Ronda. J Green, chair of Wildlife Tourism Australia
Over the past couple of years I’ve had several conversations with other members of the Biodiversity Working Group within the IUCN’s Tourism and Protected Areas (TAPAS) group on genuine nature=positive tourism as opposed to green-washing by tour operations for PR purposes. There are many in the tourism who are absolutely genuine in their support for conservation, but there are others who either don’t really care or who do have some real interest but don’t understand the complexity of biodiversity and its conservation management. Some see “nature positive” simply as preserving the popular animals that tourists want to see and scenic forestland other native habitats that form a picturesque backdrop to adventure activities,
There are certainly many ways tourism and conservation can work together (hence he theme for our 2026 conference; Wildlife Tourism Fighting Extinction), but we also need to guard against misguided claims that can lead to facilities and activities that could damage rather than assist native ecosystems.
I thus gave a presentation, “Biodiversity Beyond Birds and Buffalos: Beetles and other Biota in the Greening of Tourism,” last year (2025) to the TAPAS executive (of which I’m part, as chair of the Biodiversity Working Group), not so much because I thought those members misunderstood biodiversity, but to emphasise that some other tour associations as well as tour companies (including some international ones) may well do so.
I’ve subsequently presented a similar talk twice in Sabah, once to the Sukau Rainforest Lodge and once to a group from KiTA (Kinabatangan Corridors for Life Tourism Association).
I’ve decided to share a pdf of my powerpoint with WildlifeTourism Australia and others who may be interested via this website, as tourism is growing worldwide but wild places are shrinking, making it ever more imperative that tourism happens within the constraints of ecological sustainability and, wherever possible, has a positive effect (sometimes simply by stopping worse industries from moving in and doing more serious damage, sometimes by habitat restoration, citizen science, excellent educational efforts, conservation breeding , financial support for conservation projects, and other means).
You can download the pdf here: