Resources
Education empowers change. This initiative is founded in sharing knowledge including evidence-based research, traditional and community knowledge, and personal experience. Our network framework reflects our belief in following a holistic approach to learning that has been essential to trekking for countless generations.
Here is an array of online resources to aid in becoming engaged, educated trekkers. Find a resource that appeals to you below. If you know of any research, literature, or other media you believe belongs on this page connect with us through the contact tab
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To stay at the forefront of ecotrekking research, policy review, and issues access:
- Mountain Research and Development: The leading international scientific journal specifically devoted to sustainable development in the world’s mountains.
- Journal of Sustainable Tourism: understanding of the relationships between tourism and sustainable development.
- Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management: high-quality studies and original research on protected mountain areas and management.
The trekking industry is growing rapidly, while research, by nature, is slow. As policies and organisations often have to play catch up to issues, every individual effort is essential help. Stay informed in order to advocate for sustainable trekking practices today.
For overviews of ecotrekking practice and importance read:
- Understanding and Quantifying Mountain Tourism by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Tourism Organization Summarised here.
- Impacts of Climate Change on Mountain Tourism: A Review by Steiger, R., Knowles, N., Pöll, K., & Rutty, M.
For case studies to understand ecotrekking sustainable development read:
- Mountain tourism facing climate change. Assessing risks and opportunities in the Italian Alps by Pede, E., Barbato, G., Buffa, A., Ellena, M., Mercogliano, P., Ricciardi, G., & Staricco L. Summarised here.
- Perceptions of Mountain Ecosystem Services in Golija-Studenica Biosphere Reserve, Serbia: Latent Transformation From Sustainable Towards Regenerative Tourism by Luković, M., Kostić, M., Dudić, B., Spalević, V., & Pantović, D.
- Social Technology for the Protection of the Páramo in the Central Andes of Ecuador by Cristina Torres, M., Naranjo, E., Fierro, V, & Carchipulla-Morales, D.
We believe there is an essential need to make ecotrekking research more readily accessible, both through translation into diverse languages and by reducing academic jargon. If you want to get involved with these efforts connect with us through the contact tab today.
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- For a critical, case-study-based analysis of ecotrekking in theory and practice read “Ecotourism” by David A. Fennell.
- For an overview and practical understanding of what defines ecotrekking read the “International Handbook on Ecotourism” by Roy Ballantyne and Jan Packer.
- For the socio-economic and environmental issues in trekking read “Mountaineering Adventure Tourism and Local Communities” by Michal Apollo and Viacheslav Andreychouk.
- For decolonial approaches to travel read “Tourism, Indigeneity and the Importance of Place” by Carsten Wergin, and “Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i” by Malia Akutagawa.
Each of these books is available for free through most academic libraries, contact your local library for a copy or reach out to us through the contact tab for help. We are always looking for accessible ecotrekking literature, if you have read something you have found valuable, please share it with us!
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The increased ease in ability to record and share expeditions has been a double-edged sword in both contributing to overtourism while also enabling the widespread documentation of injustice like never before. Here are a select series of documentaries to understand current issues in trekking as an industry and the context they have arisen in.
- For the economic forces driving and damaging contemporary trekking: The Last Tourist: Travel Has Lost Its Way (2021) Available to watch free on YouTube click here.
- For travellers’ exploitation of cultural and natural resources: Gringo Trails (2014) Available to rent click here or contact your local library for a free copy.
- For the divide between travellers and hosts: Can’t Do It In Europe (2005) Available to watch free on Vimeo click here.
- For the roots of ecotourism: The Environmental Tourist (1991) Available to watch free on Vimeo click here.
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Get informed while on the move with podcasts our team has recommended. Click on each title to visit their sites.
- For people and the environment listen to: Earth to Humans Podcast
- For politics and the environment listen to: Outrage+Optimism
- For entertainment and the environment listen to: Sustainababble
- For insights to the travel industry listen to: Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast
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Connection is at the core of the IEI’s mission. These are organisations that our members are also involved with who share our ethics and vision. Click to visit their sites.
- International Society of Ecotourism