THE HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE
HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE THREE WHO’S WHO | 2020
Happiness Roundtable for 2020 brings direction and inspiration to the nexus of well-being, tourism & wildlife. It asks and answers the questions: What localized approaches to strengthening community well-being are needed in the face of covid-19 and future pandemics? How can tourism and/or wildlife foster community well-being for vulnerable populations in the face of covid-19 and future pandemics? How can localized approaches to community-wellbeing be supported by national and international policy?
WELLBEING + TOURISM + WILDLIFE
BETH ALLGOOD HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE CONVENOR
Beth is the US Country Director for International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). As US Director for IFAW, Beth oversees IFAW’s projects and campaigns across the United States. She also represents IFAWs global conservation and animal welfare priorities to the US government and international institutions based in the country. And of course, she leads IFAW’s innovative work to look beyond GDP for alternatives that better promote happiness and well-being for people and animals. Beth has spent her career in government, nonprofit and the private sector focusing on grassroots programs and wider policy discussions with a goal of helping communities while simultaneously protecting irreplaceable wildlife.
BETH’S VISION As individuals and as a society, we are starting to understand the need to move away from measuring GDP as a proxy for happiness, and to measure and promote policies and practices for happiness and well-being. As we develop these policies and practices, we can’t forget that our well-being is connected to the other species that inhabit our planet with us. My vision for the happiness movement is that it includes not just our individual happiness and well-being but the well-being of all humans, all non-human species and the planet itself. I envision a world where we recognize our connection to everything and everyone, embrace this connection, and find ways to care for everything on earth as if it were a piece of us and impacted our well-being, happiness and sustainability. Because at the deepest level - it really does. In our new, post COVID reality, I believe this world will have more equity among the human populations and communities AND a deeper understanding and appreciation for the important role that animals play in our lives - not just in keeping us healthy and economically strong, but spiritually and emotionally connected – and that we will value it accordingly.
PRABU BUDHATHOKI
Prabhu Budhathoki, Ph.D., former member National Planning Commission of Nepal, has been active since last three decades in the field of sustainable development, natural resource management, participatory biodiversity conservation, environment and climate change. He holds extensive experience of working with the government agencies, international development organisations and NGOs from making policies to programme implementation. Dr. Budhathoki was Country Representative of IUCN in Nepal form 2006-08 and has also worked for UNDP and FAO in Nepal, Iran and Bangladesh as Chief Technical Advisor for more than a decade to help design and implement various natural resource management policies and programmes for sustainable environment, livelihood improvement and climate change resilience. Before joining international agencies, he was associated with the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation of Nepal for about 13 years in various capacities including warden of Chitwan and Langtang National Parks popular for national and international tourists. Dr. Budhathoki is one of the authors of 14th Development plan (detail) of Nepal and Nepal’s Position Paper on Rio+20. Currently he is serving as an Adjunct Professor in Institute of Forestry of the Tribhuvan University in Nepal and teaches human dimension of wildlife management and participatory conservation. With a passion on nature arts and crafts, since last few years, he has been organising art workshops and exhibitions to promote nature art and nature –human harmony through art in Nepal..
PRABU’S VISION The ultimate aim of human life is salvation from all suffering. Salvation comes from fulfillments or the end of all desires. Similarly, key to happiness is reduction of desires. We must understand that reduction of desires does not mean reduction of human duties but in contrary performing more duties rightfully which means duty with love, compassion and empathy towards all living and non living beings or nature. I like to remember here one verse of Yujur Veda, an ancient Hindu text ‘The one who loves all intensely, begins perceiving in all living beings, a part of himself. He becomes a lover of all, a part and parcel of the Universal Joy. He flows with the stream of happiness, and is enriched by each soul.’ Human wellbeing and happiness depends on how we interact with our nature. The COVID -19 pandemic has severely exposed human capacity and vulnerability, and our knowledge gap on natural phenomena. This crisis clearly signals us that human beings are a part of nature not the master and suggests resetting our lifestyles and development pathways. This means we should be ‘just’ to our fellow beings as well as ‘just’ to nature. Not competition but coexistence and love with fellow beings and nature are keys to our sustenance and wellbeing. Since ancient times it is clear that our wellbeing and happiness depend on how much we will ‘give’ and ‘give up’. Unfortunately most of the human actions so far have been mostly guided by greed than the accumulated human wisdoms. As we are reaching a tipping and turning point, our chance of continued existence depends on our choice.
