Orientador: Carmen Maria Aguiar / Banca: Leila Marrach Basto de Albuquerque / Banca: Wenceslao Machado de Oliveira Junior / Resumo: O objetivo principal deste estudo é identificar as atividades físicas associadas ao ecoturismo no município de Itapetininga, localizado no interior do estado de São Paulo, para analisar alguns aspectos da interferência dessas atividades no meio ambiente, como ocorre sua organização, a interface com o poder público e o papel da Organização não-governamental como mediadora destas questões. Procura-se analisar o impacto, na cultura local, das atividades conhecidas como esportes de aventura; as suas conexões com as práticas do ecoturismo; e se as mesmas implicam em algum envolvimento ou preocupação com a comunidade local. Os procedimentos da pesquisa foram desenvolvidos com um enfoque qualitativo, estruturado através de entrevistas direcionadas ao poder público, a uma organização não-governamental e a uma empresa organizadora de eventos de ecoturismo. Destacam-se neste trabalho, a análise e o recorte histórico das atividades de lazer desenvolvidas na cidade de Itapetininga, principalmente nos séculos XIX e XX, desde as atividades livres e intermitentes até as atividades institucionalizadas. Considerações sobre a comunidade; a natureza e a cultura; o lazer e o turismo também fazem parte das análises. No âmbito da Educação Física foi analisada a aproximação do trabalho desenvolvido pelos profissionais da área, com os pressupostos teóricos descritos acima. Assim, poderiam ser alavancados mais estudos sobre as novas modalidades esportivas, como as do esporte de aventura. Observa-se que essas práticas muitas vezes se desenvolvem sem critérios adequados, e ficam dispersas entre as fases de planejamento, execução e avaliação. Entendemos que a Educação Física pode desempenhar um papel fundamental como mediadora desta discussão. Os profissionais da área deveriam ter a capacidade de se concentrar em qualquer uma das três esferas estudadas... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo). / Abstract: The main objective with this study is to identify physical activities associated to eco-tourism in the County of Itapetininga, located at São Paulo State inner area, in order to analyze some interference aspects of those activities in the environment, how their organization occurs, the relations with the Public Government, and the Non-Governmental Organization's role as mediator of such questions. It also searches to analyze the impact of the activities known as adventure sports in the local culture; their connections with eco-tourism practices; and whether those same activities result in any commitment or concern about the local community. The research procedures were developed upon a qualitative focus, which had been structured by means of interviews directed to the Public Government, to a Non-Governmental Organization, and to an eco-tourism events management company. The analysis and the historical excerpts of the leisure activities developed in the County of Itapetininga, mainly in the Nineteenth and the Twentieth Centuries, from intermittent and free activities to institutionalized activities are also highlighted in this research. Considerations on the community, nature and culture, leisure and tourism are part of such analysis too. The nearing between the work developed by professionals and the theoretical assumptions formerly described was analyzed in the Physical Education area. Therefore, could be launched other studies on new sports, such as adventure sports. It has been observed that those practices are often developed without adequate criteria, and disperse among planning, execution and evaluation phases. We understand that Physical Education can play a fundamental role as mediator in this discussion. Professionals of the area should have the ability to concentrate on any of the three studied domains. In other words... (Complete abstract, click electronic address below). / Mestre

Pixaim assentou o seu lugar no mundo sobre dunas móveis da margem alagoana da foz do rio São Francisco. Não há registros históricos sobre a origem do povoado, mas a partir de levantamento de memória oral podemos estimar um século de assentamento no território. No passado as pessoas de Pixaim viviam da cultura do arroz em fazendas na várzea do São Francisco. Com a subtração desta atividade, a população do povoado diminuiu e a sobrevivência material e cultural ficou comprometida. Em 1983 foi criada a Área de Proteção Ambiental-APA de Piaçabuçu que abarcou Pixaim e outros povoados como o Pontal da Barra, na foz do São Francisco e, com os qual as pessoas de Pixaim desenvolveram uma prática de apropriação conjugada e valorativa do lugar de habitação. Com a APA os povoados passaram a ser merecedores de proteção ambiental especial e o uso dos recursos disponíveis no meio ambiente ficou vinculado a prescrições definidas em lei. Com o desfecho de um conflito explícito os moradores do Pontal da Barra foram expulsas da foz pela gestão da APA, e a área “recuperou” feições cênicas adequadas ao turismo ecológico. Neste contexto, a paisagem de Pixaim se transformou em objeto de desejo e consumo do turismo ecológico. Neste estudo buscou-se compreender as mediações na construção do imaginário turístico sobre Pixaim, através das representações disponíveis em fontes informacionais. Procurou-se analisar as narrativas nas fotografias veiculadas sobre o povoado em sites de turismo de Piaçabuçu, município do qual Pixaim e a foz do rio São Francisco são integrantes. Valendo-se da fotografia, os próprios moradores de Pixaim registraram o cotidiano do lugar para um “álbum” que, neste trabalho, revela os olhares “de dentro” (moradores de Pixaim) e “de fora” ( agentes envolvidos na promoção do turismo ecológico). O estudo foi estruturado em uma abordagem qualitativa, com pesquisa e análise das informações em suportes midiáticos, mais a metodologia da etnografia, história oral, observação participante e entrevista. / Pixaim settled its place on the world of moving sand dunes of the Alagoas margin at the mouth of the São Francisco River. There are no historical records of the origin of that village, but the oral memory survey allows us to estimate a century of settlement in the territory. In the past, people of Pixaim used to make their living by rice farming on farms in the lowland of the São Francisco River. Along with the subtraction of this activity, the population of the village decreased as well as the survival of its material and cultural life were jeopardized. In 1983, it was established the Area of Environmental Protection (APA) of Piaçabuçu that comprises Pixaim and other settlements at the mouth of the São Francisco River, such as Pontal da Barra, with which the people of Pixaim has developed a practice of conjugal and evaluative appropriation of the dwelling place. The establishment of the APA has led the settlements to a special environmental protection, as the use of its available environmental resources are attached to what has been prescript in law. An outcome of an explicit conflict, the people of Pontal da Barra were banished from the mouth of the river by the APA’s management and the area “recovered” scenic features appropriate to the eco-tourism. In this context, the landscape of Pixaim has become an object of desire and consumption of ecological tourism. In this study, we sought to understand mediations in the construction of the tourist imaginary about Pixaim through the representations available in multimedia information. An attempt to analyze the narratives presented on photographs on tourist sites of Piaçabuçu, municipality of which Pixaim and the mouth of the São Francisco River are members. The photographs taken by the residents of Pixaim recorded the daily life of the village for an “album” that, for this work, illustrates the confrontation between the “inside” gaze (the residents of Pixaim) and “the outside” one (the agents involved in the promotion of eco-tourism). This study was structured in a qualitative approach, with information research and analysis in media added to the methodology of the ethnography, oral history, participant observation and interviews.

In the contemporary built-environment the focus is very much on environmentally conscious design or so-called ‘sustainable’ design- or even the generic labelled ‘green’ architecture. Despite this popular and supposedly informed preoccupation with the importance of the role of ecology in architecture, ‘green’ architecture is usually fixated on energy efficiency within the envelope of an individual building. This dissertation questions this limited, and often artificial and technologically driven, relationship between man and ecology. Fundamentally it questions the role of architecture as negotiator in this relationship. The author proposes an alternative way of viewing ecologically conscious architecture, where the intent of the architectural intervention is to respond directly to a given environmental issue and where its existential impact relates to its surrounding situation and the tension between man and ecology existing within the landscape, instead of turning its focus inwards to achieve isolated ‘environmental’ efficiency. Examples of such a specific issue, context and program with a collective goal of achieving these aims are hence forth elaborated on in the content of this dissertation. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The meaning of a place results from accumulated interactions between an individual's life history and a setting. Place experiences often include some feeling of ownership. Ownership in this case is a psychological phenomenon that does not require legal title to a piece of land or a building, but rather, a sense that the person has some uncommon, special relationship with that particular setting. Although much of what characterizes a place may be very personal. Groups and even entire communities can develop place attachments. The objective of the study is the design of agri-tourism facilities within the realm of local community development. These facilities need to meet a variety of criteria to fulfil the expectations of the three main stakeholders, being agriculture, tourism and local community. A design that is context, and energy conscious, with a sympathy to existing ecological systems and self-sustainability, will determine the success of this project. The design, including before mentioned criteria, of an agri-tourism complex , incorporates local skills training which form part of the activities on the farm Madi A Thava, Makhado district in the Limpopo province. These facilities must meet the needs of the different clientele for each of the three entities. Each facility has its own identity arising from its specific function. The agri-tourism complex will have a dominant agricultural character, as this facility houses the main activity to ensure self-sustainability of the farm as a whole. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

Situated within the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Tulum and within the Sian Ka'an Biosphere gives the village of Punta Allen a distinctive agency in determining their role in the on-going development of tourism in the region that is not given to other communities in the state. This unique circumstance facilitates a dialogue between the reserve, the municipality, and the business cooperatives of Punta Allen that produce a negotiated living. Through the negotiations with the reserve and Tulum, the lobster fishing and tourism cooperatives are given the opportunity to have a relatively significant role in determining the future of Punta Allen in regards to tourism.

