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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Canada: World Summit of EcotourismThe First World Summit of Ecotourism, which took place in the Quebec City (Canada) between 19 and 22 May, approved the so-called Quebec Declaration of Ecotourism that is supposed to point out the main directions of this sustainable development industry. More than 1,100 representatives from 133 countries, including 40 tourism ministers, gathered for the first time to discuss the problems related to the ecotourism development in the world as the United Nations declared 2002 to be an International Year of Ecotourism. The event was organized by the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) and by the Tourisme Quebec (TQ). The Quebec Declaration and its recommendations will be presented for discussion at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit) in August-September in Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa). This declaration defines the basic concepts of ecotourism as well as the ways of protecting the environment and developing the industry harmoniously with the fragile ecosystems and the local populations. The first thing that makes impression on the Summit is the surprisingly high number of participants. The organizers expected to get together 500-600 participants and the final number of more than a thousand impressed even the biggest optimists. But far more important aspects of the Summit hide below the numbers. The participants have discussed ways of make regulations of ecotourism more effective. They also have agreed on how to promote the ecotourism around the world and how to sell the idea to the most remote parts of our planet. The forum focused on discussing ideas of funding analyses on the eventual costs and benefits of ecotourism practices around the world and especially in the Third World countries. But why the United Nations decided to rank so high the ecotourism? First, many regions in the world don't have enough human and natural resources to count on any other sustainable economic development industry other than the ecotourism. Second, this may be a very effective tool for conservation of the natural environment while developing market economy in some Third World countries. Third, in such a way the industry helps bring closer the different cultures around the world. What should we expect in the near future? The ecotourism is still in its infantile period. It can be compared with the stores of all-natural products in North America and Western Europe 5-10 years ago. The massive tourism, especially for the poor countries, still means destructing the natural landscape and turning it into tourists-friendly environment at any cost. It's obvious that without major change in the Western tourist preferences there will be no major shift towards the ecotourism. So once again the ball is in the field of the West. As the consumer groups refuse to buy textile made by children under 12, so the western tourists have to refuse going to the countries that have sacrificed their future for a limited current benefits.
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