JON HALL
Jon Hall is a Policy Specialist for the United Nations Development Program. Jon has been thinking about how to quantify – and influence - national development since 2000. His 2002 work for the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Measuring Australia’s Progress won a national award as the “smartest” social project of the year. From 2005 – 2009 he led the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies at the OECD promoting these ideas around the world and since 2012 has been working on strengthening national human development reporting. Jon has a masters degree in applied statistics and econometrics, and another in public service administration. He has lectured in over 50 countries and has a particular interest in measuring happiness. In 2013 he was one of ten “global opinion leaders” to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss his work. Jon is one of the contributors to the World Happiness Reports. Jon is the founder of mammalwatching.com
JON’S VISION Covid-19 and wildlife tourism are linked in both directions. This was a pandemic waiting to happen, and it seems almost certain that it came about (as many experts predicted) from human pressure on ecosystems, particularly the most biodiverse ecosystems. This has brought people, nature and new viruses into contact for the first time. Yet nature alone doesn’t pay the bills and so it is no surprise that when people are going without it is tempting to clear a little more forest for agriculture, or take a few more pangolins to the market. Wildlife tourism puts a value on protecting wildlife that – when done properly – gets to the local community. Ironically, and in the other direction, as tourism has dwindled from the pandemic, we see stories of rampant poaching again in areas that were once top safari destinations. Wildlife tourism is a nature-based solution that helps people, and ecosystems, at the same time in a very clear way. As countries begin to reopen and rethink directions, post Covid, we should encourage everyone to bear this in mind. And, as any avid bird - or mammal - watcher will tell you: observing a wild animal, particularly one you have never seen before, is pretty much the most intense form of happiness imaginable!
NATARAJAN ISHWARAN
Ish, as he's popularly and widely known, is the Editor in Chief of ELSEVIER's Environmental Development Journal. He studied animal ecology and zoology at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka before obtaining a Ph.D. in Science and Wildlife Management from Michigan State University in the United States. Following his arrival at UNESCO in 1986, he worked on the implementation of the natural component of the World Heritage Convention and other environmental initiatives such as the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, Biosphere reserves and the International Geoscience Programme. He headed the Natural Heritage Section of the World Heritage Center from 1996 to 2004, before being appointed Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences and Earth Sciences of UNESCO. In 2012, he left this position to bring his expertise to the International Center on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage in Beijing, China. Since 2013, he has been responsible for the Asia-Pacific region at ProNatura International.
ISH’S VISION This is my vision for community well-being in the face of Covid-19 and future pandemics. The COVID-19 pandemic has for the first time led to the abandonment of the singular focus on GDP and economic growth and raised public health as the number one concern of all nations. The post-pandemic recovery phase is a good moment to emphasize the need to broad-base our understanding and appreciation of human well-being beyond economic or any other single-sector measures (including even public health). Planet Happiness has suggested a way forward. Taking tourism destinations as the foci it is trying to contextualize the meaning of happiness and wellbeing based on impressions, perceptions and feelings of both residents and visitors. While it is impossible to base human well-being measures on everyone of the more than 7 billion humans, contextualization of well-being measures based on specific places and particular moments is a necessary first step before we attempt to prescribe global, national or even in-country provincial indicators. Context and community need to become the starting point for understanding the varied ways people link economic, ecological and social pillars of sustainable development to plan their futures. The better we appreciate and understand the diversity of people’s approaches to sustainability the more targeted our strategies and policies at higher hierarchical scales will be in serving people’s needs and aspirations. Hence, the Planet Happiness experiment to measure wellbeing of visitors and residents at tourism destinations is an important first in trying to establish links between the global and the local and deserves to fully supported by all organizations and institutions with a global agenda to improve local well-being.
