Roger Smith
Travel for Nature: Yellow-cheeked crested gibbons (Cambodia), protected by Keo Seima carbon offset program Filip Argo Everland
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
We’ve been a leader in travel for nature for many years. Now we’re collaborating with Sustainable Travel International to help us achieve four core goals that strengthen our commitment to conservation travel through climate action, global collaboration, citizen science and guest empowerment
Do you ever feel you are the odd one out when it comes to wanting your government to act on climate change or protecting nature? I was like that too until I learnt recently that most people agree with me.
Imagine this. You’re sitting in an auditorium with 100 randomly selected people when this announcement comes over the PA system: “raise your hand if you think governments should do more about climate change.” How many people do you think would respond? Maybe 10 or possibly 15? And that’s probably right but if the 100 were asked to do a secret ballot roughly 89 of the 100 people would answer ‘yes’ to that question.
Most people think they will be branded as radical if they admit to being concerned about climate change but a 2024 global study led by the Bonn University in Germany showed that the vast majority of people — in multiple countries, from poor to rich — are very concerned about government inaction on climate change and want much more decisive action.
Supporting this research is a survey done by the United Nations Development Programme (UNEP) called the Peoples’ Climate Vote:2024 which looked at peoples’ thoughts on how we humans are impacting on both climate and nature.
72% of people want their governments to move away from fossil fuels and a staggering 81% “want their country to do a lot, like planting trees and protecting wildlife.” (from the UNEP report).
But it’s the silent majority of 89% that fills me with hope.
Travel for Nature: an all-in-one framework for travel
That silent majority has helped us build what we think is a first for tourism in Australia: an all-in-one Travel for Nature framework that sets Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours apart as a leader in wildlife tourism in Australia.
We’ve woven four goals together to build our Travel for Nature program. Over the next few months, through stories like this, I’ll take you through what we’ve achieved on the journey to meeting each of our core goals:
Goal 1: Enact our Climate Action Plan
Goal 2: Collaborate Globally with Other Stakeholders
Goal 3: Increase our Conservation & Citizen Science Programs
Goal 4: Keep in Touch with Our Guests
To find out how we’re achieving our goals read our Travel for Nature report:
This article is about how we’re starting to make our tours carbon neutral. It all starts with people power…..
Goal 1: Enact our Climate Action Plan
Over the years I’ve met many people working across the globe in the sustainability sector of the tourism industry. They’re all amazing folk who face a similar challenge: to build a powerful message that being a good planetary citizen is incumbent on the travel sector.
Their message is simple: without a healthy planet tourism will collapse.
With their support we published our “Conservation Travel Framework” in June 2024. In it we looked beyond Sustainability and Climate Action to a more holistic package. We wanted all environmental elements of a travel experience to be considered when designing and operating a tour. Each tour must “give back” to the planet using Travel for Nature as the catchcry.
Our first step was to reduce our carbon footprint which meant all Echidna Walkabout’s tours should become carbon neutral…fast. But to do that we needed a hand. We searched for an organisation to help out and landed on Sustainable Travel International.
We chose Sustainable Travel International because it has:
- a complete understanding of the travel industry
- a global reputation for integrity and sincerity
- 23 years experience in sustainability in travel
STI has proved to not only be helpful but also very patient!
To arrange travel for nature takes patience and hard work
Calculating carbon emissions is complex but STI’s dedicated support team helped us with simple, clear stepping stones. Our figures went into their carbon calculator which uses globally learnt algorithms to produce quantitative estimates of emission outputs.
I call this a “top down” approach; for example, to calculate vehicle emissions we provide tour distances, vehicle type and passenger numbers. That information is fed into the calculator which figures out the emissions for us.
The result has been a process which divides our carbon emissions into two components:
- Tour emissions and
- Customer flight emissions.
Tour emissions: Reductions vs. Offsets
By separating emissions related directly to operating a tour we were able to calculate the total emissions for all our tours. We can now report that tours we operated from July 2024 to June 2025 emitted approximately 96 metric tonnes of carbon or equivalent (expressed as “96 mCO2e”).
A significant result of our work was the discovery that we’ve already been reducing our emissions in two areas:
- Reducing flight legs: By extending stays in individual locations.
