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The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Amazon Indigenous peoples can benefit from ‘ayahuasca tourism'
Your article ('Ayahuasca tourism' is a blight on Indigenous peoples and our environment, 17 June) brings up important concerns but it looks at a complicated issue too narrowly. It is worth remembering that the word 'ayahuasca' itself is not a modern invention, but a Quechua term meaning 'vine of the soul'. It is just one of many names used for the ceremonial medicine across different Indigenous cultures – others include yagé, kamarampi, caapi, oasca and daime. Suggesting that only 'hayakwaska' is 'correct' erases the diversity of ancestral traditions across the Amazon basin. The claim that ayahuasca is marketed as a 'mystical shortcut' overlooks the reality: real work with this medicine is neither quick nor easy. True healing through ayahuasca involves deep inner effort, often accompanied by discomfort, surrender and courage – whether one is Indigenous or not. The criticism of cultural distortion and biodiversity loss is valid, especially that tourism encourages the illegal wildlife trade. But we must also acknowledge that many of the products sold to tourists (such as jaguar parts) are offered by local individuals. Given their cultural knowledge and connection to the forest, Indigenous communities can and should take leadership in educating both locals and visitors, promoting sustainable and ethical practices. To ask, 'How are 'ayahuasca tourists' giving back?' is fair. Yet tourism – when done responsibly – can be a vital source of income for rural areas, offering alternatives to logging, mining and drug trafficking. It provides jobs and preserves cultural relevance for younger MalatestaWanay Community Retreat Center, Mocoa, Colombia I agree wholeheartedly with Nina Gualinga and Eli Virkina that ayahuasca tourism takes the shaman away from their sacred work, which is the community and the land. I know that as a UK-based shamanic healer, my work is with this land. This is what brings harmony to the soul. The plants and trees of any country are the wisdom keepers and healing cannot happen anywhere unless the land is being tended and healed. This involves releasing the souls of war and empire-building, reinstating the guardians of the sacred sites and bringing ourselves back to reciprocity. Knowing our roots and tending them brings us back into relationship with ourselves. This land and our hearts need our ancestral tending right now. For our healing to involve going to Ecuador for spiritual tourism, when there is so much ancestral and earth tending to do on our soil, shows how disconnected we still are from land and mother. We cannot find that anywhere else. The plants of these sacred isles hold so much love and wisdom now in our return to the land as a mother, as a sentient loving source who holds us. The sacred plants of these isles are dandelions, thistles, dock and nettle – they support us and guide us. Our trees are oak, birch and rowan, hawthorn. It is our communication and relationship with the earth mother and the plant spirits. A sovereign connection between ourselves and our WebsterLancaster It's always fascinating to learn about such distant remote Indigenous communities, and yet find so much in common, such as their innate respect for nature. The onset of modern tourism – often appended with 'eco', 'sustainable' and 'responsible' by those exploiting Indigenous people – is a common phenomenon. However, is there a lesser of two evils? 'Ayahuasca' in Ecuador, as described in your piece, or the wholesale taking-over of Indigenous lands, livelihoods and cultures that we see in Cambodia? The forced assimilation in to the mainstream population was most violently imposed during the notorious 1970s Khmer Rouge regime but goes on insidiously ever LowrieTa Khmau, Cambodia
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
From Map to Mobile; How Adventure Tourism Logistics is Being Transformed
Digitalization is revolutionizing the way outdoor tourism operates. Manaslu Adventures is joining this transformation with tools that integrate efficiency, expansion, sustainability, and user experience. For decades, planning an adventure trip meant exchanging dozens of emails, printing maps, coordinating equipment, and trusting that everything would go as planned. Today, thanks to the digital transformation led by agencies like Manaslu Adventures, all that logistics now fits in the palm of your hand. Headquartered in Barcelona and operating in more than 15 international destinations, Manaslu has succeeded in automating and centralizing the complex organization required for an outdoor journey: permits, transportation, local guides, insurance, meals, meeting points, and more. And it has done so by developing its own technological platforms that connect the agency, suppliers, and travelers in real time. Technology That Breathes Life into Operations In the words of its Marketing Director, 'Our goal is for the traveler to focus only on enjoying the experience.' This means integrating everything from interactive maps and digital check-in to weather alerts, baggage control, and personalized options based on the type of activity and the client's experience level. Process automation has reduced internal logistics management time by more than 40%, freeing up resources for route design, improved customer service, and collaboration with