Putting a value on Mau Forest
Photo courtesy of United Nations Environment Programme. Mau Forest Complex forms the largest closed-canopy forest ecosystem of Kenya. It is the single most important water catchment in the Rift Valley and western Kenya. As Dave pointed out in his blog article last year, the ecosystem services provided by Mau Forest support key economic sectors, including…
The market triumph of ecotourism?
Lake in Tambopata region As Editor of CABI's Leisure Tourism Database, I get to keep up to date with news and research in the leisure and tourism industry. It's always of interest to follow developments in places I've been to, so my attention was grabbed last week by an email from the University of East…
World Tourism Day – Tourism and Biodiversity
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. In keeping with this global initiative, this years World Tourism Day (held every year on 27 September) has the theme "Tourism and Biodiversity". The official World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) celebrations were held in Guangzhou, China, bringing together government representatives, biodiversity researchers and private industry representatives. Many countries have…
Do holidays make us happy?
This is my last day in the office before taking a much-needed holiday (the schools have just gone back in the UK, so this is a good time to go away if you want to avoid the crowds). Holidays are important to me, which is why I was a little surprised to hear on the…
Why do referees sometimes get it wrong?
I think everyone would agree that soccer referees have a very difficult job. They have to keep a close eye on a fast-moving game in which incidents often occur away from the ball, and need to make decisions in an instant which in high-profile games will be endlessly dissected by pundits and fans – sometimes…
Travel advice: Watch out for the mozzies!
The Hand Picked blog is not perhaps a place where you'd normally expect to find pictures of celebrities. And fear not, we're not going down the route of showbiz gossip. But sometimes celebrity news and serious topics overlap. And the power of celebrity has been harnessed this week to highlight the malaria risk when travelling…
Greening the FIFA World Cup 2010
As this year's biggest world sporting event 'the FIFA World Cup 2010' opened today in sunny South Africa, I couldn't help but wonder 'how 'green' is this major sporting event?' It turns out it might be greener than I thought! Read on to find out why!
‘Green exercise’ good for mental health
Here at CABI Headquarters where 'Hand picked' bloggers are based, we are fortunate to be surrounded by trees and fields. So whenever the sun shines at lunchtime (which does happen sometimes, even in England), many of us drag ourselves away from our desks and computers and are able to enjoy a walk in the English…
Too much tourism traumatising dolphins
Dolphin watching. Image: Zanzibar-island.com In many parts of the world, watching whales and dolphins in their natural habitat has become a vital and growing part of the tourist industry. Cetacean tourism is also often used in arguments for the protection and conservation of whales, dolphins and other iconic marine animals, by presenting a potentially…
Canada strikes gold, but Olympics given a bronze rating on climate change
Canada's gold medal winner – Picture by BBC Sport. Yesterday, Canada ended its 34 year wait for an Olympic gold medal won on home soil, with a win for Alexandre Bilodeau in the men's moguls event in Vancouver. But the 2010 Winter Olympics were given only a bronze medal for climate protection initiatives by the Vancouver-based David…