From mounted treks on Icelandic horses to rafting trips in
Costa Rica and back-country hikes in New Zealand, adventure travel is steadily
growing and spreading across the globe.
However, while all those adventure-seekers bring economic
prosperity to some far-flung locales, they can also bring unchecked development
and damage to destinations and leave behind a profound impact to the
environment that drew them there.
“We’ve all been to places that are being loved to death,”
said Steve Barker, co-founder of Eagle Creek travel gear company.
That’s why Barker and representatives from the Adventure
Travel Trade Association (ATTA), REI Adventures, ExOfficio and UnCruise
Adventures announced the formation of the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund at
the Adventure Travel World Summit in Anchorage last month.
According to the ATTA, adventure tourism grew 65% between
2009 and 2012 and is now valued at $263 billion. That means a lot of people are
saddling, paddling and lacing up their boots in search of life-affirming travel
experiences in remote corners of the world.
“The industry depends on cool, wild places and the cultures
that are in these communities to attract customers,” Barker said. “That’s why
we exist. That’s why our clients want to see these places.”
Like the Conservation Alliance, which has helped protect 45
million acres and 2,972 miles of rivers in North America over the last 27 years
(and where Barker previously served two stints on the board), the Adventure
Travel Conservation Fund will fund grass-roots, locally based groups to
conserve and protect areas around the world where adventure travel is prevalent
or growing.
“Our infrastructure is not tall buildings and big ships,”
said Barker, who’s serving as chair of the fund’s steering committee. “Our infrastructure
is wild places and indigenous cultures, so we need to continue to preserve that
infrastructure and the access to it.”
With organizations already offering similar support in North
America and Europe, the fund will focus on international regions where
conservation funding has been lacking, as well as emphasize initiatives that
can be completed in three to five years with grants of between $5,000 and
$30,000. The initial round of funding is expected to be awarded in the second
half of 2017.
“The goal here is to identify projects that are successful
and that have the greatest need, and not only to help fund them but to shine
light on them as examples to other parts of the world on how this can be done,”
Barker said. “Locals can build an economy around adventure tourism without
destroying their resources.”
The five founding companies, termed Adventure Leaders, will
each contribute $25,000 annually for the next three years; the fund is seeking
three more companies to join at that Adventure Leaders level. It is also
admitting groups at membership levels of $2,500 or less based on their annual
revenue. Already some 35 companies have filled out applications, and with the
founding members covering administrative costs, all dues will go directly to
the vetted projects.
With so many conservation initiatives in need of investment,
Barker said choosing which projects to fund could be the biggest challenge, but
the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund plans to turn to its members.
“They’re on the ground in these communities,” Barker said.
“They’re business people. They understand what’s practical, but at the same
time they are idealists and do have great values. This group has a lot of
things that make it special and able to pull this off.”