local communities at each destination. A Transformation with Institutional Support This technological leap has been driven, in part, by the 'Última Milla' program, a national initiative by the Spanish Ministry of Tourism that promotes the digitalization of small and medium-sized tourism enterprises. Thanks to this support, Manaslu has been able to scale its sustainable travel model to strategic markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where demand is growing for responsible, active, high-quality experiences. This future-oriented vision positions the agency as one of the most dynamic players in the global outdoor sector. Digitalizing to Protect the Planet Beyond efficiency, Manaslu's digital transformation also has a direct impact on sustainability: optimized routes that reduce emissions, visitor management in sensitive areas, and dynamic itineraries that adapt to changing environmental conditions. In short, a more conscious approach to adventure tourism also requires smarter logistics. From Kyrgyzstan to Peru, passing through Georgia and Iceland, each route is now managed with great precision — but with the spirit of a true traveler. Because in the new era of adventure tourism, technology doesn't replace the soul of the journey — it sets it free. Media Contact Company Name: Manaslu Adventures Contact Person: Press Office Email: Send Email Country: United States Website:
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
The eight ways grooming gangs got away with their horrific abuse - as damning 200-page report reveals 'timeline of failure' which shamed Britain
It was described by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as 'a timeline of failure from 2009 to 2025' which shamed Britain. For decades, victims have been ignored while grooming gangs have been left free to walk the streets due to 'blindness, ignorance, prejudice and defensiveness'. Here, the Mail dissects the key findings in Baroness Casey's damning 200-page report. Lack of data Efforts to understand and tackle grooming gangs have been hampered by a misguided fear that examining the ethnic background of abusers could be deemed racist, Baroness Casey found. Analysis of safeguarding reviews into grooming gang offences found 'a palpable discomfort in any discussion of ethnicity in most of them'. Yet separate examination of the offenders' profiles revealed that 'a high proportion of the perpetrators in these cases were from Asian ethnic backgrounds'. Lady Casey's audit highlights how 'report after report criticises the lack of ethnicity data and calls for better data collection and research into ethnicity and cultural issues'. Meanwhile, too many well-intentioned initiatives to tackle grooming gangs 'have been dropped or superseded, or simply faded away, never to be heard from again'. In a hard-hitting rebuke to professionals and commentators who have tried to silence debate on the grooming gangs, she writes: 'It is not racist to want to examine the ethnicity of offenders. 'The people who downplay the ethnicity of perpetrators are continuing to let down society, local communities and victims – past and future – by not looking harder at the nature of offending in order to better understand it and better prevent it.' Ethnicity data on suspects Grooming suspects in major northern towns and cities are at least twice as likely to be Asian as white, the report said. According to the baroness's report, recording the 'ethnicity of perpetrators' continues to be 'shied away from'. But analysis of child sexual exploitation suspects in Greater Manchester found that between 52 and 54 per cent were Asian, despite representing 20.9 per cent of the area's population in 2021. In West Yorkshire, 35 per cent of suspects were Asian compared to 16 per cent of the county's population. This suggested 'a disproportionate over-representation of people of Asian ethnic background (roughly double) and disproportionately under-representation of people of White ethnicity (roughly half) amongst child sexual exploitation suspects', Lady Casey wrote. And statistics from Operation Stovewood – launched after the landmark Jay Report found that at least 1,400 girls were abused by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham – found that nearly two-thirds were recorded as coming from a Pakistani ethnic background. By contrast, just 4 per cent of the South Yorkshire town's population were of Pakistani ethnicity. 'The question of the ethnicity of perpetrators has been a key question for this audit, having been raised in inquiries and reports going back many years,' she wrote. 'More effort is required to identify the nature of group-based child sexual exploitation and, in particular, the ethnicity of perpetrators and offender motivations, in order to understand it better, and to tackle it more effectively.' Ethnicity data on victims Victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation are overwhelmingly white, according to police data analysed by Baroness Casey. Of those whose ethnicity is recorded, 87 per cent were identified as white, 4 per cent as black, 4 per cent as Asian and 3 per cent as Chinese or 'other'. However ethnicity was only recorded for 35 per cent of victims, leaving the origin of almost two-thirds unknown – meaning it was 'not possible to draw any conclusions' from this data. But the over-representation of white victims was even more pronounced when Lady Casey drilled down into individual police