Responsible tourism in South America

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reported that more than 72 million people had been lifted out of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2002-2013, with poverty levels defined as living with less than around £2.50 a day. The UNDP singled out Bolivia and Peru for achieving some of the greatest poverty reduction, and also praised progress in Chile and Argentina. Another 2014 report, this time from the World Bank, found that extreme poverty in Latin America – defined as having less than $2.50 (£1.60) a day to live on – halved between 1995 and 2011, to 13.3% of the population.

But welcome as the trend is, the vast population involved means those percentages still translate into hundreds of millions of people on the continent suffering from severe poverty. Some 220 million more in Latin America as a whole are classified as “vulnerable”, existing on just $4-10 (£2.50-£6.50) a day, and at risk of slipping back into crippling poverty if their fortunes change.

What may seem like small amounts of money to you on your South American travels can make a huge difference to the local people you are dealing with. Spend wisely, and spend generously.

SOURCE: BBC
SOURCE: The Economist

What you can do: Every penny you spend in a responsible way can make a huge difference to people. Buy local goods and produce from people on the ground rather than larger shops or big city markets, choose accommodation owned by members of the local community rather than foreign companies, spend generously in small local restaurants or street food stalls, and use local guides wherever possible. Ask your tour leader or guide about appropriate tips in restaurants and hotels. It's not always wise to give as much as you can; this can tip local wages out of balance and result in serving staff earning more than local school teachers, for example.

Argentina's diversity of indigenous peoples have suffered discrimination and violence since the 19th century, sometimes in the name of 'economic progress', others due to sheer prejudice. With regard to land rights, native populations have often come into conflict with industry over large-scale agriculture and mining. The UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples has criticised the lack of consultation with the communities over development projects and the exploitation of natural resources in territory they consider their own. Protests by native people have often been met with violence from the authorities. Thankfully, there are signs that claims to basic human and land rights in Argentina are beginning to be heard by those in power.

Land grabs take two forms in the vast wilderness of Patagonia, a stronghold of the Mapuche people. An influx of rich foreign investors are buying million of hectares to create giant livestock farms, while others are buying up forests, riverbanks and entire lakes to create luxury retreats and golf courses.

Not all landowners have used the land for their own gain, however. Most famously, the late Doug Tompkins, founder of The North Face, conserved over two million acres of land across Chile and neighbouring Argentina through his organisation The Conservation Land Trust. Some of the land is now a private park with public access; while another tract was returned to the Chilean government on the condition that it would become a national park – it is now Corcovado National Park.

"The land is our life. From it we obtain the food and medicines we need. It provides us with the natural resources to make our houses, for our livelihoods. Without the land, we the indigenous people will lose our spiritual roots," says Félix Diaz, leader of the Qom indigenous community in the province of Formosa, talking to Amnesty International. Indigenous voices must be heard.

What you can do:
Help local people generate income from land – including within the national parks – to counterbalance the impetus to sell it off to speculators and other big business. Explore national parks and happily pay your entrance fee. Use local guides and visit local communities. Stay with people working the land in traditional ways. Empowering local people to create livelihoods from the sustainable use of their lands will give them a bigger voice against rich entrepreneurs and multinationals.

And support organisations campaigning for indigenous rights in South America such as Survival International, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The clearing of forests to provide grazing for cattle has long been cited as a major cause of mass deforestation in Argentina, damaging swathes of the Espinal shrubland forest and the Chaco region. But vegetarians have nothing to feel smug about. Research by the WWF also points major blame at soya cultivation, with deforestation due to expanding soybean cultivation posing a serious threat to environmental jewels such as the Yungas 'cloud forest' as well as, again, the Chaco region – one of the largest forest biomes in South America.

Chile's precious temperate rainforests have suffered too from logging for over a century. According to the WWF, between 1985 and 1995 alone, Chile lost nearly 2 million hectares of native forest – destroyed for pulp, then replanted with pine and eucalyptus plantations which were expanding at an annual rate of nearly 10 percent. The result is the Chile now has the world's largest expanse of radiata pine tree farms – while also having some of the world's most endangered native forests. These are a global jewel – Chile has the second largest expanse of temperate rainforest on Earth, second only to British Columbia in Canada.

The destruction of native forest also has devastating effects on wildlife. 90 percent of the native forest-dependent species in Chile are found nowhere else in the world, including the world's smallest deer (the pudu) and a remarkable hummingbird that builds nests entirely from moss and spider webs. The genetic isolation of such indigenous animal species into little pockets – native islands amid a sea of foreign trees – severely threatens their ecological needs and long-term survival.

SOURCE: The Guardian
SOURCE: Reuters

What you can do:
Try to use paper products that carry a certification from organisations such as WWF to show they have come from sustainable forestries. Support organisations such as WWF that are campaigning to protect vulnerable environments. Visit national parks and protected areas to demonstrate that these precious regions are worth far more intact than razed.

The result is that all across the continent, mines – often vast, dirty open-cast sites – are gouging vast holes in the earth and spewing toxic dust into the air. In northern Chile, Chuquicamata is site of one of the world's biggest open-cast copper mines, sending arsenic-laden dust into the air along with a plume from its smelting work carries at least 200km.

Dust from mining also covers precious glaciers which are not only natural wonders for visitors to admire but also key suppliers of fresh water in countries like Chile and Argentina. Dust also accelerates the melting of glaciers, contributing to global climate change. Mining operations also consume vast amounts of precious water, contaminating it in the process. While humans can work out ways to create clean drinking water – if there is any left - animals desperate to drink in the parched environment are often forced to drink contaminated water.

SOURCE: Mining Weekly

What you can do:
Support environmental organisations campaigning such as Friends of the Earth which are leading campaigns against irresponsible mining.