Sustainability Policies
Nutty’s Adventures is totally committed to the concept that tourism must be operated in a sustainable way and that it should bring benefit to all parties involved. With community-based tourism, this means working closely in cooperation with small rural communities, often in quite remote parts of the country. By their nature, these communities, and the environment in which they are located are fragile. Therefore, if benefits are to be gained by the communities, the company and our customers in the long term, serious concrete steps must be taken to safeguard the communities, their cultures and their natural environments; steps to protect them from physical and cultural degradation. It is therefore a prerequisite of CBT that it be sustainable, and this extends to all our operations and office management.
Nutty’s Adventures in one of only four tour operators in Thailand to be certified by Travelife for Excellence in Sustainability.
Community and culture
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Low impact – the numbers of visitors to each community are kept small by rotating arrivals among a number of different communities.
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Each party of arrival is kept small (2-6 persons)
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All clients are briefed in advance on how to behave in a culturally sensitive way during their stay in the village.
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Community enterprises that strengthen the cohesion of the community are supported
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Clients are encouraged to support the local economy.
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All local transport employed is low-impact village transport
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Wherever possible we try to create additional employment in the community to help keep families together and provide alternatives to illegal or detrimental activities.
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We promote local culture and traditions to help keep them alive for future generations.
Environment – local and general
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Along with instilling pride in their traditional culture heritage, we also endeavour to instill pride among community members in their natural heritage, as the two are often intimately entwined. With pride in these aspects of their life, from knowing that visitors have come half away round the world to experience them, will come the desire to preserve them.
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The additional employment and economic stimulus that visitors will bring may reduce harmful activities such as illegal logging and poaching, and so aid the aim of environmental protection.
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The company’s activities extend beyond CBT however and we are engaged in more general tourism activities: soft adventure and activity holidays, general sightseeing, beach breaks and teach and travel programmes.
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Our commitment to sustainable operations extends to all of these areas, influencing our choice of hotels, transport and activities.
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All our tours are structured in a way to reduce their environmental impact and all associated transport, with a strong preference for public surface transport rather than flights or private transport.
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All food is purchased locally, to boost the local economy and reduce any impact on the environment.
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Trekking, kayaking, rafting and cycling are major activities in many of our programmes.
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We avoid environmentally harmful activities such as off-road racing, mountain biking, zip lining, etc.
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Captive animals are featured in our tours only if they are humanely treated, well housed, well fed and with good medical care. Only domesticated animals may be used for riding and no animals used for performing tricks.
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Wild animals may only be viewed from afar with no interaction with people.
Partners
To ensure the highest standards of sustainability in our operations, it is important to work with partners, whether local tour operators or accommodation providers, who understand our policy and agree with it. We provide help in this area with detailed best practices and we now have signed agreements to follow or guidelines with the most important of them. Annual self-assessments will be introduced within the next few months.
The company’s sustainability will be judged not just by the operations of it tours but also the running of its office.
Housekeeping
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All office practices are geared to reducing consumption and waste.
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Use of water and electricity are monitored and goals set for their reduction
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Use of paper and all office supplies are also monitored and goals set for their reduction.
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Only non-toxic cleaning materials and water-based paints are used in the office.
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We actively aim to reduce the use of disposable and consumer goods.
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Where possible we purchase products in bulk, to reduce the amount of packaging materials.
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We have a policy commitment to monitor carbon emission from company travel and compensate for it. Business travel is minimized by the use of video conferencing.
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Comply with the national legislation concerning waste disposal
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All waste that can be recycled, is recycled.
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We have eliminated all single-use plastic from our office and our operations.
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Printing is kept to a minimum
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Batteries are safely disposed of.
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All vehicles used by the company are regularly serviced and properly maintained.
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All staff receive regular training in the sustainability policy and operations of the company.