- Optimising tour operations: Running multiple tours back-to-back significantly reduces vehicle and guide movements.
While direct reductions are paramount, at present it is difficult to eliminate all emissions. Therefore, we are utilising high-quality, ethical carbon offsets supplied by Sustainable Travel International to compensate for our 2024-2025 emissions. We aim to strategically adjust our offsets from 2025-2026 and onwards. This aligns with our commitment to “Decarbonise by delivering on science-based emission targets.”
Our guides’ pre and post flights and vehicle movements are included in our emissions calculations however our guests’ pre and post tour travel are not included.
Flight emissions, the toughest of all
All of us working in travel know that flight is by far the highest emitter of carbon in travel and one that we have little control over. We can’t precisely calculate flight emissions because we don’t know where our guests’ home ‘ports’ are located nor do we know if they will take other journeys unrelated to our tours.
This is not a cop out, it’s a reality of travel.
Although airlines and aircraft manufacturers are working to reduce emissions, we must accept that at present there is no solution to people flying (or driving) to their tour destination unless, of course, all their travel is close to home. But that’s not realistic.
So we’ve dealt with emissions from flight in three different ways:
- Reducing the number of flights legs by planning tours where all destinations (if there is more than one) are reasonably close to each other
- Designing tours where guests stay longer in a single location eg. 7 days instead of 2 days
- Offsetting emissions by offering guests ethical offset options
Emission offsets have been offered to us by Sustainable Travel International through its emissions calculator. The offsets used are credible, ethical, support local wildlife and communities and more. Soon you will see that all the tours on our websites include a carbon calculator that our guests can use to calculate and offset their emissions knowing that they are purchasing ethical offsets. This is another way we are making progress on our Travel for Nature journey.
Sustainable Travel International offers ethical offsets. You can use the calculator below to estimate your emissions then pay to ethically offset your flights (or other travel) in a range of currencies. Because these offsets are ethical they may cost a little more than others but we guarantee they will never be used again and will support wildlife, biodiversity and local communities.
Travel for Nature using Our Climate Impact Projects
We have joined Sustainable Travel International’s Climate Impact Portfolio which enables us to contribute to 7 significant global CO2 reduction projects that includes a mix of forestry, energy, blue/teal carbon, and innovative climate tech projects. One example is:
Keo Seima: how an ethical offset works
Keo Seima – southern Cambodia
This project conserves a large section of tropical forest that holds significant cultural, spiritual, and economic value to the Indigenous Bunong people. The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary protects this area from unsustainable farming and logging and addresses social issues that drive communities to extractive practices. Along with safeguarding tree species that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet, the sanctuary provides a refuge for endangered species like the yellow-cheeked gibbon and impedes wildlife trafficking. The project promotes climate-smart farming practices and engages communities in sustainable livelihoods, including tourism, reducing the need to clear forests and poach rare species while cutting emissions from deforestation. Along with creating new community enterprises and income generation opportunities, the project addresses issues like hunger, poverty, and lack of access to education. The project meets 8 Sustainable Development Goals
This project is linked to two significant local conservation efforts: the Elephant Valley Project (elephant protection) and the Jahoo Gibbon Camp (conserving Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbons)
Read full details about all 7 projects here: Projects in Our Current Portfolio
Watch how the Keo Seima project is empowering women and protecting and growing forests. Video produced by the Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia
Our chosen offset projects are vital in our efforts to regenerate, restore and protect ecosystems. They reflect our belief in Responsible Travel and Support for Indigenous Peoples and align with our commitment to Collaborate globally with other stakeholders (Goal 2).
In my next post I’ll explain how Goal 2 helps you Travel for Nature through global collaboration
In the meantime enjoy being one of the 89%
Help unleash the power of Conservation Travel
Step into the future of travel. Join one of our Conservation Travel tours. An increasing number of these tours include an important Citizen Science project.
➡️Echidna Walkabout is a Founding Member of Australian Wildlife Journeys.
➡️We create, guide and operate tours for Australian Geographic Travel
➡️$10 from every person on tour goes to Koala Clancy Foundation
➡️Donate to Koala Clancy here
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