E-Team with Regional Partnerships in North America Began with Air Pollution.  North America’s land managers have no authority to control the many sources of regional air pollution that are often located long distances from the protected areas they pollute.  E-Team members in the National Park Service and other land management agencies formed several regional clean air partnerships in both the United States and Canada to address this complicated problem.  All developed programs to deal with the effects of regional air pollution on both the natural and cultural resources of protected areas.  As this process has evolved, several of these partnerships have expand their membership and scope of activity to tackle the effects of other forms of pollution and the effects of nearby development on designated protected areas and overall tourism.  

Membership and Benefits.  These partnerships include land managing agencies, air pollution control and other government authorities, industry representatives, Indian tribes, universities and other organizations.  They share vital air quality and broader environmental activities including monitoring, research and public outreach. Partnerships can speak with a unified voice which can provide a more harmonious relationship with other government authorities and industry than any member could ever have individually.

South Africa’s New Partnerships.  The first regional clean air partnership outside of North America has already been established with E-Team help in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.  It includes a diversified membership from citizen and township groups, universities and all three levels of government, (national, provincial and municipal). Like the North American partnerships, the scope of concern for South African partnership has expanded beyond air quality to consider other forms of environmental degradation and unregulated development that are major threats to tourism and related development.  Proposals are also being advanced for several new partnerships in South Africa.  

Beyond North America and South Africa.  Our experiences to date suggest that the combination of professional collaboration and new regional partnerships can be applied almost anywhere that citizens and governments are seeking workable and publicly acceptable approaches to preserve their natural heritage and develop ecologically conscious and marketable forms of tourism and related regional development.