Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset – “The World’s Most Beautiful 100km Run” – is an annual event that allows runners to experience some of the most spectacular and pristine trail running in the world as well as a week of discovery and exploration. While the race offers a challenging competition, it also provides the opportunity to be part of the important efforts to preserve the beauty of Hovsgol National Park and the local cultural identity. Participants taking part in the Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset have the option to complete a marathon (42km) distance or the 100km course.

Planeterra is giving away a voluntourism trip for two to Costa Rica Sea Turtle Conservation Project, through BudgetTravel’s “True Stories” contest. The “True Stories” section highlight funny, strange, heartwarming, ridiculous (brief 250-word) travel stories, and the editor picks the best story. To win the Planeterra trip, enter your true travel story for the summer edition (deadline: August 28, 2009). This sea turtle project is a science-based conservation program, which was created with the purpose of protecting female sea turtles, nests, and hatchlings laid on the Matapalo beach, against poachers…

This summer, ecoDestinations will feature “Beaches, Marine & Coastal Ecotourism Experiences,” highlighting opportunities and challenges facing the world’s oceans and coastal areas and the inspiring travel experiences that they offer. Looking for last-minute tropical summer vacation deals? Passionate about marine animals? Want to share best practice stories on coastal communities and ecotourism? Bookmark ecotourism.org/ecoDestinations and be sure to come back often for regular updates!

As a private 365-acre nature reserve set along the banks of the Macal River in the foothills of the Maya Mountains, The Lodge at Chaa Creek provides a unique adventure travel experience for thousands of people while maintaining an unspoiled ambiance. The story of Chaa Creek Cottages began in 1977 when two young travelers stumbled upon what would later become their adopted home – an overgrown 140 acre farm in the Cayo District. They soon moved out to the jungle property and within years the land was producing home grown vegetables.

The island’s steep coastlines and lovely reefs offer excellent snorkeling and scuba diving. The rainforest preserves of St. Lucia’s mountainous interior are one of the Caribbean’s finest locales for hiking, bird-watching and canopy ride adventures. Fond Doux Holiday Plantation in St Lucia is a 19th century colonial plantation hotel set in nature amidst the lush, tropical foliage of St Lucia’s breadbasket, historical center and world heritage site, Soufriere. Luxurious, historical and architecturally intriguing the Fond Doux Holiday Plantation is a journey back in time and closer to nature.

By Len Cordiner, CEO, WHL.travel – WHL is owned and operated by a team from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, Switzerland, the USA and Vietnam, working with local partners who do all the things best done locally (e.g. working directly with the local accommodation providers and with travelers), and WHL does all the things best done centrally (e.g. technology, web marketing). Generally, we seek out experienced local tour operators as our local partners, although occasionally we also work with local industry associations or NGOs.

In 2008, Hotel Mocking Bird Hill made significant steps towards achieving the goals of developing high quality responsible tourism experiences with minimal negative impact. A value-driven company, the hotel has always taken the long term view of the sustainability challenges. When it opened in 1993, the hotel focused on being an earth-friendly hotel, contributing to biodiversity conservation and environmental initiatives. With the new goals of becoming water and carbon neutral, the hotel addresses the critical issue of climate change.

An important aspect of Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge’s environment policy is to involve the local community in ecotourism projects. All the employees come from local villages, and are trained in sustainable living. Guests will have various opportunities to experience the local community first hand through community-based ecotourism activities showcasing environmentally sound practices, as well as providing options to get involved in various local community projects. Among the many sustainability initiatives by Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge is the Dominica International EcoFest

Excerpts from “SUN, SAND, AND SUSTAINABILITY: Corporate Environmental and Social Practice in Caribbean Coastal Tourism” (2006) by Emma Stewart, Ph.D., Research Manager at Business for Social Responsibility – the Caribbean is an important region in which to examine the patterns of corporate environmental and social practice in the tourism sector. And in fact, it also provides a sort of ‘natural experiment’, comparing two Caribbean island nations, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, that have similar tourism markets but greatly different approaches towards managing them.

“Luckily there are always people who put quality before quantity and operate on a small and green level, and they make a real change. In our region we have one eco adventure travel agency that grew extremely over the past years, and they use a lot of that income for improvements in the Mayan communities… They manage quite some numbers of tourists in the high season though, and although they provide income for communities, their vans make a large part of the daily traffic.” – Stefanie Baeker, Project Mayan Encounter