WASHINGTON - At its recent biannual Board meeting, The Board of Directors of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) unanimously agreed to implement a new structure of TIES Board, with the new Advisory Board consisting of ecotourism experts and industry leaders, and the Governance Board, which focuses on administrative and managerial tasks related to the governance of the organization.
Within this new structure, the former Board of Directors voted in nine new members to the Advisory Board: Deirdre Campbell (Owner, The Tartan Group), Richard Edwards (Director, Planeterra Foundation, and Co-Chair, Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference), Shadia Garrison (Consultant, Writer, Project Manager), Ariane Janér (Co-Founder, EcoBrasil), Kimberly Lisagor (Journalist, Author), Rick MacLeod Farley (Principal Consultant, MacLeod Farley & Associates), Paul Radchenko (Tourism Development Planner, Government of Alberta, Canada), Albert Teo Chin Kion (Managing Director, Borneo Eco Tours), Annie Vanderwyk (Indigenous Business, Education & Research Partner, YouthConnections, and Principal Cultural Consultant, Wild Earth Expeditions), Mei Zhang (Founder, WildChina). Full list of current Advisory Board members and their bios can be found at: http://www.ecotourism.org/board
“As TIES is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2010, this is a great time for our organization to implement progressive change and an exciting new and creative structure,” says Dr. Kelly Bricker, Chair, TIES Board of Directors. “We believe that the new Advisory Board, representing diverse groups of ecotourism and sustainable tourism stakeholders, will serve as an effective venue to support TIES mission, and we look forward to collaborating with Advisory Board members to help increase the organization's potentials through new projects and outreach initiatives.”
In the coming months, TIES Advisory Board will work on creating sub-committees to focus on several programmatic areas. Main topics and issues currently proposed for sub-committees include: Asia Pacific (regional activities and partnership initiatives to reach out to existing organizations in the Asia Pacific region, such as the Asia Pacific Ecotourism Society, and to collaborate with potential new members); Academic Outreach (partnership initiatives to strengthen ties with academic institutions and to improve services that can help connect students, educators and industry stakeholders); Market Research (studies to identify opportunities in emerging markets and to better represent local perspectives on global sustainable tourism development); and Voluntourism (exploring opportunities to disseminate information and resources about voluntourism and to encourage greater traveler and industry engagement).
In addition, TIES, in collaboration with Advisory Board members, is in the process of developing a new project to create a tool to help ecotourism providers and facilities effectively implement sustainable community development projects. Helping ecotourism businesses maximize positive impact of socially, economically and environmentally responsible practices, this tool is expected to serve as a practical addition to resources currently available to TIES business members wishing to expand and strengthen their local community-focused initiatives.
The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) is a non-profit industry association dedicated to promoting ecotourism. Founded in 1990, TIES has been in the forefront of the development of ecotourism during the past decades, providing guidelines and standards, training, technical assistance, research and publications. Representing members from over 90 countries, TIES' global network of ecotourism professionals and travelers is leading the efforts to make tourism a viable tool for conservation, protection of bio-cultural diversity, and sustainable community development.
TIES offers both individual and organizational membership levels, with membership benefits tailored to the needs of each member category. The following are current membership levels: For Individuals - Traveler, Student and Professional; For Organizations - NGO, Business, College & University, Institution and Association. As of June 2010, TIES' network consists of 5,100 individual members and 500 organizational members. For more information on TIES membership levels and benefits, see: www.ecotourism.org/membership