probes into grooming gangs. In Greater Manchester, out of 317 known victims of 35 different investigations, 298 were white – or 94 per cent. Five out of six were girls. Scale of abuse Horrifyingly, about 500,000 children a year are likely to experience child sexual abuse – of any kind – according to the audit. But it says that for the vast majority, their abuse is not identified, and it is not reported to the police either at the time or later. Of just over 100,000 offences of child sexual abuse and exploitation recorded by police in 2024, around 60 per cent involved 'contact' between offender and victim while the rest took place online. Highlighting the need for a thorough inquiry into organised grooming, the audit says the only reliable figure on 'group-based child sexual exploitation' comes from the new 'Complex and Organised Child Abuse Dataset'. It identified only around 700 such offences in 2023. 'Given how under-reported child sexual exploitation is, the flaws in the data collection and the confusing and inconsistently applied definitions, it is highly unlikely that this accurately reflects the true scale of child sexual exploitation, or group-based exploitation,' Lady Casey writes. 'It is a failure of public policy over many years that there remains such limited reliable data in this area.' Child protection failures The report expresses concern over a disconnect between police data on child sex abuse cases – which are on the rise – with child protection plans for sexual abuse, which are at a 30-year low. Lady Casey found social workers were unwilling to place children on protection plans for sexual abuse, preferring to categorise it as neglect. Her audit found a 'recent' case involving 'a 13-year-old girl who had been raped by three different men but was on a child protection plan for neglect'. She highlights one safeguarding review which found that professionals 'do not always feel confident to ask children about child sexual abuse'. This matters because it means 'they may not be receiving the right kind of protection', she writes. According to Lady Casey, children's services still 'fail too often to spot these factors and evidence of grooming and exploitation taking place'. These include 'obvious signs such as unexplained gifts or older men picking girls up from care homes'. Shockingly – if unsurprisingly – her analysis of serious-case reviews following cases of child sexual exploitation found that two-thirds of victims were in local authority care. Their abuse 'often' started while they were in care. 'So on this basis, being in care is a 'risk factor' for exploitation, not a protective factor.' Lady Casey also says an attitude that 'children who went missing from care were treated with less urgency because 'they always came back'' – a key finding of Professor Alexis Jay's 2014 report into the Rotherham grooming scandal – continues to 'persist'. Such children 'do not set off the same alarm bells that a parent might feel on losing contact with their child', she added. Asylum and overseas offenders The audit uncovered live grooming investigations in which asylum seekers or foreign nationals form a 'significant proportion' of suspects. Lady Casey had access to 'around a dozen live, complex, group-based child sexual exploitation police operations, the full details of which cannot be included in this report so as not to prejudice any future criminal justice outcomes'. She added: 'While the future outcomes of these investigations remain unknown, and the number of live, open cases we had access to was limited, this audit noted that a significant proportion of these cases appear to involve suspects who are non-UK nationals and/or who are claiming asylum in the UK.' In addition, several of these live operations involve an overlap between child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation, she adds. Close taxi licensing loophole The report stresses that 'most taxi drivers are law-abiding people providing an important service to the public'. However, as has repeatedly been exposed when grooming gangs have finally been brought to justice, as a 'key part of the nighttime economy' they have 'historically been identified as a way children can be at risk of sexual exploitation'. Councils issue taxi licences in line with statutory guidance. But the audit highlights how, in some areas with recognised problems of child sexual exploitation, local authorities go 'above and beyond' to provide 'additional protection for children'. 'However, they are being hindered by a lack of stringency elsewhere in the country, and legal loopholes which mean drivers can apply for a license anywhere in the country and then operate in another area,' Lady Casey writes. 'The Department for Transport should close this loophole immediately and introduce more rigorous standards.' Criminalising victims Victims of grooming gangs who have been prosecuted for child prostitution should have their convictions overturned, the baroness said. She compared the scandal to the sub-postmasters caught up in the Horizon furore, saying child victims have wrongly been prosecuted for criminal damage or inciting sexual activity by bringing other girls to be abused. It was only in 2015 that the term 'child prostitution' was removed from legislation and replaced with 'child sexual exploitation'. Between 1989 and 1995, almost 4,000 police cautions were given to children between ten and 18 for offences relating to prostitution.
