When people begin traveling again, those hiking across the Italian Apennines
with UK-based tour operator Exodus Travels will directly
fund protection of the land that they walk on. In January, the company announced
a partnership with Rewilding Europe — a
pan-European initiative that operates in eight large rewilding
areas across the continent. Rewilding
Europe works with more than 100 partners; but this is its first partnership with
a travel company, creating a model for additional tourism businesses to follow.
“We were drawn to opportunities to regenerate rather than just mitigate, and I
think that’s common across many other fellow travel companies,” said Kasia
Morgan, head of sustainability and community at Exodus Travels. “The very
nature of what we do drives a compassionate desire to leave the places we visit
better off than when we found them.”
Rewilding is an approach to environmental conservation and ecological
restoration that lets nature repair and take care of itself. It emphasizes
natural processes to restore degradation, ultimately increasing biodiversity and
creating sustainable environments. From the return of jaguars in Argentina’s
Iberá
Wetlands
to wildflowers repopulating Britain’s
meadows,
rewilding is increasingly turned to as a nature-based solution to slow
environmental damage and address the climate emergency.
Within the tourism industry, this is an opportunity to financially support
conservation in destinations around the world, reduce its overall carbon
footprint, and engage travelers in the larger climate conversation. As Timon
Rutten, head of enterprise at Rewilding Europe, points out:
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“This is a much more appealing story than just buying carbon credits off the market. Because this is land-focused, you can actually visit the place.”
This ability to step foot on the rewilded land was fundamental to the Nature &
Carbon Corridors Project
that Exodus and Rewilding Europe have established. This project aims to rewild
5,000 hectares of the Italian Apennines over the course of five years by
promoting recovery of regional biodiversity. It is intended to create five
nature corridors connecting surrounding national parks, which will allow for the
safe passage of local wildlife (including endangered Marsican bears, wolves and
wild cats) between the parks. An average of 100 square meters of land will be
rewilded for every passenger on every Exodus trip.
“We’re keen to invest in solutions that are on our doorsteps,” Morgan said,
citing a desire to approach climate mitigation and environmental conservation
from a holistic perspective. The majority of Exodus Travels’ clients currently
visit Italy, and the company is looking to develop trips that specifically visit
the Apennines. “If we’re talking as a travel company about the beauty of this
particular part of Italy, we imagine a lot of our clients will want to go and
see for themselves — see the wildlife we’re helping flourish. It’s truly a
sustainable loop, and proves the importance of rewilding and the incentives of
rewilding and protecting biodiversity,” she said.
Its commitment to fund rewilding aligns with Exodus Travels’ science-based
target to halve its carbon
footprint by 2030. Once it is rewilded, the land in the Italian Apennines will
provide an effective carbon sink, capturing approximately 85,000 tons of carbon
over five years. Until maximum sequestration potential is reached, the company
is investing in carbon credits through South
Pole.
While Rewilding Europe’s focus is on revitalizing biodiversity, the tourism
industry’s commitment to climate
action
makes rewilding an appealing long-term investment, and many companies are
beginning to test the waters. Much Better Adventures, for example, recently
launched its rewilding adventures
collection,
which features activities like hiking and snowshoeing led by conservation guides
and wildlife trackers. The trips directly support rewilding efforts across
Europe in collaboration with three organizations including Rewilding Europe.
Yet, long-term partnerships like the one between Exodus Travels and Rewilding
Europe are still in their infancy; and with the tourism industry’s current
tumultuous state, a multi-year commitment to rewilding projects right now is a
hard sell. “It is appealing for travel companies, but they are having a tough
time at this moment. I think we have to be realistic about how much they can do
right now,” Rutten said.
Nonetheless, looking at the bigger, planetary picture, Rutten said he sees
potential for more partnerships — especially for travel companies willing to
look beyond the narrative that carbon neutrality begins and ends by offsetting
carbon.
“That is a narrow view of what you can achieve with your company. We want to
open the debate that you can become carbon
neutral,
but you can achieve much more than that,” he said. “The ambition can be higher,
but they have to have an open debate and be creative. Don’t purely focus on
carbon — keep an open mind.”
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JoAnna Haugen is a writer, speaker and solutions advocate who has worked in the travel and tourism industry for her entire career. She is also the founder of Rooted — a solutions platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact and storytelling. A returned US Peace Corps volunteer, international election observer and intrepid traveler, JoAnna helps tourism professionals decolonize travel and support sustainability using strategic communication skills.
Published Mar 30, 2021 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST