Dear MEET Community,
We are pleased to inform you that the 2022 election for the MEET Board of Directors has been concluded. We are excited to introduce you to the members that will compose the Board of Directors and the Presidency of the association for the next three years:
Shouf Biosphere Reserve, represented by Omar Abi Ali, and IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, represented by Antonio Troya, as representatives from the founder members;
The Travel Foundation, represented by Jeremy Sampson, as representative from the ordinary members;
Global Footprint Network, represented by Alessandro Galli as board member and president of the MEET Network Association;
Alessandro Galli - New MEET President
Alessandro Galli is a macro-ecologist, sustainability scientist, wannabe geographer, with a passion for anthropology and human behavior. Currently, he works as Mediterranean-MENA Program Director at Global Footprint Network.
His research focuses on the overall human metabolism (e.g., land-use, agriculture, fisheries, energy and climate change) and how it squares with the planet’s limits, especially in key societal sectors such as food, tourism and education. His main ambition is to contribute to and support evidence-based decision-making processes via sustainability indicators and environmental accounting tools to help address the global challenge of living well within the limits of our planet.
Since 2008, Alessandro has been working with government agencies, NGOs and academia in Europe, North and Latin America, and the Middle East. He has collaborated with the national government of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Morocco, Slovenia and Montenegro, where he supported the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism in the national transposition of the global SDGs and contributed to the country’s National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2030.
Alessandro has authored nearly 50 peer-review articles (h-index = 30), has served as Steering Committee member of the Biodiversity Indicator Partnership (BIP), and is currently member of the Scientific Committee of the MedSEA Foundation, member of the Board of Directors of the Common Home of Humanity Initiative, and scientific advisor to the Planetary Accounting Network. As of July 2022, Alessandro is the elected president of the MEET Network Association.
Global Footprint Network
Global Footprint Network is the leading organization (NGO) for Ecological Footprint research and application. It was established in 2003 to advance sustainable natural resource use and is directed by Mathis Wackernagel, co-inventor of the Ecological Footprint. Our long-standing and scientifically peer-reviewed Ecological Footprint methodology provides data for informed decision-making at the global, regional, national, sectoral, community, and personal levels.
Global Footprint Network’s vision is that all thrive within the means of our one planet. We enable our vision through our mission: to help end ecological overshoot by making ecological limits central to decision-making. Since decisions shape our future, including ecological limits as a central component of decision-making ensures people feel empowered to make decisions that recognize our planet’s limited resources and in a way that enhances resource security.
Using global Footprint results, Global Footprint Network annually calculates Earth Overshoot Day – the day when humanity has used all the resources Earth can regenerate in one year – and calls on our global audience to #MoveTheDate. In 2022, Earth Overshoot Day fell on July 28. In addition to Earth Overshoot Day, Global Footprint Network works with national and local governments to help them understand and manage their natural resources, and with various experts and international partners to analyze the Footprint of key industry sectors. Our work here aims to support leaders in developing intersectional approaches to environmental public policy by tracking and managing resource demands and assessing their economic implications.
Beyond these initiatives, Global Footprint Network owns, maintains, and promotes one of the world’s most popular individual sustainability tools – the personal Footprint calculator. Serving more than 25 million users since its launch in 2007, this tool allows users to determine their Personal Overshoot Day and relate their individual behavior to our collective trajectory. The personal Footprint calculator is available for free at https://www.footprintcalculator.org/.
Global Footprint Network has been engaged with the main partners involved in the MEET Association since long before the Association was established. Since 2016, Global Footprint Network has been engaged in the ENI CBC MEET project as member of the project’s scientific committee and, later on, it has been engaged in the DestiMED and DestiMED Plus projects funded by the Interreg Med programme.
Global Footprint Network’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity results and its Earth Overshoot Day campaign are clearly indicating that the mainstream socio-economic model adopted by our societies and by most of our economy sectors is no longer in balance with our planet, and thus needs to be upgraded. Changes are necessary in the way in which we take decisions that are consistent with the one planet reality we live in, both as society and at sectoral level.
Global Footprint Network believes that solutions and sustainable alternatives to the mainstream societal set-up exist and the participatory approach to the development of low-impact, high-quality ecotourism offers promoted by the MEET Association is one of them. This belief is what motivates Global Footprint Network in annually renewing its interest in the MEET Association.
Jeremy Sampson
Jeremy is a globally recognized leader and coalition builder, advocating for systems change that improves the impact of the travel and tourism sector on communities and the environment. Through a variety of roles in industry, academia, and civil society, he has helped to build industry and government capacities to adopt new measures of success, accelerate their response to the climate crisis, develop and promote more inclusive visitor economies, and integrate sustainability across the value chain.
Jeremy was instrumental in setting up the Future of Tourism Coalition in 2020, and currently serves as the Chair of this global movement representing 6 NGOs and more than 700 signatories. He also was a Co-Author of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action and Tourism, launched at COP26 in Scotland, an initiative which he now co-leads with colleagues at The Travel Foundation and UNWTO.
