LEFT: The Canopy Walk, a 940ft-long, 94ft-high rigid walkway at
Sacha Lodge in Yasuní National Park, EcuadorYASUNÍ NATIONAL PARK, ECUADOR
LEARN WHAT’S AT STAKE IN A THREATENED,
BIODIVERSE PARADISEIn recognition of the global importance of the Amazon,
France is leading the fight against deforestation in
eastern Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park, which was
designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989. The
4,000sq-mile park — home to mahogany trees, sweet
guabas, anthuriums, palms, and hypnotisingly green
ferns — is the first of five pilot sites in the French-
funded TerrAmaz programme. This four-year initiative,
launched in late 2020, supports sustainable development
and biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Considered one of the most biodiverse places on Earth,
Yasuní shelters an astonishing array of creatures, such
as anteaters, capybaras, sloths, spider monkeys and
about 600 species of bird. In the Napo and Curaray Rivers
flanking the park, visitors can look out for the Amazon
river dolphin, an enigmatic and endangered species.
Yasuní also provides refuge for the Tagaeri and
Taromenane people, Waorani indigenous groups that live
in isolation and use handcrafted canoes to travel between
waterways. Tour operators such as Napo Wildlife Center
offer excursions and lodging based on a sustainable
ecotourism model that benefits the resident tribes.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER (LATIN AMERICA)GRENOBLE, FRANCE
GREEN CAPITAL OF EUROPE FOR 2022With two rivers running through it and magnificent
mountain ranges on the doorstep, Grenoble — Europe’s
Green Capital for 2022 — is a big draw for eco-conscious,
all-action, outdoorsy types. If canyoning and paragliding
are your thing, you’ll fit right in. But the Capital of the
Alps has cultural depth, too, embodied in the Museum of
Grenoble, stuffed with works by masters such as Monet,
Canaletto and Klee, as well as contemporary art.
Thanks to its university — the third-largest in France
— Grenoble nurtures clear-thinking problem-solvers.
Crammed into a valley, the city would suffer from
overcrowding and pollution were it not for its sustainable
urban plan, combining cycle lanes, pedestrian streets,
speed limits and efficient public transport.
Locals say the city centre has changed a great deal
since the mayor, the Green Party’s Éric Piolle, took office
in 2014. As well as traffic calming schemes, a ban on
advertising hoardings and a tree-planting drive, there
have been subtler changes. Biodiversity-friendly public
planting, organic ingredients in school lunches and, in
the course of 2022, Grenoble’s household energy supply
will become 100% renewable.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER (UK)Sustainability
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Jan/Feb 2022 107BEST OF THE WORLD