There’s conservation – and then there’s Conservation. Fair Trade is an organisation that promotes Conservation: environmental sustainability coupled with economic responsibility.

A Fair Trade certification means that the coffee or the chocolate you buy has been grown in the third-world country where the label says it has; that the growers or labourers were not exploited; that environmentally sustainable growing and harvesting methods were used, and that the beneficiaries of your consumer spend are being empowered in some way to better themselves. Fair Trade in Tourism does the same with the tourist industry. It ensures that tourism product – especially tourism product that calls itself community tourism or eco-tourism – fulfils certain very stringent requirements regarding ethics and sustainability.

There is a very real need for this, as I can personally name off the top of my head five tourism places that call themselves community lodges or eco-lodges when they are nothing of the kind: the name is used merely as a branding exercise. But when a lodge or product carries the Fair Trade in Tourism SA certificate, it means that the places does what it says it does, and that an eagle-eyed team pay regular visits to make sure that these conditions are continually met. Fair Trade is a good name: it can refer to trading with fair practices, but it can also be ‘punningly’ used to refer to the fair trade-off of sacrificing some comfort and convenience in order to make your tourism dollar do good for the poorer communities who have little other option for survival. Earlier this month I went along to two Fair Trade in Tourism products, and one aspirant Fair Trade applicant, to see what Fair Trade is all about. On the one hand it was inspiring to see responsible tourism in action, but it also showed that we, as a species, have a long way to go before we can say we live in balance with our environment!

I came away from this trip with the realisation that changing your light-bulbs (while it may be a good start) is not going to make the slightest bit of difference to the damage we are doing to our planet. The three products were on the Wild Coast. The first problem was getting there: Helen Turnbull from Fair Trade had to transport journalists while at the same time keeping our carbon footprint as low as possible. The biggest drawback for much of Fair Trade is the isolation of the tourism camps - they might be low-impact in themselves but reaching them requires a massive expenditure of fossil fuel and travelling time. The Wild Coast destinations are not for people in a hurry – roads are bad and few and far between. The first place was the Drifters camp called Wild Coast Inn. Drifters runs a five day walking trail along the incomparable Wild Coast. The overnight stops along the hike have names that sing with the romance of the Wild Coast: Msikaba, Lupitana, Mbotyi, Mandeku and Ntofufo. There are several versions of the hike – the wuss version is catered and accommodated, and a driver transports your bags from camp to camp. The more he-man version requires you to carry your own gear (although porters can be hired to help). The Drifters set-up is the outcome of a failed government development scheme that was put out to tender after it collapsed in 2004. Drifters got the concession to run the trails and operate the camps.

The community pay-off is that the participating communities get a concession fee and employment. The camps run largely on solar and wind power and gas; recycling is the norm. However, Drifters is not yet Fair Trade certified as there are a few conditions that still need to be met. Tourists who do this trail are mostly South Africans who want to walk the beaches and cliffs of the stunning Wild Coast, and it really is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. For the consumer, supporting this Drifters hike is a good way to inject some cash into the local economy. To find out more, you can go onto the hiking page of the Drifter’s website: www.drifters.co.za/hikingcycling2009.asp

What I will state categorically is that at the Wild Coast Inn we had the best mussel soup I have ever had in my life! The next stop was Bulungula Lodge, which was a completely different experience.

 This place is Fair Trade in spades – there is no pretension to cater for tourists, you live just like the local people and they wander in and out of the camp at will, chatting to visitors over the night-time campfire and sharing your samp and beans at lunch. Bulungula is the project and passion of ex-Capetonian David Martin and his family.

Dave has always been a keen advocate of tourism as a tool for rural empowerment, and after a stint overseas he brought his family to this desolate spot where these desperately poor people live, and started a lodge. But more about that next week….. In the meantime, have a look at www.fairtrade.org.za/