Draft Itinerary for STEEP UK visit to Zakynthos

Hosted by Earth Sea & Sky (ESS)

Monday 24th April – Sunday 30th April 2006

Monday
24 April 2006
Arrive at Zakynthos Airport at 20.45 hrs, to be met by Yannis and Maddy and escorted to your accommodation at Gerakas by taxi transfer.
We will ensure that there is a taverna open for dinner for you.

Day 1
Tuesday
25 April 2006
Breakfast in your accommodation – fresh rolls, coffee, tea etc.
Welcome at Gerakas Information Centre at 10.30am:
Presentations from Yannis, Earth Sea & Sky. – About ESS, the history of Zakynthos, tourism, current situation generally and at Gerakas.
Coffee break
Presentations from Cumbria Group
Approx 1pm: Lunch and then siesta/free time
5pm: Tour of Gerakas and our properties
Free time, perhaps walk the self-guided Gerakas Trail – take your cameras.
7.30pm: Welcome dinner at Gerakas in the evening, exact restaurant to be confirmed, but meet at Gerakas Bar at 7.30pm.

Day 2
Wednesday
26 April 2006
Breakfast in your accommodation
10am: Meet at Information Centre for tour of Zakynthos by people carrier, with ESS. We will drive you around the island showing you as much diversity as possible. We will take in Kalamaki, Laganas – hideous tourist resorts, Keri Village and Keri Lake (salt water marais), Volimes – traditional Zakynthian mountain village. Bring cameras/video equipment.
5pm approx: Return to Gerakas. Free time.

Day 3
Thursday
27 April 2006
Early breakfast in your accommodation
8.45am: Meet at Information Centre. - Beach clean at Gerakas Beach at 9am, involving ESS, Cumbria team, NMPZ and potentially local school children. Take part for 1 hour. Strong gloves and refuse sacks supplied.
Coffee break/Lunch
11-12pm (approx) at Info Centre: Meet with National Marine Park*
Afternoon: Free time.

Day 4
Friday
28 April 2006
Weather permitting:** Eco-tourism catamaran cruise in the area of the National Marine Park, Laganas Bay. Take in Pelouzo Isle, Marathonissi (Turtle Island) and Keri Caves.
Breakfast in your accommodation
10am: Meet at Information Centre for transfer to Porto Roma by car.
ESS will be your guide for the day, Akis will be your captain.
Environmental information on the turtles will be given, and hopefully we will see them. Bring your swimming things, camera and lunch. Drinks and snacks available on board.
4pm: Return to Porto Roma, transfer back to Gerakas. Free time.

Day 5
Saturday
29 April 2006
Breakfast in your accommodation
10.30am: Meet at Information Centre for meeting with local Zakynthians: business people, hoteliers, small scale property owners, excursion company reps etc, farmers/vineyards – Zakynthian Farming Cooperative?
Discussion and coffee
Lunch and then free time.
7.30pm: Fair well dinner at Gerakas Taverna.

Sunday 30 April 2006
Early departure from Gerakas, 2x taxis to take you to the airport will arrive at 05.45 hours.

I have tried to factor in as much free time as possible for your group. This also gives us flexibility with the weather for the catamaran trip.

* James, can you let me have your ideas for the agenda for discussion with the NMPZ on 27th April. Topics could include constitution/make up of Park and avenues of funding, working with local people, product initiatives etc. I have contacted Laurent Sourbes to confirm his participation, and also get his ideas for the agenda.

** If the weather is inclement we will have to change the programme around slightly
I will confirm nearer the time who will be attending the meeting on 29 April, but will probably include groups listed

Agenda for meeting with NMPZ

1. Quick intro from NMPZ and its remit – Laurent Sourbes (5 minutes)
2. Brief history of the work that NMPZ has undertaken and continuing fight to preserve habitat and species in tourism hotspots – Laurent Sorbes (5 minutes)
   
3. Quick intros from the Cumbria Group, who we are, (present Laurent with our info pack mailed to you yesterday) – James Rebanks (10 minutes)
   
4. Explanation of the STEEP exchanges and its goals (5 minutes)
   
5. Group discussion on shared problems, especially getting communities to care about the issues (20 minutes)
   
6. Group discussion of possibility of collaborating in future projects on coastal conervation/regeneration for European funds (15 minutes)
   
7. Short meeting between Laurent and myself to get him to sign our short contract (a legal necessity as he is our formal partner for the exchange, I will e-mail this in advance) 5 mins.