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of: Masters of Commerce University of the Witwatersrand / In recent years, the call for companies to account for their activities to a wide group of stakeholders has grown. Integrated reporting provides a platform for such stakeholder communication. Recent studies have, however, concluded that integrated reporting is viewed merely as an exercise to be undertaken to ensure compliance. This thesis explores the challenges faced by those charged with the preparation of the integrated report in the South African eco-tourism industry. It adopts a social constructivist ontology and is grounded in an interpretive epistemology. The eco-tourism industry is particularly suited to this study as the notion of sustainability and, more recently, integrated reporting is of great importance in a rapidly growing industry which places significant reliance on natural resources. It is required to deliver economic profits whilst ensuring that the differing needs of a range of stakeholders are met. A theoretical framework of change implementation, based on different mechanisms presented by existing literature, was developed and used in exploring the challenges encountered by a case organisation when preparing its integrated report. A qualitative case study was undertaken in which the role-players in the preparation of the integrated report of the case entity were interviewed, and the minutes of internal meetings and workshops and an external assurance report were reviewed. In this context, this thesis provides further understanding of the challenges faced by organisations in the preparation of an integrated report, providing insight into how preparers are interpreting and applying the guidelines found in the integrated reporting frameworks and codes on corporate governance. / MT2017

Tourism as one of the biggest industries in the world has been changing continuously and rapidly. The publishing of the Brundtland Report in 1987 has accelerated the discussion about combining economic, social and environmental factors – the so-called triple-bottom line – in order to secure long-term sustainable living conditions on a finite planet for both business and society. This has lead to occurring pressure from different stakeholder groups as for example policy makers or non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) urging for more sustainable business practise within the industry whereas one important pressure group appears to be missing out in this context: the customers of mass tourism products and therefore the demand side within the economic equation. Tourists have been observed to be overall reluctant to pay price premiums for more sustainable travel alternatives and seem to “take vacation” from their everyday green behaviour. Hence at the current point of time eco-tourism appears to be a market niche in which mainly small-scale providers and NGO’s like Nature’s Best in Sweden operate. However integrating mass tourism into the consideration can be seen as a promising opportunity and from an environmental standpoint an urgent necessity as it can be argued that within an industry of this scale, even small improvements towards more sustainable behaviour bear the potential for a substantial impact. The purpose of this study therefore lies in researching the two marketing tools of brands and eco-labels and the influence they can have individually and in combination on the tourist’s decision making delimitated to the context of charter tourism in Sweden. Through the research of this study it was found that currently no directly applicable theory about the combination of brands and eco-labels seems to exist for marketing neither in general, nor for the tourism industry in particular. This strongly indicates the novelty of the topic of combining brands and eco-labels and points out research opportunities. In order to achieve this purpose, a mixed-method research design was used combining qualitative expert interviews from direct business representatives and a quantitative data collection utilizing the scholarly acknowledged marketing research method of conjoint analysis in one of its most up-to-date forms of an adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis. Theory from different fields of study as consumer behaviour and decision making, branding and eco-labelling as well as sustainability marketing was combined and translated into the new and emerging service category of sustainable tourism. From this a conceptual framework was developed combining the data collection results from the mixed-method approach. This leads to the identification of ways for improving current charter tourism companies’ marketing based on the customers’ current view on utilities within certain aspects of the tourism package. Overall this study therefore contributes to the discussion on how demand for sustainable products evolves and can likely be increased. This is seen as a valuable theoretical, practical and societal contribution as it helps improving tourism companies’ understanding of their customer base and supports offering products/services with an improved perceived individual and societal value for charter tourism companies that aim for a higher degree of sustainability in their objectives.

