ESOI Announces India's 1st "National Ecotourism Mart" 2011
The biggest buyer-seller meet on Ecotourism products & destinations

- providing opportunity to small & medium homestays, resorts, lodges to showcase their eco-friendly destinations.
- exhibitors of non-conventional energy, waste-management, pollution control, eco-friendly architecture.
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"Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory" - Miguelde Cervantes

Brief introduction:

Though it is easy to forget in the city-centered 21st century, human well-being is utterly dependent on the natural world. To state the obvious, we cannot survive without fresh water, food, and fuel. Yet every day, countless decisions are made whose ripple effects will degrade or destroy the vital goods and services that nature provides to people.

Unlike the impacts of climate change, biodiversity and the ecosystem services it harbours disappear in a mostly silent, local and anonymous fashion. This may explain, in part, why the devastation of nature has triggered fewer alarm bells than a warming planet. Once felled, dug up, polluted or filled in, however, such complex systems as rainforests, wetlands, coastal estuaries and mangroves are very difficult to restore.

If the true value of ecosystems services - economic, social and spiritual - were factored into decision-making, wetlands, forests, and reefs would be viewed and treated very differently. For there is mounting evidence to show that the value of preserving ecosystems can far outweigh that of destroying them.

Unfortunately, decision makers lack the necessary information to accurately weigh the trade-offs among ecosystem services that stem from development choices, or the resulting consequences for people.

If we are to preserve the world's dwindling natural assets, accounting for ecosystem services must become second nature for decision makers. Just as they now weigh up economic and social factors, decision makers at every level of government and business should be able to answer the following three questions: 

• What ecosystem services do I depend upon?

• How will my decision affect ecosystem services?

• What is the condition of these services and how will this create risks and opportunities for me?

Conclusion: Simple solutions are available and if baby steps are taken by all members it will lead to big changes.

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change" - Stephen Hawking

Here's a quick checklist for your establishment.