In his current role as CEO of nonprofit The Travel Foundation, Jeremy oversees a global team which has positioned itself as the leading international NGO in the travel and tourism sector. Prior to assuming this post in September 2019, he worked at the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in Spain, where he helped to launch the MEET Network, a destination management association for Protected Areas in Europe and North Africa. In addition to other industry roles, he also spent time in private sector as President of international tour operator GreenSpot Travel.
The Travel Foundation
The Travel Foundation (www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk) is a leading international non-profit organisation, and one of the leading independent bodies in the travel and tourism arena. Founded in 2003, we have been advocating ever since for a travel and tourism sector that centres communities and the environment and progresses towards a more equitable and climate positive future. We catalyse systems change through building capacity of key stakeholders, raising awareness of root issues, and bringing private and public sector together to define collective and transformative solutions.
The Travel Foundation is delighted to join the MEET board! We have been involved for many years with MEET initiatives, specifically focused on capacity building and training, and would like to support the network in building beyond its initial success to have even deeper impact on the Mediterranean and beyond. We also believe it is important for our own advocacy work that we align with, support, and raise awareness of the models which effectively point the way forward towards a transformed tourism sector which yields net positive benefits for communities and the environment.
Omar Abi Ali
Omar Abi Ali is Ecotourism Coordinator at Shouf Biosphere Reserve in Lebanon. Omar has more than 6 years of experience in nature conservation and nature-based tourism. He has planned and coordinated several projects in rural tourism development, nature conservation and environmental solutions. He is also in charge of planning and monitoring protected areas entrances, and provides support to tourism service providers in their ecotourism activities. Omar has helped to raise the profile of Shouf as an internationally recognized protected area and ecotourism destination.
"MEET aims to bring together Protected Areas and regional sustainable tourism associations and networks, destinations, global operators, professionals, and academicians to improve sustainable and Eco-tourism in the Mediterranean. It provides advocacy and thought leadership, and encourages innovation and authenticity in sustainable tourism. The MEET Association helps to evaluate sustainable tourism practices and disseminate authentic ecotourism trends. MEET is a big team, which allows tourism businesses within a destination to better meet the need of their visitors in a sustainable way. Being part of the Board helps me a lot in gaining and sharing my experience with experts from all over the world".
Shouf Biosphere Reserve
The Shouf Biosphere Reserve (SBR) was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2005. It includes: AlShouf Cedar Nature Reserve (established in 1996), the Ammiq Wetland protected area, and twenty two (22) villages surrounding the biosphere from the eastern and western sides of the Barouk and Niha mountains. The SBR is the largest nature reserve and accounts for a quarter of the remaining cedar forests in Lebanon. The size of the reserve makes it a good location for conservation of biodiversity. The SBR has become a popular destination for ecotourism activities (hiking, snowshoeing, bird watching, etc…).
The main three functions of a Biosphere Reserves (UNESCO-MAB) are:
1- Conservation: landscapes, ecosystems, species, and genetic variation
2- Development: economic and cultural
3- Logistic support: research, monitoring, environmental education, and training.
The Shouf Biosphere Reserve grants you a network of ecotourism services highlighting the revival of the traditional practices that protect the environment and the human beings. Some of the various activities and experiences that visitors can enjoy are: hiking, snowshoeing, visiting farmlands and picking vegetables and fruits, learning about beekeeping and honey picking, accompanying shepherds, making Saj bread and manakish, identification and picking of wild edible plants, wine making, culture arts and handicrafts…
Antonio Troya
Licensed in Biological Sciences, specialized in Environmental Biology, from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Antonio has carried out diverse senior positions in the Spanish State Administration and 9 years in the European Institutions, such as in the European Commission and in the European Council.
In June 2010, Antonio was appointed as Director of the Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN-Med).
"We are thrilled that protected areas in the region will not only have the tools and knowledge they need to ensure that tourism has a net positive impact on their territory, but also a place to work with other like-minded parks to promote a new vision of Mediterranean tourism to the market".
IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) aims to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation works to bridge gaps between science, policy, management and action in order to conserve nature and accelerate the transition towards sustainable development in the Mediterranean. It was created in 2010 to handle the common problems affecting the region, which are posing a threat to the rich diversity of flora and fauna in the Mediterranean, a key tourist destination.
The main strategic lines of IUCN-Med aim to address biodiversity loss and climate change impacts through innovative and targeted initiatives represented in the following six new working areas and key topics: Nature-based Solutions and Climate Change, Marine Biodiversity and Blue Economy, Ecosystem Resilience and Spatial Planning, Nature Conservation and Food Systems, Biodiversity Knowledge and Action, and a Regional Focus on North Africa.
A new chapter is beginning with the newly elected Board of Directors and President of the association. And we are confident that it will hold exciting things for the future of the network!