This page was last updated March 22, 2010
Projects > Indigenous Ecotourism
With a grant from The Christensen Fund of Palo Alto, California, INTIRUNA met for the second time in February, 2010 at the Nueva Alianza Ecotourism Center, in Frontera Corozal, Ocosingo, Chiapas, Mexico.
The meeting was organized by CREST with generous organizational help from RITA (the indigenous tourism network of Mexico). At its largest moment, the group included 34 attendees from 10 countries, representing 13 indigenous groups. In attendance were 14 charter members of INTIRUNA, 4 NGO representatives from groups working on indigenous community development issues in Mexico, a group of visitors organized by The Christensen Fund (including 6 visitors from Tarahumara communities of Northern Mexico, and 4 Central Asian visitors), a representative from ACTUAR, a Costa Rican NGO promoting community-based tourism projects on the web, and 4 CREST staff members.
During the meeting, the group heard presentations on a variety of relevant topics:
Bill Durham of CREST, Cecilio Solis of RITA, and the present members of the Intiruna Steering Committee (Juan Sanchez Jimenez, Angel Canales Gutierrez, and Manuel Munoz Millalonco) opened the meeting, following a brief ceremonial blessing by a Mayan Shaman.
Alex Villca of Bolivia shared the lessons learned in the development of the successful indigenous Chalalan ecolodge and regional association in Bolivia's Amazon region.
Eva Calderon of ACTUAR presented her groups work in capacity building and collective marketing of community-run tourism in Costa Rica as a potential model.
Laura Driscoll of CREST spoke of the potential benefits and challenges of organizing philanthropy within tourism.
David Krantz of CREST spoke about the global Tourism Sustainability Council and explained the goals of certification and accreditation.
Manuel Munoz Millaloncoof Chile offered a structural analysis of indigenous vs. western culture.
Miguel Hilario of Peru (a Stanford PhD student) spoke of the pros and cons of ecotourism as a development model for indigenous communities.
Lochin Fayzulloev of Tajikistan presented on his country's experience with making institutional changes at a municipal level to improve tourism.
Over the course of 4 days, the group charted a course for Intiruna as an NGO dedicated to collective marketing, development, consulting and education in the service of indigenous-controlled sustainable tourism. An important election was held in which Intiruna elected a President, Vice President, Secretary, Speaker, and Treasurer, who will work toward the development of an Intiruna information and marketing web site. A second declaration was signed at this 2010 meeting, and is available here in Spanish and English.
English Conference Proceedings are available for download in PDF format here. Check back soon for full conference proceedings in Spanish, and additional downloadable materials.
For information on the founding of Intiruna at the original meeting in 2006 in Quito, Ecuador, click here or follow the link in the sidebar.