In the last twenty years, the Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) has helped thousands of children come off the streets and into a safe and nurturing environment. SBT has five 24-hour shelters (one devoted to girls), with 50 to 55 children visiting each. The Trust provides a holistic safety net of services catering to the individual needs of street children in Delhi and Mumbai, covering the entire area of child development from physical and medical care to the educational, creative, cognitive, social and vocational needs of the children.

In India as in most other places in the world, indigenous communities often exist on the fringe of society and their socio-political situation is complex. It is important for us to provide our guests with accurate and up-to-date information. Inevitably we have more information than can be easily digested on one holiday experience; our greatest challenge is to summarise centuries of history and evolution into bite size pieces! A common assumption our travellers make is that all indigenous communities share the same customs and costumes.

Historically residents of Mangalajodi village posed a threat to bird life. Many families turned the lucrative poaching trade and it wasn’t long before bird numbers hit an all-time low. A local conservation organization Wild Orissa meet with the villagers a decade ago and has been instrumental in guiding their transformation ever since. Poachers developed an intricate knowledge of bird habitats, breeding cycles and migration patterns. The challenge was to utilise this knowledge and their existing skill-set for conservation.

Amidst the mountainous surrounding, stunning architecture and rich culture of Cusco, you will see bitter reality of young children either working or begging in the streets. 35% of children working in the streets of Cusco are unable to cope with the stress of both working and going to school. This often results in their giving up their studies in order to provide for their families. Other children leave home because they have been abused, neglected or abandoned.

The Manu National Park is one of the most pristine natural areas in the world with extraordinary biodiversity. The park’s over 1,700,000 hectors, between 492 and 13,779 ft in altitude, of amazing natural environments range from Andean grasslands to cloud forests to foothill and lowland forests. The park is home to an unrivalled variety of animal and plant species, with over 1,000 species of birds and 200 species of mammals, including endangered species such as the harpy eagle, jaguar, and giant river otters.

By Nina Fogelman – Discovering opportunities to help develop “Rural Living Tourism” in Peru has become a real passion for me. My visit in September 2007 led me to a community in the Lake Titicaca area that truly captured my heart. I feel blessed to be able to offer opportunities to a segment of Peru’s tourists who wish to participate in unique and rewarding activities, and return to Peru, to my heart of hearts. The local residents of a village called Atuncolla (pronounced atoon coya) are the descendants of the Qolla Kingdom in the Andean highland region.

Despite the fact that most sharks are among the most threatened marine wildlife in our oceans, shark conservation efforts continue to face great challenges due to sharks’ “reputation” as dangerous predators. Learn more about sharks from Hawaii Shark Encounters and be part of the global efforts to fight misconceptions, support more research and further conservation initiatives. Hawaii Shark Encounters works closely with Shark Allies, a non-profit organization that promotes proper understanding and respect for sharks and supports ocean conservation.

Matava and Bite Me Gamefishing Charters in Fiji are taking a leading role in the international shark conservation efforts, organizing Fiji to become the first country to fully participate in the Shark-Free Marina Initiative (SFMI). The SFMI works with marinas, boaters and fishermen to develop policy designed to protect sharks as a vital component of the oceans health. The SFMI’s purpose is to reduce worldwide shark mortality. Working with marinas, fishermen and like minded non-profit groups, it forms community conscious policy and increase awareness of the need to encourage shark conservation.

P.A.P Corp. is an eco-friendly hotel company with 4 hotels in Thessaloniki and Halkidiki and a Hotel and Restaurant Management School (HOTELIA). Active member of TIES, Clean up Greece, Legambiente, WWF, and HSPN (The Greek Society for protection of Nature), P.A.P Corp. contributes to socially and environmentally responsible tourism practices locally and internationally. The company is also an active supporter of such initiatives as the Happy Tourist project and Europe for All, to promote accessibility tourism.

From TIES EcotourismTrend YouTube subscriptions: Our favorite beach & ocean eco-videos! Seacology: Seacology’s Indonesia EcoReef project – Manado Tua Island is a towering extinct volcano fringed with picturesque reef drop-offs and capped with a rainforest at its summit. The island’s 3,200 inhabitants form a very tightly-knit community of farmers and fishermen who cling tenaciously to their Sangir cultural traditions. Large sections of Manado Tua’s coral reef have been reduced to rubble fields due to blast fishing activities that took place over a decade ago…