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How Tourism is Saving the Environment

OO does not display this tagline without good reason. By deciding to travel to see the Orangutans with OO you are directly helping them in their struggle for survival. OO is committed to donating as much money as possible to local organisations that protect the Orangutans and the environment. Be assured by visiting the Orangutans you will be helping them survive. Your tourism dollar adds value to the asset we call the Jungle and thus makes it less attractive for people to sell it off to large corporations for logging and palm oil.

At Orangutan Odysseys, we firmly believe that Tourism can help save the beautiful places we visit, such as Tanjung Puting National Park and Palangkaraya in Borneo and Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumatra. But how?

It is really a simple case of demand and supply and distribution of labour. Theory you may say but let us explain our logic:

A land holder believes he has value in the land he owns. Trees can be cut down and the timber sold and the cleared land then used to grow crops that provide an income for him and his family (we use the male in this case as this is the norm in Indonesia). These crops and the timber are only sold because there is a demand for them and the farmer or land holder can supply them at a price.

However, through tourism, we believe the land holder or farmer can also derive value from the land by protecting it from logging and farming. If we increase the demand to see the jungle that the landowner owns by visiting it and paying him money for it, then the land owner does not need to fell the trees and grow crops as his needs are met through income derived from tourism.

You may also ask "What about those that sell their labour and have no land?" Good question! They may miss out on working on the land for the landowner and thus an income. However the same principle applies to the labourer as to the landowner himself. If we increase the demand to preserve the land and provide an income to the landowner through tourism, this opens opportunities for the labourer to provide services to the industry such as guiding, porterage, cooking, security for the land, transportation and so on.

Simply put, if the land holds more value to those that own it through tourism, the land will be preserved and the wildlife within protected. By you visiting these areas, you are creating the demand and the income that subsequently protects the forest for the next visitor. On top of this, part of your expedition costs through Orangutan Odysseys is donated to Adopting an Orangutan for a year and protecting rain forest through the Safeguard program. Simple hey!