CHI LO
Chi is a sustainable tourism expert with 14 years’ experience across four continents. She specializes in sustainability strategic planning and reporting, cross-sectorial and cross-cultural relationship building, with particular interests in community-based tourism, wildlife, (food) waste, and certification. As a consultant, she coaches sector entities aiming to become more sustainable. She is currently serves as an advisory board member for the World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage, as a tourism advisor for the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, and sits on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council Communications & Membership Working Group.
CHI’S VISION Global initiatives can benefit from the convergence of happiness and well-being as a core driver for sustainability and its three pillars - economy, society, and environment. Working in concert, sustainability and happiness ensure that our homes, communities, livelihoods, and earth’s most precious resources will be safeguarded now and in the future, freeing us to pursue what brings us joy and contentment. Through the Happiness Alliance and Planet Happiness' focused approach, we can better understand how sustainable tourism development strategies intersect with human enjoyment and wellbeing. Can lessons from sustainable tourism destinations help us to better understand how effective natural and socio-cultural resource management might lead to increased happiness? Further, can the consideration of happiness within our understanding of economic health pave the way for the conscientious progression of the tourism economy and our collective society as a whole? In this age of change, we have a great opportunity to restructure how we grow as a society, and can do so by thinking creatively and considering some of the world’s most innovative and progressive destinations to learn how to balance happiness and wellbeing with economic, societal, and environmental security and prosperity.
CRYSTAL MORGENSEN
Originally from the UK, Crystal undertook research in the Maasai Mara from 2007-2014 and began working for The Maa Trust in January 2015. She has lived in a Maasai village in the Mara full time for the last 9 years. For her undergraduate studies she assessed the environmental impacts of tourism inside the Maasai Mara National Reserve and then for her Masters she examined the definition of ecotourism and the extent to which conservancies conform. For her Ph.D. she went on to investigate how development is defined within the Mara, and the extent to which conservancies contribute to community development. This Ph.D. forms the research basis for all sustainable community development interventions undertaken by The Maa Trust. This research-based development approach ensures that initiatives undertaken and supported by The Maa Trust are locally appropriate and fully sustainable. Under her guidance, The Maa Trust has expanded from a team of 3 to 26 staff and annual turnover has increased from $157,000 in 2014 to to $730,000 in 2019. Crystal met her husband Niels, who works for the Mara Predator Conservation Programme, in the Maasai Mara in 2011.
CRYSTAL’S VISION In the absence of cases to date in the Maasai Mara, the greatest impact of Covid-19 has been economic. For the Maasai Mara, one way this is being seen through young girls undergoing female genital mutilation and being married off while schools are closed as income generation for families. Tourism and conservation are dominant employers in the area, surpassed only by livestock keeping. The devastation of the wildlife tourism industry is having a profound impact upon local families. The reduction in cash income caused by the resultant mass unemployment combined with the closure of livestock markets has led to a cash flow crisis for families who do not have any disposable income to buy food and basic necessities. To combat this, livelihood diversification to alternative sustainable livelihoods is essential to cushion families from economic shocks and ensure community wellbeing in the face of Covid-19 and future pandemics. This can be achieved through vocational training, including entrepreneurship training and support. Capacity building on human rights, especially child rights, is also essential to ensure that the most vulnerable members of society do not pay the price during times of economic hardship.
LAURA MUSIKANSKI HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE CONVENOR
Laura Musikanski is executive director the Happiness Alliance (happycounts.org), a nonprofit providing tools and resources for the Happiness and Well-being Movement including the Happiness Index, since 2010. Laura is also cofounder of the Happiness Roundtable, a project convening grassroots happiness movement leadership, and Planet Happiness, a project bringing the Happiness Index to World Heritage Sites to address issues of over tourism and sustainability. She is co-author of the course book Happiness, Well-being and Sustainability: A Course in Systems Changed published by Routledge, as well as the Happiness Policy Handbook, along with former Canadian Member of Parliament Jean Crowder, and Rhonda Phillips, Dean of Purdue Honors College.
