Community's environmental awareness has gained international recognition

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

speakup

BOUCTOUCHE - After recently surfacing as a third-place finalist for an international tourism award, Bouctouche's Eco-Tourism project has become somewhat of a model for other communities looking to take a greener approach to tourism.

Enlarge Photo

RON WARD/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Judith Irving, Dr. Louis LaPierre and Bouctouche Mayor Aldeo Saulnier look at some of the photos that Judith took while at the 8th Global Travel Tourism Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Kent county gem was the only Canadian finalist in the 2008 World Travel and Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards which recognizes and promotes leading examples of best practices in responsible tourism development.

The small sea-side town unveiled the award, which it received at a ceremony in Dubai in April, yesterday, during a press conference celebrating the success of the Eco-Tourism project.

The project began 10 years ago with the help of the Irving family and has since developed the community into a global destination, all the while keeping the focus on the environment.

"You have to try to focus on what you have," project chairman Louis LaPierre said. "We in Bouctouche did an overall inventory of what we had and decided that the dunes, for example, was a very specialized sandpit and that should be the focal point and we should try to protect that dune."

As a biologist, LaPierre stressed the steps the town took to make sure the venture, largely centered on the dunes, stayed environmentally sound.

He said because people were building cottages on the dunes, driving on them and doing whatever else on them, the area on and around the dunes had to become off limits. The response was a control gate.

The next step was making people aware of the present eco-system.

"You want to ensure the species living on the dunes continue living there," he said. "You want to ensure you understand those species, get to know them and that's why we built the Irving Eco-Center."

From there the project continued to grow with laying construction for a marina, farmer's market, nature trails, cafés, restaurants and chalets -- all at a total cost of roughly $8 million. According to LaPierre, that's still far less expensive than most of the other routes the town could have gone.

As for the award, Judith Irving, who was in attendance along with her mother at the press conference, said the global recognition the town will get is worth the hard work.

She mentioned there is even talk of a National Geographic story on Bouctouche being done within the next few months.