Responsible Travel and the Environment

Responsible travel matters. Great walks tend to be in special places, often with vulnerable or threatened environments and culture, and undeveloped economies. We describe below the possible risks that exist and what you can do, not just to help protect the environment, culture and economy of the areas you walk in, but to improve them.

Walking and hiking, when done thoughtfully, are some of the most responsible holidays you can take – they should:

But care is needed to ensure that your walk or hike is beneficial (or at least neutral) rather than harmful.

We urge all walkers and hikers to work to:

See what this means in practice below.

Carbon footprint: An aspect of walking and hiking that can be environmentally harmful is getting there. Obviously, the nearer home you go, the less impact your journey has. We hope that Walkopedia will help walkers and hikers to minimise the impact of their expeditions by giving information on a large number of wonderful walks around the world, many of which will be close to your home or to each other. Walkers and hikers can minimise the impact (reducing the carbon footprint) of their expeditions by:

1. The risks

Almost by definition, you will be walking in unusual – even special – places, and these can often be vulnerable. The following are some of the risks to an area's environment, culture and economy of significant numbers of people coming to walk in that area. Not all of the following issues will apply to all areas.

Environment: damage through littering, polluting (whether in the area or elsewhere through use of unenvironmental products), harm to wildlife and vegetation and erosion of the trails.
 
Culture: pollution or undermining of indigenous cultures by visitors who behave badly, thoughtlessly, or needlessly assert “western” ways of behaving, thinking and doing things.
 
Economy: underpaying or being accessory to local people not being paid fairly – or overpaying, which can itself distort the local economy. Not contributing to the local economy by “buying local” where possible.

Much of what makes an area's environment, culture and economy special is irreplaceable, so there is only one chance to preserve them. We all need to contribute now.

2. How you travel will make a difference

Your attitude and behaviour: how you plan your expedition, and what you do when out there, is profoundly important. As well as minimising damage, you can enhance the local environment, culture and economy. This is discussed in detail below. Please do your best!

Expedition organisers: how these companies behave and what their priorities and methods are is more likely to affect the area and its people than the behaviour of individual walkers. And you can affect how those companies behave: if enough walkers make it clear that they look for organisers who are genuinely committed to responsible travel and conserving (even improving) the area, and will select who they travel with by reference to these criteria, their minds will be focussed.

3. What you can do

(Note: not all the issues and suggestions discussed below will necessarily be relevant to any particular walk (e.g. US wilderness hike vs. “full monty” Himalayan trek vs. a stroll round Venice or Angkor Wat).

A. When planning and arranging your expedition

Questions for you:

Choosing an expedition organiser:

Research as wide a selection of expedition organisers as possible. As well as your “obvious” concerns (what will you be doing, when and at what price; are they reliable?), look carefully at what they say about environmental and sustainability matters, and responsible travel. Choose accordingly.

Remember that travel companies can make a positive difference, beyond merely avoiding doing damage - for instance by encouraging, and demonstrating the real (economic) benefits of, conservation, and actively supporting the local economy. For example, some expedition organisers have actually created or restored walking routes. And the Alternative Travel Group has played a key role in stopping beautiful, irreplaceable flower meadows being ploughed up and a windfarm built in one area of Italy. They were able to use the influence and moral leverage they had developed to avoid these catastrophes to a unique area.

If practicable (and if you are confident that they have the skills and approach you need), try to use a genuinely “local” expedition organiser or guide.

Questions to ask your expedition organiser:

A problem is, of course, that it can be hard to evaluate the truth of answers to such questions until you are on the ground. You are, however, likely to get a “feel” from their responses and what they say about themselves; and you can report on the reality of their claims in practice for the benefit of future walkers.

B. Detailed preparations

C. When you are there

How you travel and your attitude will make a huge difference.

The following are things you can (should try to) do:

Environmental issues

Cultural issues

Economic issues

Spreading the word

You can help to embed the message locally that environmental and cultural conservation matters, and that whether they are successfully managed will make a big difference to the sort of tourism they get and thus, directly, to the local economy. Language barriers may hamper this (and guides can make a difference here), and you may find yourself wrestling with the conservation conundrum: getting the message across without being hectoring, pompous or pious – or implicitly condescendingly culturally superior.

FINALLY: TELL US

After you expedition, let us know of anything useful – tips (places or people to use/ link up with or avoid; things that can be done to help) or views (good or bad) on a particular expedition organiser.