Introduction Activity 1: The rise of tourism Activity 2: The benefits and problems of mass tourism Activity 3: The benefits and problems of ecotourism Activity 4: Being an enlightened traveller Activity 5: Teaching about ecotourism Activity 6: Reflection
	Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
	UNESCO acknowledges the generosity of Educational Web for providing this section of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future.
	An Ecotourism Simulation Game This activity simulates the planning and decision-making processes involved in a case study of ecotourism in Ecuador. The simulation is modelled on the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' type of game, and is called 'Amazon Interactive: The Ecotourism Game'. The game may be used by students in the later years of primary school (depending on their reading skills) right up to senior secondary school. The indigenous Quichua community of Rio Blanco in the Ecuadorian Amazon was founded in 1971 by Quichua migrants from the Andean foothills. They moved to Rio Blanco because population growth and the movement of agricultural workers into their area meant that land was becoming scarce. The local economy is no longer based on subsistence agriculture and hunting as many of the Quichua have started producing cash crops such as coffee, cacao, rice and maize. Rapid population growth and rising costs of living in the past twenty years have forced the community to expand the amount of land under cultivation. As a result, the rainforest has been decreasing. By 1995, forest accounted for less than half of the community's main block of land.
	Facing continued population growth, the community is considering the development of an ecotourism project as an alternative economic activity which may also protect the forest. This is the scenario for 'Amazon Interactive: The Ecotourism Game'. Teachers can prepare for the simulation game by reading more about the Rio Blanco project.
	Background Research Students can be prepared for the simulation through a research project: Where is the Amazon? How rainy is the rainforest? Who lives there? Making a living in the Amazon Conservation and coffee in Ecuador
	Amazon Interactive: The Ecotourism Game In this simulation, students take the role of a Quichua family living in a community of about 100 people on the banks of the Rio Pangayacu which eventually flows into the Amazon. Where your parents and grandparents used to live by hunting, fishing and growing a few crops, your community grows coffee, corn and rice to sell in the market at Rio Blanco. Increasingly, foreign tourists, mainly from North America and Europe, have come to your community. Your neighbour, Augustin, and other people in the community believe that an ecotourism industry should be started to cater for these tourists and to increase local incomes.
	However, others are afraid of the damage that this might cause to the remaining rainforest. But Augustin says that if we can earn money from the tourists, we would not have to clear any more forest for our farms. You and the rest of the community have to decide what to do. Can you balance the need for income and social development with the need to conserve the rainforest? Click image to play the game.
	Analyse what you learnt about ecotourism in the simulation game and how you might use it in your teaching: Q15: What were the two wisest decisions that you made in the simulation? Why? Q16: Name two not-so-wise decisions that you made. Why were they not-so-wise? Q17: In your experience, to what extent can ecotourism contribute to the four principles of sustainable human development? Why? Economic sustainability: Appropriate development Social sustainability: Equity and peace Environmental sustainability: Conservation Political sustainability: Democratic participation Q18: Identify (i) a grade level and (ii) a syllabus topic where you might be able to include this simulation in your teaching. Q19: How could you use the simulation if you did not have computer access for your class?