Book Review - Sarah Caley

WWF’s Species Action Plan for the conservation of marine turtles in the Mediterranean Sea (December 2005)

The report discusses the current situation regarding turtles in the Med and also plans for the future. It covers each of the main turtle habitats around the Mediterranean; I have attempted to pick out relevant information on Greece and Zante although I got pretty bogged down in all the details!

3 species of marine turtles found in Mediterranean waters.
1. Caretta caretta (loggerhead turtle) most common species, with nesting sites in Greece, Libya, Turkey and Cyprus.
2. Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle) enters the Med from the Atlantic, although has no nesting sites in the basin.
3. Chelonia mydas (green turtle) found in easternmost part of the Med, with major nesting sites in Turkey, Cyprus and Syria.

Both loggerhead and green turtles are globally listed as Endangered, while the leatherback is listed as Critically Endangered. WWF considers all marine turtle species to be Priority Species. Main threats to turtles include habitat degradation (particularly on nesting beaches), incidental catch and intentional killing.

WWF sees the potential that the conservation of marine turtles can have a positive impact on ecosystem conservation and the overall management of marine habitats. Furthermore, the conservation of marine turtles may bring important benefits to local communities and induce sustainable use of natural resources in general, as in the case of well-managed ecotourism.

WWF’s…
· VISION: Marine turtles worldwide are protected and restored to healthy levels.
· 10-YEAR GOAL: Threats to marine turtles, the loss and degradation of their critical habitats, the impacts of unsuitable use, and incidental capture are reduced.
· OBJECTIVES:
1. Reduce the loss and degradation of critical marine turtle habitats.
2. Reduce unsuitable use and illegal trade in marine turtles and turtle products.
3. Reduce the negative impact of by-catch on marine turtles.

The international trade and harvest of eggs and adult females at nesting beaches are no longer conservation issues due to the protection of species through specific legislation.

The situation in Greece:
The National Marine Park of Zakynthos was established by Presidential Decree in 1999, largely due to pressure from NGO’s. The management body of the park was established in July 2000 and is the first management authority for a protected area in Greece.

The Caretta caretta nesting site at Laganas Bay, Zakynthos is a National Marine Park. Regardless of legal protection, law enforcement on Zakynthos is still a major problem.

WWF priorities for Greece (starting with highest priority):
· Protection of the major nesting beaches that are not yet protected.
· Protection of other nesting beaches
· Enforcement of management of the major nesting beaches already protected by law.
· Assessment of interaction with different fishing gear.

Marine turtles frequent different habitats and areas during their lives and migrate long distances, therefore international cooperation is vital for the conservation of the species. This is particularly true for the Mediterranean which is an almost enclosed basin surrounded by 21 countries, each with its own unique culture.

Conservation of turtles seems to be an ongoing headache in the Med as it is not an easy task - it requires international commitment.

Book Review - James Rebanks

Wild Solutions - How Biodiversity is Money in the Bank, Andrew Beattie, Paul Ehrlich and Christine Turnbull (Melbourne University Press, 2001)

This was my effort to learn more about biodiversity and why it is important to preserve it. Thought it would be duller than an afternoon at the cricket with John Major. I was wrong.

The basic premise of the book was to explain why all of us, especially greedy capitalist business people, have a vested interest in preserving biodiversity. Every inch of this planet is teeming with life forms, billions of little bloody things that none of us seem to know about, and everything is at war with everything else in an endless cycle of biological attrition. And survival depends upon the ability to evolve mechanisms to overcome your enemies. So far, so Darwin, but apparently recently scientists have started to get really smart and look for naturally evolved mechanisms that are useful for humans, and this is where it gets amazing.

The book is teeming with examples, my attempts to mark interetsing bits by turning over page corners resulted in all the pages being turned over and the book sort of ruined.

The thing I can't quite get my head around is the sheer quantity of species, a square inch of rainforest soil if studied in enough depth contains hundreds of new species of bacteria and stuff, one study showed that every kilomotre of ocean floor revealed a new species... There are millions of things out there that we have not yet discovered, any of which might be useful, and many of which are being destroyed.

A pinch of soil contains as much as 30,000 protozoa, 50,000 cells of algae, 400,000 fungi, billions of bacteria, and an uncountable number of viruses... I thought this was maybe nature showing off needlessly, but apparently they all keep each other going, and we need them badly.