The overall aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the area of new sustainable tourism in theory and practice. The theoretical part, which consisted of a literature study, was made to help find the essence of new sustainable tourism. To bring out tourisms impact on society and environment in practice, a case study was made during an excursion with Södertörn University College to Babati in Tanzania. Semi structured interviews were held with people in Babati. The excursion is being evaluated according to WTO’s sustainable tourism development guidelines and management practices, and finally, these guidelines are analysed. The result of the literature study showed that there is no absolute true core in new sustainable tourism. It is a highly subjective judgment if a tourism venture is sustainable or not, depending on personal values, ideology and personal interests. There is features commonly associated and used in new sustainable tourism, like the sustainability of the three pillars of sustainable development, and the focus on the local, educational and conservational effects, but the essence is subjective. The evaluation of the excursion showed that it is by two third a sustainable tourism venture. It is the economic part that fails, since the guidelines put much focus on stable employments and frequency; ingredients that the excursion lacks. The analysis of the WTO guidelines resulted in confusion. They could be both very useful, but also very poor, according to how they were interpreted and used. The results highly depend on the user. Positive is that the guidelines address all pillars of sustainable development equal, and that the interaction between host and guest gets highlighted. Shortages are that the guidelines lack a gender perspective, a historical and political sensibility, a place specific flexibility and a perspective of inter- and intra-generational equity.

The objective of this study is to look into the changes in land-use patterns on the mostly private land properties brought about by the envisaged Dinokeng Pilot Project on State-owned land properties since it was introduced in 1995. This is a critical parameter for the success of otherwise of the implementation of the broader project on the mostly private properties earmarked for inclusion in the project surrounding the pilot site. The method employed entailed analyzing progress indicators to gauge whether adequate progress was made between 1995 and 2001 in implementing the project. Indicators used were the finalization of the project process by DACEL, large scale sales and consolidation of affected properties and applications to the Metsweding District Municipality for change of land use by the present landowners. Several procedures were employed to determine whether there was adequate progress or not. The initial programme of Dinokeng Project Concept was studied and envisaged progress was compared with the implementation phase the project was in as at December 2001. The records of the Metsweding District Municipality were studied to find out the types and number of land use change applications by private landowners. The deeds records were also sampled to detect any large scale property sales and consolidations that can be ascribed to the envisaged project. The response of DACEL to criticism by affected landowners was also studied. A literature review of similar projects was undertaken to understand the methods employed to achieve desired results. The study found that there is lack of adequate progress on the finalization of the precise site for the project and agreements with present landowners on the tenure issue and other administrative matters that are a prerequisite for the proclamation of the project. Proclamation is necessary to restrict the land use activities within and around the proposed project site so as to make all affected stakeholders to be committed to the implementation of the project. The failure by the project to achieve the desired results of being in whole or partially up and running within five years of its inception is ascribed to the initial adopted strategy of depending on complementary changes in land use patterns in the privately owned land properties to consolidate the properties into a contiguous ecological area large enough to accommodate the Big Five. This shows that although the political developmental framework has changed, certain old order strategies and procedures are still as effective as ever. It is recommended that the project area be subdivided into phases without any regard to land ownership. The core area should consist of land properties ecologically suitable and forming a large enough area to contain the proposed Big Five. The total project area should be proclaimed with provision being made for a phased implementation approach with definite timetables and concrete deliverables. This will separate the totally unwilling landowners from the others who want to be part of the project on condition that that their minimal interests and requirements are met. / Dissertation (M Inst Agrar (Rural Development Planning))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

Abstract There are a lot of ecocertifications in Sweden for a variety of different categories; for example the Swan, which is a label for both hotels and products; KRAV, a label for farms and what farms pro- duce; Nature’s Best, a label for tourist adventures; the Sápmi Experience, a newly developed label for Sámi tourism, and The Green Key, a certification offered by Håll Sverige Rent for hostels, ho- tels, mountain cabins and camping grounds. Nature’s Best and the Green Key I have chosen as the focus for this paper, because they are the most relevant for my research. I will also give some atten- tion to Sápmi Experience because it is an interesting development in indigenous tourism. In the World Heritage area of Laponia, where I conducted fieldwork, there are several actors that have in- terest in the ecotourism business. Some of the actors are Sámi, the indigenous people whose princi- pal livelihood in Laponia is reindeer herding, and some are non-Sámi, like the Swedish Tourist As- sociation (STF) or other small-scale businesses. Some of them have the Nature’s Best label on their adventures, some do not. I find the Sámi culture and way of life very interesting, and since they are a big part of the World Heritage area Laponia landscape and an indigenous people, it was natural for me include them in this thesis. In this thesis I want to address the questions of for whom and why there are ecocertifications and quality markings. Are they for tourists, for traveling agencies, for people living in popular tourist areas, or perhaps for the environment?