Earth-friendly technologies used by tourist facilities will be showcased this September 19 to 23 at the International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST) in Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Dubbed the Ecolodge design and planning workshop, the training course will feature eco-architect and natural landscape artist Hitesh Mehta, acknowledged as the world’s ecolodge guru, who will touch on site planning techniques to enable participants implement ecolodge guidelines and certification standards.
Ecolodge seeks to uphold the social and ecological integrity of the environment, and allow for sustained benefits from ecotourism without damaging or destroying the natural resources on which they depend.
Mehta will lecture on the topics ecotourism and ecolodges, site analysis and planning ecoutourism facilities, architectural aspects of ecotourism facilities, and creative design, technology and construction trends in ecolodges.
Mehta has done projects in more than 55 countries from ecolodges to housing, community centers, national parks and nature reserve, tourism accommodations, malls, religious and cultural centers.
A collaboration with the United Architects of the Philippine and the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects, the course is designed for landscape architects, land developers, professors and students on design and architects, eco-tour operators, local communities and companies interested in investing in eco-friendly tourism structures.
Presentations include Impact of Tourism on Indigenous Flora and Fauna in the Philippines by Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society president Anthony Arbias, Sustainability Initiatives in Tourism by Palawan Council for Sustainable Development executive director Nelson Devanadera,
There will also be an input on contextual Filipino architecture which will take into account the availability of indigenous materials, topography and local design.
The five-day course will enable participants incorporate renewable energy and efficient waste and water management systems into design and construction, and reduce building footprints by integrating infrastructure with natural landscape,” said ISST president Mina Gabor,.
She said that participants will also conduct an onsite metaphysical and physical analysis of the Dinalupihan Nature Park in Bataan, and present conceptual ecolodge site plans for the plenary workshop.
Gabor said the workshop is in line with the country’s hosting of the first Asia Pacific Natural Landscape Conference and Exhibition in April 2017.
The Ecolodge workshop is supported by Philippine Airlines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Tourism, Subic Lighthouse Marina Resort, and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).