El discurs polític de Jordi Pujol

Although the practice of ‘voluntourism’ has been established for decades, recent and extreme growth, development and diversification of the industry has resulted in increased attention to the unique challenges and opportunities of voluntourism, many of which have not been thoroughly explored or described. This study has integrated themes related to non-governmental

organizations, ecotourism, conservation and development, environmental volunteerism, and, as it is increasingly becoming a distinct theme in and of itself, voluntourism, to analyze the

organizational structures, practices, and outcomes of VCPs within Madre de Dios, Peru. Within and across each of these sectors, specific attention was given to understanding the most holistic and recommended planning and implementation practices, with the greatest focus on how varying degrees of stakeholder coordination can affect a VCP’s ability to effectively recognize, coordinate with, and contribute to regional conservation needs. In conjunction with rich

qualitative data describing regional conservation needs, project activities, and types and qualities of stakeholder relationships, the social network analysis served as a tool to investigate current VCP-stakeholder interactions related to conservation activities in Madre de Dios. While outliers exist, many of the VCPs in Madre de Dios lack sufficient resources for, or attention to,

coordinating the long-term planning, implementation, or outcomes of their project’s activities with stakeholders, which will limit their capacity to effectively contribute their efforts to regional conservation needs.

A resounding insight of this research is that VCPs in Madre de Dios have extremely limited staff and financial resources which, in combination with the priority to meet the needs of

‘experiencers’ and ‘students’ above all else, can confine their ability to invest the time, energy, and financial costs associated with stakeholder coordination and integrated conservation planning. Additionally, many projects operate in isolation which makes communication or coordination difficult with outside entities. Finally, since a significant portion of each project’s workforce is made up of short-term students/learners, the tasks to which they are assigned must be relatively easy to understand and perform. In other words, there are limits to the ways in which participants can directly contribute to VCP, and thus, regional conservation goals. If a

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VCP has multiple upper level, long-term staff, they have more opportunities to (1) engage in long-term communication and high-quality relationships with other entities and (2) devote the sufficient amount of skill and time required to generate and share project results that contribute to conservation needs. Alternatively, the continuous supply of participants funds and ‘hands’ for project work, new creative and knowledge inputs, and enthusiasm for environmental research and conservation efforts within Madre de Dios are special opportunities allowed by the structures of VCPs.

In summary, the frontier character of Madre de Dios is allowing unmanaged settlement and development of the region to progress rapidly, causing both positive and negative impacts to social-ecological systems. Included in this wave of development and supported by national and local governments as a tool for both development and conservation of the region, is ecotourism.

More ecotourism and/or conservation initiatives, including VCPs, continue to arise to meet these demands. To remain in operation, VCPs devote a notable portion of their finances and energy to creating enriching and educational experiences for foreign participants. Therefore, they excel in this category and serve an important role in the development of future conservation professionals and ambassadors for Madre de Dios, sent around the globe to share insight about the value of the region and the issues it faces.

However, after a significant portion of VCPs’ limited resources are devoted to managing the ‘experiencer’ or ‘student’ participant, and in combination with isolated project sites and results, foreign staff members, and high rates of staff turnover, finding resources to expand the project’s capacity to contribute effectively to regional conservation needs is a challenge. Most VCPs contribute to conservation needs by shuttling economic input to typically sparsely toured areas and protecting land via ecotourism concessions. Others also contribute by garnering more government support for underserved areas, generating knowledge, reintroducing wildlife and providing educational opportunities for local residents. While such impacts are important, recommendations follow for how VCPs can improve the relevancy of their conservation

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activities and outcomes and strengthen the collective positive impacts of the growing number of ecotourism and conservation initiatives in Madre de Dios.

Like the majority of environmental volunteers and conservation NGO leaders, those that were engaged in this study are well-intentioned, considerate, and enthusiastic about generating positive conservation impacts. Although this research has highlighted some concerns associated with VCP practices, such a review is intended to inspire ideas about improvements within the industry, not to dramatically criticize it for shortcomings. These recommendations are offered to be considered not only by VCPs in Madre de Dios, but also by other conservation leaders working within the region and other VCPs operating in similar social, economic, and ecological conditions in other regions/countries.

Recommendations

Related to these major insights are a few prominent suggestions, for both VCPs and other conservation entities within Madre de Dios, that emerged from this research. While a few have arisen based on my analysis of previous literature, observations, interview content, and social network analyses, a majority of the suggestions described below were commonly provided by interviewees. It’s important to note that the responsibilities of considering and potentially implementing the suggestions described in interviews and in this discussion should fall not just on the shoulders of VCPs but also on those of other conservation entities (NGOs, governments, individuals, ecotourism companies, etc.) operating within Madre de Dios. While the suggestions and major conclusions are most related to VCPs in Madre de Dios, they’re likely to be applicable to other voluntourism conservation projects operating within tropical ecoregions, too.

To begin to more effectively contribute projects’ efforts to regional conservation needs, it is recommended that more attention be given to coordinating planning, implementation, and dissemination of project efforts with research institutions, other conservation NGOs, branches of local government, and local communities/associations to ensure VCP activities are designed to be contributing to or supplementing the conservation goals of these other entities in the region.

Importantly, improved coordination would all VCPs to (1) make their research, monitoring, or

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other project activities more relevant to local conservation practitioners and/or priorities and (2) facilitate more local participation in their project actions to foster greater community capacity, and thus, long-term positive conservation impacts and (3) implement more structured monitoring methods to better capture, understand, share, and improve their projects’ outcomes.

A grand portion of interviewees mentioned the need or intention for their project, and/or conservation entities within Madre de Dios in general, to communicate and coordinate better with each other. In other words, many interviewees recognized the need to consider their actions in the context of regional conservation goals. Some interviewees went so far as to suggest more

‘collaboration’ with other organizations to work better toward goals of the region. VCPs can increase their ability to connect and communicate with stakeholders, and thus their ability to contribute effectively to conservation needs, by establishing an advisory board (Gulati &

Westphal, 1999; Guo & Acar, 2005). Such an adjustment would be relatively easy to implement.

The discussion has also touched on a few of the central tenets and benefits of conservation planning; concerted efforts to improve communication with other stakeholders would improve the chances for coordinated efforts and collaboration among diverse organizations, communities, and individuals. Groves et al. (2003) and Margules and Pressey (2000) have popularly cited/used frameworks for conservation planning. However, I borrow and suggest the ‘collective impact’

framework from the social service literature and practices because (1) it, too, is widely cited for facilitating successful coordination and positive collective impacts, (2) it slightly broadens the scope of suggestions provided in this discussion, and (3) it’s central tenets, while challenging to implement, would increase opportunities for positive conservation impacts, generate by VCPs and other actors, in Madre de Dios.

The “collective impact (CI) approach [is implemented] to solve large-scale social problems” (Kania & Kramer, 2011). The collective impact approach could be an efficient strategy for uniting forces toward common and collective conservation goals in Madre de Dios because the driver of each of the region’s ‘conservation needs’ are large-scale social problems;

perhaps not across the entire region, but at the very least within great portions of it such as the