptionist at the hostel, check and calculate the level of CO2 emissions generated by the transport in and out (airplane, bus or car). He/She also learns how  many trees will have to be planted “to offset their carbon footprints.”

Since this is an unheard practice in Brazil, built through a partnership between certified entrepreneurs and traditional farmers participating in the program, the whole process is still under construction. Until the tourism high-season, it will be accompanied by the Patrons for Life Movement team in order to fulfill the demands that will certainly arise and to adapt them to comply with the environmental service.

The value of the contribution goes to the Social Carbon Fund. Part of the funds pays for the activities and actions of the program in the field – with the families of traditional farmers – and the other part goes to logistics. Tree seedlings to offset these emissions are being produced, planted and managed by the farmers’ families. We hope that in the near future we will be also able to account for the “tourist’s green inheritance”, registering the number of trees planted in the Itacaré/Serra Grande area and following the contribution of these funds for the improvement in the quality of life and self-esteem of these families.

If you work in a certified hotel or inn but haven’t received training yet, just wait, we will soon be getting there. For those certified which are already providing this environmental service for your guests, thanks for your partnership! That’s the way we are gradually building a Carbon Free Destination and making room for another participant in this partnership : “The Tourist”.

If your facility does not participate in the Neutral Carbon Tourism Program, CLICK HERE to know how you can join this local network of neutralization!

*

In your opinion, what are the main social-environmental problems that need to be confronted?

The large inequality in income across the world exacerbates, every day, the social-environmental problems, for example, global warming and the inappropriate treatment of waste. The excessive consumption of people with high incomes exhausts the planet’s natural resources, whose ecological footprint today already represents 30% of the global deficit.

What motivated you to join the program for neutralization and reduction of carbon emissions?

To be able to really compensate for our daily emissions, since we use energy, in particular our use of personal cars, we also use water etc. Also, the desire to be able to help a project like Patrons for Life, which brings together environmental preservation with the improvement of the quality of life for the rural community of Serra Grande and Itacaré.

How was the family you adopted chosen?

It was easy, we just visited two, and the one that seemed to us to be the neediest, with children, was chosen. We really liked the energy of this family.

In your opinion, what does the financial support that you donate to the family represent?

It represents the possibility to improve the self-esteem of these people that will preserve nature without having to hunt or use native wood for firewood. They will be able to enrich the forest, grow organic produce etc.

Is your participation only financial, or do you plan to have a closer relationship with the adopted family?

Despite the geographical distance, we plan to get to know the family, visit them once and while, absorbing their positive energy, which is a joy for us.

What are the expectations, in relation to the results, of this program for the region?

We hope that other people and companies adopt more and more families, so that this region can be greatly different in the near future, proving that it is possible to construct a better world.

Do you have any suggestions as how to improve the development of the program?

Distribute information abundantly, using the internet, friend networks and word of mouth.

What is the message that you would like to give to the people reading this interview?

A sustainable future demands immediate action. Mankind has already devastated nature way too much and actions to minimize these damages have to be taken now. We cannot wait any longer for the government, a company or a neighbor to take initiative. Adopt a family, get to know the project and get excited, helping the people that coordinate the NGO to build a healthier planet for this and future generations.

 
Sandra Marchesini and Ubaldo Ferreira have been married for many years, are both native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, both received a bachelor’s degree in electric engineering and have worked at Coelba – the electricy company of the State of Bahia for many years and are retired now. Both are currently working as volunteer for Patrons for Life and Art for Life