There is a great passage from page 41 about the failure of humans to create an ecosystem that is capable of surviving any length of time. Yes, that's right, the idea of a sealed Eden Project or space capsule to take us to other planets years away is not humanly possible. Why? Because the interaction of species is too complex for us, and needs regulating at times by other things that are not in the biosphere. Ecosystems interact... Or in my language, the Eden Project is teeming with ants because it is not a proper natural ecosystem with the right diseases, predators etc. In the real world the predators would arrive, even if they flew in from a distant ecosystem. They tried this in the Biospheres in California (the best scientists money could buy, and $200 million of kit). The soil went mental, the air deteriorated, the pollinators (bees etc) went extinct almost immediately, the plants that relied upon them could not reproduce, 19 of the 24 veterbrate species went extinct immediately, and the 8 people would have died if they hadn't cheated. Bad news, we can't get to another planet unless we take lots of sandwiches, or tinned fruit.

The recent breakthroughs in crop protection and performance (with two billion new people on the way in the next few decades this matters a lot, even to me) have come from the DNA of wild relatives of oats, wheat, barley, corn or rice and finding genes that naturally protect the plant against diseases. If we lose the wild, seemingly insignificant, relatives we potentially lose the life sustaining super crops as their enemies overcome them through evolution. The soil in your garden may literally save the human race someday as it may contain a 'wild solution' that exists nowhere else in the world. So raise the price of your house, its amazing!

Plants develop chemicals to put off insects that eat them, so scientists realised that a species of ant in South America was decimating the cabbage fields, but leaving the bean fields. Solution; spray extracts of the bean plants onto the cabbages. Result? Ants leave the cabbages alone, something that millions of dollars of chemical research had failed to achieve. Some of this stuff is basic observational science, some of it is so technical my head hurts, like spider silk being 300 times stronger than steel and computers manufacturing stuff to copy it.

We all know the story about smallpox being cured because some smartass realised that milkmaids didn't die of it, and made the link to the dairy girls having had cowpox and gotten immunity to the far worse smallpox. This is the motif of this book, the world is full of these solutions that we are only starting to understand, cures for diseases, and ailments, and preventative solutions for crops, people and animals, and product ideas that the wit of man has never got close to figuring out.

I won't go on, this is well worth reading. It is not your usual green rant about how evil I am for shopping at supermarkets and flying to Corsica for my holidays. It is sort of grown up and sensible, and it advocates a sensible mix of new human technologies and practices and using wild solutions created by evolution. And it makes the sensible point that biodiversity is our genetic library, and it would be a mistake to throw lots of the books away before we get a chance to read them, because we will never know what we have lost, until it is too late.

I'm really looking forward to Greece now, I'm going to be wondering what genetic secrets the endangered Monk Seals and the Loggerhead Turtles might hold. This book makes you wonder.

Final point, how do earthworms eat muck, germs and crap all their lives and never get ill. Answer; they do get ill, but very rarely, even when they are eating soil packed with deadly stuff, and something in their bodies enables them to beat bacteria that would finish off any of us, it is for scientists to identify how they do this, and find whether the genes responsible can be tranferred to humans to beat certain diseases etc. Then we will live forever and eat soil if we want to.

End.

Book Review - Iris Glimmerveen

Summary of Preserve or destroy – Tourism and the environment by Jonathan Croall

Chapter 1 paints a doom and gloom picture of how touists have destroyed destinations in the Mediterranean, Nepal and Lakes District. Tourists are also affecting alternative destinations such as Bali, which in 1968 had 5,000 visitors per year, and in 1989 had 450,000. The Peak District is used for a case study where a tourist management plan was developed by locals with the help of consultants. Ideas implemented are parking money and volunteers contributing to a Trust with the aim to alleviate problem.

Chapter 2 explains sustainability and ecotourism and the need to maintain a balance between tourism and the environment. It gives 7 do’s and don’ts. Case study Seychelles have limit bed availability and have designated half of island as National Park.
Isle of Purbeck is example where locals have been involved in sustainability project from start.

Chapter 3 countryside matters. Lakes National Park get 20M visitors per year, exerting pressure on roads infrastructure and all facilities, as well as cultural honeypots.
Tarka Trail – 180 mile route – 7 pledges made, in conjunction with Tarka Country Tourist Association (140 members) producing green guide and has group of local volunteers.

