By using tourism revenue to protect fragile ecosystems, there is no question that Long Run members offer travel experiences that have a positive impact. Conservation has always been the cornerstone of The Long Run as we leverage the power of business, particularly tourism, to support sustainable ecosystems.
However, it’s no longer enough to presume that tourism is a vehicle for positive impact. In a world where sustainability has become a selling point, and most businesses and governments are desperately scrambling for climate solutions, we need facts, stats and data to back-up any claims and continually improve.
Since early 2020, when we became a founding signatory of Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency, we’ve been scrutinising our collective carbon impact.
Among the plethora of bad news this year (especially from Brazil), members Caiman Ecological Refuge and Onçafari have brokered a landmark conservation win. By securing Santa Sofia, a critically located ranch in The Pantanal, they have created, with neighbours, a 200,000ha landscape set aside for conservation. The land is not only a vital ecosystem alone, but is a strategic corridor connecting habitats and watercourses across the whole region. The new landscape is a mark of success of over 30-years of commitment to conservation in The Pantanal. Inspired by this and other similar examples in Laikipia, we are now reflecting on how to facilitate more strategic landscape partnerships.
As revealed by the most recent Live Planet Reports, which state that we have lost 68% of wildlife population since the 1970s, mainly due to habitat fragmentation and loss, securing corridors for wildlife movement and ecosystem functions is more important than ever. The Long Run is about connectedness, of people, of places, and habitats.
Strategic Corridors
Beyond Offsetting
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