Locally-based offsets

While running a project that straddles the two worlds of conservation and travel, we have struggled with the best ways to address the carbon emissions of the trips that we promote. We certainly feel a responsibility to do our part to reduce climate change, sea turtles are especially susceptible to rising seas, bleaching reefs, and warmer temperatures. So far, we have encouraged travelers to offset their trips through reputable organizations like Sustainable Travel International and incorporated tree planting into itineraries.

However, our clear goal is to generate as much support as possible for locally-based sea turtle conservation efforts. We have decided not to include offsets in tour costs as we already include donations to turtle groups. In the sites that we work with, we can see concrete benefits from this modest funding, which wouldn't be the case with mandatory contributions toward offsets.

TreeHugger today has an interesting post on Canopy Co., an Ecuador-based organization that supports community-based offset projects. As SEE Turtles grows, we hope to support these kinds of projects that have both benefits for communities and concrete reductions in emissions, ideally in the places that we promote.