Chapter 4 highlights the need to change public perception away from Benidorm tour operators, Galapagos, where visitor numbers are controlled, but any proceeds are going to the government, not to islanders, and sex tourism in south Asia.

Chapter 5 talks about limiting tourism damage through changing tourist behaviour, interpretation, boardwalks – preventing physical damage, and attracting visitors away from honeypots, developing tourism codes and tourist strategies, e.g. Wales.

Chapter 6 tackles car use as preferred mode of transport by listing alternatives, e.g. Carlisle-Settle Railway, bus, shuttle busses, cycle, walk & ride schemes and park & ride schemes.

Chapter 7 covers the impact on business of exploitative tourism. Some tour operators are homing in on ‘Holidays that don’t cost the earth’. Others pay a contribution to green organisations as a pay off. Better info exchange between hotel chains on green issues, and some hotels taking action, e.g. brick in every cistern. In west France a ‘back to wilderness’ project even cleared buildings to restore it to former wilderness state. Attitudes are changing so the notion that industry and tourists have to pay to compensate for their impact.

Chapter 8 acting locally. Rural fora and local involvement and local products are seen as crucial to future development of sustainable tourism. This is helped by changing land management practices – farm/forestry diversification, as well as involving arts in the countryside. Sculpture trails, walking festivals, Eden benchmarks, Goldsworthy, etc.

Rural connections – Ireland is used as an example of how rural areas have developed to attract tourists, with both positive and negative examples.

The conclusion says that we should take action, even though failures may arise, as doing nothing is not beneficial.

Latest from Maddy on other orgs.

Hi James

I don't think we are going to manage Medasset as they have to come all the way from Athens or the UK for this. Will keep trying for WWF. Have had no joy with Archelon, as they are not yet in Zakynthos and have recently changed project leaders here.

Could Dave do his diving on Day 3, as the catamaran will take place on Day 4 (weather permitting) and that finishes @ 4pm so it's quite a long day. - Has Dave already lined something up, or does he still want me to try and arrange it? - Just bear in mind that it is April and not much will be open as the season starts in May.

Maddy

Travel Information

Dear All

I have booked Alba Travel to take everyone to Manchester airport and to pickup on return from Greece. The pickup times are as follows: -

Iris: - Alba Travel will be going past your house so they said they would pick you up at 3.50am to save you walking to the yard (Iris is your house the lodge at the bottom of their road?)

James and Jan: - Alba Travel will pick you both up at B&Q car park at 4.00am

Keri: - Alba travel will pick you up about 4.45am (James will call you when leaving the M6 at J37)

Sarah: - Alba Travel will pick you up about 4.50am (Keri will call to let you know they are on their way)

Dave: - Meeting all at Manchester Airport

Can you all please email your mobile numbers to me and the rest of the group so everyone can get in contact with each other in case there are any problems etc

The tickets for the trip will be arriving tomorrow the tickets used for Swiss Air are E Tickets and Olympic Air tickets are proper tickets.

If anyone has any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Best Wishes

Kelly Allison
Receptionist / Administrative Assistant

Rural Regeneration Cumbria
Hackthorpe Business Centre
Hackthorpe
Penrith
Cumbria
CA10 2HX

Email: - kelly@ruralcumbria.co.uk
Tel: - 01931 711130
Fax: - 01931 711131

Carbon Footprint

Have a look at our Carbon footprint for flying to Athens and back... http://www.co2balance.com/pages.php?pageid=6

Website of interest

Have done some more digging and have found a good website (not specific to Zante) Friends of Ionian www.foi.org.uk, found a good map for the island whats where as opposed to just place names, and a list of other species we might see, Spring is the best time of year for wildlife, but is a low season for visitors.Some of the other creatures areSwallow tail butterfilesTortoiseGreen LizardGlass Lizard (up to 4ft long)Sardinian warblerSubalpine warblerRed rumped swallows Golden eaglesGriffon vulturesBlack kitesOpsreysEurasian scops owl Kingfishers, the list goes on but possibly some good stuff.

