I am lucky enough to occasionally work on a project that is both interesting and makes me feel good. Last summer I was one of the consultants who helped create and communicate a strategy for developing sustainable tourism in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia. I first became involved with the Mekong in 1996 when I traveled to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (or Burma), Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan Province, China to develop media for videos, books, websites and the like.

The latest project, with the sponsorship of the Asian Development Bank, outlines a strategy that aims to reduce poverty by targeting economically-depressed areas, managing the adverse social impacts that tourism can have, particularly the exploitation of women and children and protecting and promoting both the natural and cultural heritages of the region. The ADB says that the strategy could help raise more than a million people out of extreme poverty by 2015. It is an ambitious plan that, happy to say, was approved by all six governments. Here is a short documentary I made on The Mekong Tourism Strategy. It is not a travelogue but demonstrates how travel and tourism has as much potential to improve nature and humankind as it does to destroy it and that there a lot of people around the world trying to make it happen.