Assessments of Certification Systems in Forestry and Sustainable Ecotourism

Abstract

Certification is a concept that generally expresses the confirmation that a product, service or process has been made as specified in the rules. There are certification systems developed for different utilization processes from agriculture to fishing, tourism to health, forestry to natural resource management. Certification for ecotourism is a fairly new phenomenon. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the application of the main certification systems applied at national and international level in terms of ecotourism activities in protected areas. For this purpose, Green Star, Blue Flag, White Star, Greening Hotels, Halal Tourism Certificate, Safe Tourism Certificate etc. national certification systems with Green Globe 21, Costa Rica Certification Program, National Ecotourism Accreditation Program, New Zealand Certification Program, Europark, PanParks, Green Key, Travelife, Breeam and Leed, ISO 14001etc. international certification systems will be briefly introduced and the adaptation possibilities of each system to ecotourism will be examined.