CheersDave

Websites of interest

Have done some searching on the web, and found some more “wildlife watching options” there are several glass bottomed boats, that go looking for Turtles they go to somewhere called Turtle Island (might be somewhere we could look at), there are also Jeep Safaris, and a place called Keri Caves which is a boat trip and visits a shipwreck. A petition has been started to persuade the government and other bodies to take better care of the Turtles and their environment so far 17,000 have signed it which is impressive.
Follow this link for more info http://www.justzante.co.uk/zante\petition.htm
The www.justzante.co.uk has some interesting stuff on it written by visitors so is good reflection.Will find out more
Cheers
Dave

Book Review - Keri Smith

Corporate Futures, Consultation on Good Practice; Social Responsibility in the Tourism Industry, Tourism Concern

This report examines the ways in which Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy and practice can bring economic success to tourism organisations whilst protecting the earth’s resources and providing a better way of life to host communities. It provides a range of practical suggestions for implementation of the social and economic responsibility of tour operators (primarily selling holidays overseas) to ensure that policies can be matched by practice in the destination.

The concept of “Fair Trade in Tourism” emerged in the late 1990’s and signifies a commitment to finding positive and practical solutions for the tourism industry through a more equitable international trade system and ethical trade practices. The increasing popularity of the “Fair Trade” label can have a beneficial impact on the tourism industry. In a number of studies about tourism consumer behaviour a large number of respondents were concerned about the local environment, poverty and beach erosion in a number of countries. The demand by this significant segment of consumers for greater CSR is an ideal opportunity for the tourism industry as a whole to capture a growing market for sustainable tourism.

A number of large companies in the tourism industry have been instrumental in taking forward sustainable and responsible tourism and initiatives such as British Airways with its “Tourism for Tomorrow Awards” for tourism related services with an outstanding environmental performance, First Choice Responsible Tourism Award (which our host won in 2005), the International Hotel Environment Initiative which gives support and advice on energy efficiency, waste management, child labour and promotes community participation in resort design and the Tour Operator Initiative which is a membership organisation that strives to oppose abuse and exploitative forms of tourism and co-operates with local communities and people respecting local cultures.

Sustainable development becomes integral to product development and quality control, for instance, tour operators often refrain from using local businesses or recommending them to their customers because they are dissatisfied with the quality of local provision, particularly where this is dictated by poverty and lack of expertise. Through collaboration with the local tourism industry as part of CSR, tour operators can assist through sharing knowledge and communicating effectively to assist local shareholders to improve their own provision and facilities. This will have a positive impact on product quality and, in turn, customer satisfaction. Excellence in service through “Total Quality Management” through regular training and awareness raising of locally recruited staff and rewarding staff is also very important for satisfied customers.

Customers also need to be informed through brochures, country guides and tourist guidelines about environmental and socio – economic issues in destinations and the ways in which tourism benefits local people. First Choice for example, introduced
in-flight videos to the Gambia featuring advice for tourists about sensitive tourism issues and encouraged greater awareness of the needs and wishes of the people of Gambia. The video was produced by Tourism Concern and VSO.

Working in partnership with local communities can ensure sustainability through improving basic infrastructure, employing local staff in key positions, using local products and materials, enhancing opportunities for local investors and developing products/brands that benefit local communities.

The report concludes that CSR integrated into core business values and operations, has been proven to provide a workable framework for the implementation of sustainable development but within the tourism industry awareness and practical tools for social and economic sustainability still need to be explored in greater depth.

Tourism Facts

The Greek National Tourism Organisation is a similar organisation to VisitBritain. It has a number of tourist offices throughout Greece (don’t think there is one in Zante) and supplies information on legislation, brochures in a number of different languages, documentaries and videos on Greece and they attend a number of key tourism exhibitions throughout the world promoting Greece.

The Organisation of Tourism Education and Training provides tourism education and training in Greece and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels is the official state consultant concerning issues of tourism. All the hotels which operate legally in Greece are Members and it forms part of the National Union of Hotels Confederation of the EU.

The tourist sector in Greece contributes annually more than 18% to the GNP and creates approximately 700,000 jobs. Tourism in the UK accounts for 3.5% of the UK economy and was worth approximately £74.2 billion in 2003 supporting 1.4 million jobs (5% of all people in employment). In Cumbria tourism is worth £1.12 billion and supports 44,563 jobs (25% of all people in employment).

Gifts

Hi everyone,I have been busy buying presents for Greek hosts and have currently spent £111 out of our £120 budget. I have based it on the fact that we are buying for four hosts (if we end up meeting more or less people then the gifts can be divided up).
So far I have....prints, slate coasters, marmalade, beer, cumberland sauce and fudge. I will probably purchase some kendal mintcake to use up our last few pounds. I will be bringing everything to the meeting on Monday so we can divide everything up between the team!
CheersSarah