In my last post, community-based eco-tourism: a tool for sustainable development, I highlighted how local communities all over Latin America are protecting their cultures, land and ecosystems through tourism. Without becoming tourism entrepreneurs (and thus avoiding the bad practices of mass tourism), they are providing unique and rewarding experiences for discerning travellers. Examples include star-gazing in the Atacama Desert with the Linkan Antay people (Chile), ceramic craftsmanship with rural communities in Salta (Argentina) and jungle walks into the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Colombia.

At a local level, the net economic and environmental impact of community-based eco-tourism is hugely positive. However, tourists are increasingly concerned about the impact of flying to and within Latin America, in particular with regards to CO2 emissions and their effect on global warming. At Sumak Sustainable Travel we don’t think the best way to reduce CO2 emissions is to make people feel guilty about it and encourage them to “offset their emissions”. Instead, we offer our responsible travellers an innovative, non-market-based solution to contribute to preserving the Amazon rainforest and increasing the sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere: The Bloomtrigger Project.

The Bloomtrigger project brings together individuals, businesses and primary school children enabling them to support local forestry communities on the ground by promoting sustainable development and environmental awareness. Bloomtrigger, a UK-based Community Interest Company (CIC), sells a virtual currency called blooms, where 1 bloom costs 50p and will help to protect 50m2 of rainforest. The money is then invested into a conservation project that helps develop sustainable livelihoods for the forestry community on the ground.

A bloom is a virtual currency to help protect the Amazon rainforest

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