Conserving efforts

October 2005

Faced with the myriad environmental issues threatening our natural environment, one man has developed an innovative approach to conservation.

Report: Natasha Whalley

"If you find something people can care about, help them to care about it and then give them the opportunity to act on it -- they'll do it," Professor Sam Ham says. It is his philosophy and the driving force behind his passion -- travel philanthropy.

Professor Sam Ham.

Professor Ham, deputy director of Monash University's Tourism Research Unit, believes tourists can be given a sense of obligation to improve the beautiful locations they visit.

Travel philanthropy programs educate travellers about environmental, socio-cultural and economic issues. They also encourage interaction between travellers, travel companies and the communities being visited.

Professor Ham has been providing expert advice to maximise travel philanthropy since 1998, when he began working on the Galapagos Conservation Fund with international travel company Lindblad Expeditions.

The fund was founded by Mr Sven Lindblad, whose cruise ships take people to a range of destinations. Mr Lindblad has a special interest in conserving the Galapagos Islands and developing a partnership between the visitor, the tourism industry and the islands' defined conservation institutions.

"To begin with, on each cruise of 80 passengers Sven raised about US$1800 for the fund, but he wondered if he could improve that result through a more systematic communication strategy, so he contacted me," Professor Ham says.

Professor Ham agreed to become involved and spent 10 days conducting interviews with Lindblad passengers.

"I designed a campaign to communicate the beliefs underlying the philanthropic behaviour we wanted to encourage.

"Then came the day of the campaign presentation, which was made in a particularly warm room in Ecuador to Sven Lindblad, the Galapagos Conservation Fund board, Charles Darwin Foundation executives and Galapagos National Park Service directors.

"I flew around the room with my charts and drawings and mock-ups, explaining the analysis and logic of the campaign and how it could bring about the behaviour we were all interested in.

"I was nearly stumped by Sven's only question -- 'How much would our donations increase?' -- but a guess of 30 per cent saw us on our way. I was concerned that I had set the bar too high, but only time would tell," he says.

During the first year of the campaign, Lindblad Expeditions raised US$6700 per cruise and has raised more than $3 million to date.

With this money, the company and its guests have successfully eradicated feral pigs and goats from the Galapagos island of Santiago. The animals had been introduced more than a century ago and were gradually destroying the island's unique vegetation.

Contributions are also used to fund community education programs, research and small projects proposed by local communities.

The communication campaign starts before the guests leave home -- with information on the internet -- and continues during the cruise. However, Professor Ham is quick to explain that in none of this material are people outwardly asked for money.

"People are informed of the special nature of the place they are about to visit -- of the flora and fauna and the local community -- but money is not mentioned.

"On the second-last night of the cruise, travellers find their bed turned down, a chocolate on their pillow and an invitation to contribute. They are provided with information on the fund and informed how to contribute if they would like to.

"This all takes place in the privacy of their room, so no-one will know if they contribute or how much."

Before working with Mr Lindblad, Professor Ham spent more than 20 years applying his work in communication psychology to conservation and tourism, with a focus on the social psychology of solving visitor behaviour issues.

"I was working at Yosemite National Park trying to find ways to persuade campers to store their food away from bears and at Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument trying to convince visitors not to take pumice home as a souvenir," Professor Ham says.

"I had been thinking about tourist philanthropy as a behaviour of interest but not in the same way Sven was envisioning -- an operator believing his own customers would want to make a difference if he only asked appropriately.

"I was worried that expectations were high and that the bar might be unreachable. I agreed anyway and today, of course, I'm very glad I did."