After receiving his master’s degree in sustainable international
development from Brandeis University in 2000, Fulbright alumnus
Ronald Sanabria was asked to coordinate a study for the
Rainforest Alliance to investigate the feasibility
of creating an international accreditation
council for ecotourism certification. Under
Sanabria’s leadership, the Alliance conducted
an eighteen-month study and designed an implementation
plan, which led to the creation
of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network
of the Americas.
The Network promotes higher environmental
and social standards for tourism in the
Americas by bringing representatives from
leading certification programs together with
representatives from NGOs, multilateral
agencies, and industries so that they can exchange
experiences and define common objectives. It constitutes
the first step towards developing the international accreditation
council. Network objectives include the establishment of common
work tools and a joint marketing strategy, the development
of a set of “best management practices” for sustainable tourism
based on existing regionally and nationally accepted standards,
and the definition of strategies to promote the participation of
small-scale tourism operations in implementing best practices
and certification processes. The project, led by Sanabria and the
Rainforest Alliance, is also supported by the World Tourism
Organization, The International Ecotourism
Society, and the United Nations Environment
Program.
Sanabria, who has been working in the
area of certification since 1992, also helped
to establish the SmartVoyager Boat Certification
Program. The program is a joint effort
between the Rainforest Alliance and its Ecuadorian
partner group, Conservación y Desarrollo,
to promote strict conservation standards
among tour boat operators in the waters
of the Galapagos Islands. The standards—
which include careful fuel management, fresh
water that is produced onboard, a waste-disposal
system that includes recycling, and training and health
benefits for employees—focus on protecting not only the environment
and wildlife but also the well-being of workers and
local communities.
In addition to his leadership roles in these sustainability
projects, Sanabria is a faculty member in the Facultad de Ingeniería
at the Universidad de Costa Rica.
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