MarelisiAttempt to establish a new ecovillage

Marta Tudela

AGENDAAGENDA

o Why Marelisi? (PAN parks support zone) o What products you can find at Marelisi?o Which ideas do we have for the village?o WWF and PAN-parkso The Eco-label issue and its alternativeso What’s the opinion of the community?o Any Question?

BKNP (Borjomi-Kharagauli NP)The Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park is located in central Georgia and is part of the lesser Caucasus. The park is one of the largest in Europe - it covers more than 85,000 hectares of native forest and sub-alpine and alpine meadows, home to rare species of flora and fauna.

Why Marelisi? One of the main entrance points to the

BKNP (Train station to the principal land connetion Baku-Batumi aprox. 4Km away)

There already exists a PAN-park certified business and the owner takes a proactive approach to the BKNP ideas for the village.

There exists too a variety of preserved tradition on household products

BKNP management will encourage other projects in the surrounding region based on the result of Marelisi experience.

What products can you find?Food products:

• Bread

• Cheese and Matsoni (yogurt art)

• Honey

• Chacha (homemade vodka) and other spirits

•Non-alcoholic drinks (Edelberryjuice)

•Tekmari sauce

•Mais (Kukuruz)

•Feigen

Social & others:

• Special caucasian singing and dancing

• Bee & Horse-farms

• Monuments(Castle ruins, old watermill)

• Tamada glasses

•Clay

•Cests

TRADITIONS

EXPERIENCES

written info discussion, explanation

observation of the process

participation in the process

degustation of the produce

purchase of the traditional

produce

Honey making P E S S E I

Wine making P E S ? E I

Cheese/Yogurt making

P E E E E E

Bread baking P E E E E E

Water mills P E S S - P

Candle making P P P P P P

Carpentry P E P P - P

Mushroom growing

P P P P P P

Elder brewerage

P P S P P P

P=pendant E=existant S=seasonal I= to be improved

How you can experience the preserved traditions on spot...

... by reading about the history and details of the tradition from info-boards

... discussing the tradition with locals, who are practising it (includes demonstration of tools and explanation of process)

... observing the demonstration process done by locals

... participating (having hands-on experience) in the process, consuming the self-made produce (in a week long workshop)

... degustation of the products

... buying local products

he project will focus on converting traditional food and craft activities into tourist experiences which means that tourists coming to the National Park and in particular to the village of Marelisi / Marerlsi guesthouse will have opportunity to participate in meeting local producers, crafts people, experience activities , tasting products and buying them to take away. It will aim through developing wider market and a brand image to help increase the sales and value of traditional products in a long term.

Which ideas do we have for the village?Bike-Taxi, Horse-carriage or renting bikes or horses,when the weather conditions are optimal always counting with the actual taxi service, between Marelisi and the station.

There will be selected 3-4 families and held special trainings for capacity building in tourist services.

Create some flea-market huts in the points of the main road adecuated for that, to sell the BKNP supported products

Contact the railwayservice to promote marelisi as ecological destination.

There will be publihsed and distributed leaflets promoting honey making tour in the National park region as well as in Tbilisi, within incoming tour operators and international organizations.

Which ideas do we have for the village?information for the web pages of Borjomi-Kharagauli national Park and PAN Parks Foundation

Better signalisation on main road Kaxuri-Kutaisi.

There will be purchased special uniforms for beekeeping tour.

Information for the web pages of Borjomi-Kharagauli national Park (BKNP) and PAN Parks Foundation

Different concepts adecuated for the different type of visitors (next diashow)

Posible planned‘ scenario1. Paid educational and degustation up to 1 day, Tour

participants would be accompanied by park guide, who would provide overall information, guiding and if necessary translation, and taken to the different locations of local producers, who would carry out demonstrations, discussions, participation etc.

2.  Free tour as addition to other touristic activities basically the difference with the previous one is that the participants already payed the BKNP activity fee and they will be informed of the possibility to buy local products and guided to specific seasonal offers.

3. Written information and product‘s sales basically to short-time backpackers that come or go inside the park and it will be establish at the certified PAN park business.

4. Workshop camps up to 1 week. More deep into production methods and learning by doing principle.

WWF-ecotourismus guidelines WWF is taking action to reduce negative impacts,

and to encourage responsible tourism that enhances not only the quality of life, but also natural and cultural resources in destinations.

“Guidelines for community-based ecotourism development”WWF International

“WWF-Netherlands and Molcaten founded PAN-parks together in 1997, which works for the protection, greater understanding and appreciation of Europe’s wilderness areas. Local communities have the possibility to become directly engaged. ”

WWF-ecotourismus guidelines Responsible tourism can help to generate

awareness of and support for conservation and local culture, and create economic opportunities for countries and communities.

“Guidelines for community-based ecotourism development”WWF International

The eco-lable issue and its alternatives Packaging and labelling strategy of the local produce of

BKNP support zone is an important issue in terms of marketing the produce and making it regionally distinctive and attractive for the potential buyers (small, feasable).

It is important to provide products especially food items in a packaging that is attractive, convenient and locally distinctive.

Legally BKNP cannot sell products. PAN Parks trademark can be used and BKNP local produce label should be designed in the form of stickers so that it can be used with every local product sold through the network.

The eco-lable issue and its alternatives (problems) Locals don’t understand why they should sell in little

ammounts, while they actually sell more profitable to the capital -> no freewilling investor

The sounding of the necessity of the BKNP still poor in the area, locals see visitors as menance and the main local income used to be a wood fabric, while now poaching is illegal.

There is controversy if such products really need to be marked as ecological or that the lable will just add an extra-price to the sell makeing it not affordable.

No sistematic study had been carried yet on the suitability of the different lable sistems because of a lack of fonds and personal in the BKNP.

The eco-lable issue and its alternatives (solutions?)

Our proposal was to involve the local carpenters to design a distinctive wood container in the begining of the inicitative so as to make product recognizable and to give real prespective to de local people on the benefits they can get by cooperating with the BKNP always as a sustainable basis. Then in a second phase, a eco-lable could be implemented.

Important Issues...To implement a factible ecovillage, The BKNP needs to know...

... what actions are currently being taken at Marelisi, and by whom, which are supporting or damaging the local enviroment?

... what type and level of incentive might be needed to change actitudes in order to achive worthwhile conservation benefits? Will the ecotourism in the area deliver this?

... encourage the communities themselves to be more directly involved in conservation-> integrated approach to ecotourism within the context of sustainable development

... which method is more effective to record feedback from visitors and tour operators and to build on this.

What‘s the oppinion of the community? The community is waiting for a big investor to set

up different ideas. The honey producers maschine cost 400 lari while in

soviet times costed 80 lari

Till now their main market is to distribute the honey throught their relatives

One idea could be to charge a little more money for the route and get a coffe or something similar while arriving at the town after 2 days of trekking

Visit to the honey makers...

Especial Thanks to... Linda Romanovska, Natia Muladze and

Levan Tabunidze Gabriel Gaglio and Flavio Lafranconi Maxime and Ieva (GLEN 2010) Jaba, Gio and Inga Temur Magradze BKNP, GREEN-Borjomi, PAN parks and

GLEN

Thanks for your time!