LAURA’S VISION I envision a time when there is a common perception across cultures and socio-economic statuses that humans are a part of our beautiful earth, and not separate from it, and as such that other species and ecosystems are our kin, and so we take care of each other, other species, and nature as we take care and care about of our economic systems today. My hope is that we come to this before we have so endangered and destroyed other species and ecosystems that we endanger and decimate our own species due to our current practices. Our unhealthy interaction with wildlife produced Covid-19, and my hope is that we will, as a species and in our institutions, learn from this in a positive way for all beings. In the shorter term, I hope that tourism and business as usual is transformed to conserve and restore community wellbeing and ecological health through existing and adapted ways of doing business, having fun, and being alive.
ANNA RATHMANN
Anna Rathmann is the Director of the Great Plains Conservation Foundation where she uses her experience in philanthropy and conservation to ensure natural habitats in Africa thrive while the communities who rely on them are supported. Anna began her career in conservation as a United States National Park Ranger in Yellowstone National Park, later spent more than a decade with the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC, and is an MBA candidate at Georgetown University.
ANNA’S VISION The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are broad, affecting communities around the world. In many rural areas in Africa where tourism is a major economic driver, COVID-19 has had a devastating affect on personal and community incomes. By working with community leadership to develop new nonconsumptive sources of income that are not reliant upon tourism, such as clean energy technology and wildlife monitoring, individual and community livelihoods are being bolstered against future pandemics and economic variability.
PAUL ROGERS HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE CONVENOR
Paul’s PhD centered on tourism, conservation and development issues in Nepal’s Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) National Park. He has over 20 years’ experience as a tourism advisor to national and local governments and tourism organisations, and has worked in more than a dozen countries in South and South-East Asia, Africa and Australia. His focus has been on the policy and planning arena – on using tourism, as one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries that provides 1 in every 10 jobs worldwide, as a vehicle for development. Paul’s interest in the GNH agenda began with his work as a tourism advisor to the Government of Bhutan, and really ignited through his participation in the “High Level Meeting on Happiness & Wellbeing” at the UN in April 2012, where he represented the UN World Tourism Organisation. Paul directs Planet Happiness, which he co-founded.
PAUL’S VISION My vision for community well-being in the face of Covid-19 and future pandemics is to deliver an additional component to the Planet Happiness website. This new platform will focus specifically on tourists keen to support our mission. The platform will: • encourage tourists and potential tourists to take the Happiness Index survey and, through extended questions, develop personalised accounts profiling their travel experiences, preferences and skill-sets including, specifically, what they’re keen to contribute to the destinations they’re interested to visit; • provide a match-making service to connect users with Planet Happiness sites and destination communities including their projects and programmes; • provide a range of learning resources to equip travelers with the knowledge and practices they need to travel safely in a Covid-19 world; and, • facilitate access to a range of resources to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Happiness Movement, and build their skill sets to collectively achieve our mission.
SCOTT SMITH
Scott Michael Smith, PhD is Course Coordinator at the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Assumption University, Thailand. Scott’s doctoral dissertation focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the tourism industry, concentrating on the successful communication of CSR in SE Asia. From Hawaii, Scott has over 20 years of practical experience as an owner and manager in the service sector and 20 years’ experience teaching and consulting in Thailand. Working for industry legends such as Shep Gordon and Don Ho in Hawaii, as a GM for their successful restaurant and nightclubs. Scott has worked closely with many of the leading tourism suppliers in Thailand to develop service training programs and promote strategies that make business sense and common sense. Community Based Tourism (CBT), responsible and sustainable tourism development as well as happiness and community well-being are of particular interest to Scott. Scott has experience hosting academic conferences and has been invited to present keynote speeches on a variety of topics throughout Asia.
SCOTT’S VISION My vision is a Happy Lab at Assumption University that measures the happiness and well-being of students, faculty and staff and to develop strategies to improve the happiness, wellbeing and sustainability of these groups and the campus. As part of the activities of the Happy Lab at Assumption University, students would be trained to survey local host communities at UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Thailand and work with community members to develop interventions that foster individual happiness, community well-being, site ecological and economical sustainability while protecting human health.
THE HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE IS CONVENED WITH THREE GOALS IN MIND.
BUILDING COMMUNITY AMONG HAPPINESS ROUNDTABLE MEMBERS
DEVELOPING AND SHARING IDEAS AN VISIONS
PRODUCING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GLOBAL AND LOCAL ACTION
The Happiness Roundtable is a project of the Happiness Alliance.