The president of the World Conservation Union, Yolanda Kakabadse Navarro is visiting the DR. She told Diario Libre that hoteliers need to understand that allowing unlimited tourism development is the equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot. The former Ecuadorian environment minister stated that the conservation of natural resources has to be a top national priority defended by the hoteliers. She said that the government must define what kind of tourism it wants before negotiating with the hotel sector. As reported in Diario Libre, she also stated that clarity of vision was essential.
Kakabadse is a founder of one of Latin America’s most important environmental organizations, Fundacion Natura. She served as Ecuador’s environment minister from 1998 to 2000.
In 2001, as president of the World Conservation Union, she was awarded the Zayed Prize, regarded as the world’s most prestigious environmental award, for her leading role in the preparation of the chapter on NGOs in Agenda 21 at the 1992 Rio Conference and for her pioneering work at grassroots level as founder and president of Fundacion Futuro Latinoamericano.
She also sits on the boards of the World Resources Institute’s Global Council, the Worldwide Fund for Nature International, the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, and the advisory board of INBio. She is Counselor to the Vice President for Environment and Sustainable Development of the World Bank and Senior Advisor to the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).
Her visit coincides with the announcement by the Supreme Court of Justice that they have already decided on the Sectorial Law of Protected Areas. The law, passed at the end of the Mejia administration, would enable the hotel development of environmentally fragile protected areas such as Bahia de las Aguilas in the southwest and the National Park of the East. Environmental sectors strongly oppose the law. Environment Minister Max Puig has also expressed his opposition.