CIFAL Jeju hosted International Workshop on Sustainable Tourism and Forest Management in the Asia-Pacific Region
20 - 23 March 2018, Jeju, Republic of Korea – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Jeju (CIFAL Jeju) in collaboration with the United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province convened the workshop “Sustainable Tourism and Forest Management in the Asia-Pacific region” from the 20th to the 23rd of March. The workshop broight together 32 participants representing government offices (central, state and local), NGOs and private corporations from 13 different countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This event focusing on sustainable tourism with a special emphasis in forest management, was significantly meaningful for many developing countries that are suffering the effects of forest loss.
Countries represented in the workshop included Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Republic of Korea. The event served as a platform to build capacities on sustainable tourism and develop strategies to address mass development in a sustainable manner.
Resources persons included researchers, experts from international organizations and policy developers from around the world; Mr. Javier Hernandez Rodriguez from the City of Malaga; Dr. Yeong-Hyeon Hwang from Dong-A University; Dr. Ho Sang Kang from Seoul National University; Mr. Sung-gil Lee from UNDP, Mr. Albert Teo from Global Ecotourism Network. These resource persons brought their knowledge and expertise on tourism policies and forest management and provided valuable feedback and comments on case studies presented by the participants.
The lecture and group activities focused on key topics including global trends of sustainable tourism within the framework of the SDGs; the basic concept and understanding of forest management; poverty reduction and environmental protection through ecotourism; tourism management strategies for sustainable tourist destinations; reforestation of degraded land; forest biodiversity conservation.
During the workshop, all the participants planted trees around the facilities of CIFAL Jeju to join the efforts of protecting forests and promote awareness on forest management. Also, this workshop provided a field visit to various touristic spots where participants experienced the mechanisms of forest management through ecotourism in Jeju. In particular, the participants were able to experience community-based tourism cases in Jeju such as “Olle Trail Course 7”, “Sunhul Dongbak Dongsan” and “Hannam Experimental Forests”.
Photo 1: Sustainable Tourism and Forest Management workshop participants
Photo 2: Workshop participants planting trees around the facilities of CIFAL Jeju