ABC News
15-06-2025
- ABC News
WA government steadfast on prescribed burns despite 'mass' tree felling
The felling of what is estimated to be hundreds of tingle trees in a burn last December has sparked fresh calls for a review of prescribed burning in Western Australia.
Malay Mail
10-06-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Loke: Cruise tourism to fuel Malaysia's economy, with Penang primed as regional home port
GEORGE TOWN, June 10 — Malaysia can become a premier cruise tourism destination in South-east Asia as the country looks into transforming the sector into a key driver of national economic growth and local community development. Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the cruise industry has the potential to do more than just bring in foreign visitors. It can create thousands of jobs, elevate local heritage and culture, and promote Malaysia to the world. 'We want cruise tourism to directly benefit local communities, whether through cultural tours, port services, local food, handicrafts, or heritage experiences,' he said after officiating CruiseWorld Malaysia 2025 here today. He stated that it is not only about attracting tourists to the country but also giving visitors a chance to experience Malaysia. Loke said every cruise ship that docks in Malaysia generates significant economic activities, not only for the tourism escorts, but also for surrounding communities and small businesses. 'Each cruise ship arrival contributes to tourism revenue and also provides opportunities for cultural exchange and economic activities on the ground,' he said. He called on cruise operators and industry players to view Malaysia as a strategic home port for long-term operations instead of viewing it as a transit destination. 'Malaysia should be seen as a place to begin and end voyages, provide logistical support, and foster long-term cooperation,' he said. He also noted that making Malaysia as the home port will bring in benefits such as tourist arrivals, higher tourism revenue and stronger contribution to the Gross Domestic Product and growth in local economies. 'Penang can play a role in becoming a home port too,' he said, adding that the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal currently accommodates up to two large ships at once and plans are underway to expand it and position it as a regional cruise hub. 'Penang receives between 100 and 200 cruise ships annually, sometimes two or three in a single day. 'We want Penang Port to enhance its terminal capacity and become a key home port in the region,' he added. He noted that there needs to be close collaboration with airlines if Penang is to become a home port, as connectivity for international tourists is essential. 'Strategic collaboration between airports and ports is crucial so tourists can fly straight to Penang, embark on a cruise, and make Malaysia their destination of choice,' he said. Loke also emphasised the importance of continuing to upgrade existing port infrastructure in order to remain competitive in the region and attract high-quality foreign investment. He pointed out that next year is Visit Malaysia Year, presenting an opportunity to boost cruise tourism as a crucial component of Malaysia's transportation, tourism, and trade strategies. 'Malaysia has long been an attractive destination, but we don't just want to be a good destination, we want to become a world-class one,' he said. He said stakeholders will need to work together to ensure the success of Visit Malaysia 2026 while positioning the country as a leading cruise tourism destination in the region. When asked about regional collaboration, Loke also expressed support for Thailand's proposal to develop Asean as a single tourism market, including the introduction of a common visa that would allow seamless travel across member countries. 'We shouldn't compete against each other within Asean. Instead, we should collaborate to promote the region as one of the world's top tourism destinations,' he said.
