Sustainability
Care of the people
Probably the most important and often the most overlooked success factor for conservation in remote areas is the relationships that are built with surrounding communities. It’s a fundamental belief of ours that the viability and sustainability of any conservation area relies on the buy-in and sense of mutual benefits shared by the community if they are to support, value and, ultimately, safeguard wildlife.
Empowering local communities
At &Beyond , we have been among the pioneers of empowering local communities through ecotourism and honouring their traditional heritage. In addition to the employment of people from adjacent villages, we have embarked on a major skills development and training programme.
This has facilitated the creation of independent small business ventures related to tourism, and created a foundation for the construction and operation of schools, clinics and other facilities within neighbouring communities.
Expansion into Africa and India
We have now expanded our ecotourism network into six African countries, as well as to India, and the &Beyond model of community participation has become standard practice within the industry. Today, &Beyond provides direct employment for over 2 500 people, in some cases boosting the employment level on the land by 1 000%.
In some cases in Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa &Beyond ’s landlords are the traditional communities and this is the model we seek to expand to global territories with the help of grant-funders and governments seeking a new model of sustainable rural development.
