1. Introduction & Objectives

The objective of this SWG is an advanced sustainable tourism and nature conservation through an interdisciplinary network of academic and professional experts in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. With this broad platform the tourism working group will seek to provide eco-rational tourism solutions by engaging in basic, applied and citizen science research in the various fields. Ecosystem – tourism interactions will be taken into account on all relevant levels, ranging from the local to the global.

The network partners will seek to:

• Structure, classify, and better understand the interlinkages between tourism and ecosystem services;
• Define and understand the nature of the ecosystem services provided to tourism;
• Develop a holistic understanding of tourist experiences of nature by integrating social-scientific knowledge;
• Explore and share best practices and models of integration of sustainable tourism and nature conservation at local, regional, and global scales.

2. Lead Team & Members

• Salma Talhouk (Chair), American University of Beirut, Lebanon
• Sylwia Kulczyk, (Co-chair) University of Warsaw, Poland
• Oliver Schlein , Ministry of Environmant, Jordan
• Philipp Schaegner, (co-chair) Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Italy
• Eva Streberová, Comenius University, Slovakia
• Josep Pueyo-Ros, University of Girona, Spain
• Fernando Correia, Hull University Business School at Scarborough, United Kingdom
• Carlos Ferreira, Univeristy of Lisbon, Portugal
• Sara Duarte, Univeristy of Lisbon, Portugal

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Lead team, please contact the current lead team members.

If you are interested in becoming a member of this Working group, please click here.

3. Activities &  Outputs

• 2021 Africa ESP conference: Nature Tourism in Africa: Value for Nature, Livelihoods and Economic Investment, Book of Abstracts
• 2018 Middle East & N. Africa ESP Conference: Tourism and ecosystem services – searching for sustainability Book of Abstracts, Presentations
• 2017 ESP9 world Conference China: Ecosystem service for Eco-civilization Book of Abstracts, Presentations
• 2016 African ESP conference:   Nature-based Tourism & Recreation in Africa for Sustainable Development   Book of abstracts, Presentations
• 2016 Asian ESP conference: Natural World Heritage Sites and their Role in Provisioning Ecosystem Services Including Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaption in the Asia-Pacific Region Book of abstracts, Presentations