After spending more than twenty years in rapidly developing South-East Asia (calling the Philippines and later Laos his temporary “home”), Klaus Schwettmann has gathered considerable personal impressions, insights, and working experience with regards to the way of life particularly in these countries. He has also traveled in almost all of the surrounding countries between India and Japan (though not yet China...).

Having been trained in “Natural Sciences” at the University of Hamburg and graduated in Biology with emphasis on Entomology, the keywords

Nature Conservation Community Development (Eco-) Tourism Promotion Environmental Education

can be seen as the ‘leitmotif’ of his recent, if not entire, professional career. He has worked, directly or indirectly, on bi-lateral, NGO, as well as national and local government agencies, with villagers (“grassroots”) and private institutions and enterprises, but also with schools from primary to university level.

Principal activities...

... in Laos

As his main achievement Klaus Schwettmann considers the launching and successful implementation of a community-based eco-tourism development project, which culminated in the construction of a well received Elephant Observation Tower. This project addressed two major issues: wildlife conservation and community development - inseparably intertwined with each other. Ownership has ultimately been handed over to Ban Na village and it is now successfully managed by the villagers themselves, particularly by Mr. Bounthanom, a subsistence farmer, whose life story and engagement in the protection of the Asian elephant drew the attention of the American TV channel ANIMAL PLANET.

Klaus Schwettmann advised and supported the authorities of Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area, to improve the park’s (tourism related) infrastructure, and established a Nature Trail for the public (incl. writing a small booklet about some interesting features there).

Before embarking on eco-tourism, he worked in Laos for the department of Forestry as consultant for public environmental awareness and capacity building. Education has always been a major concern for him. In this capacity he played an vital role in establishing a youth club (at that time a politically difficult task in Laos) called Dong Dok Nature Society (DNS), which at one time had more than 200 members from within and outside the university and, after nearly ten years, is still going. DNS even later spawned other youth clubs and a quite active and in-demand group of consultants (‘Mobile Conservation Unit’) within the Faculty of Forestry.

On short-term basis and more recently, Klaus Schwettmann has served as consultant for different agencies, national and foreign, and has worked as “Event Organizer” (workshop) as well as a ‘Cruise Director’ on an upper class cruise ship (‘Mekong Sun’) sailing between Luang Prabang and the Golden Triangle.

As Senior Adviser for Sustainable Tourism to the management of Green Discovery Laos, he now works advising the Sales and Operations team, revising all programs of the company and marketing its products. He also assists the Managing Director in reshaping company’s profile from a local tour operator to an internationally recognized player promoting sustainable tourism. In his additional function as Customer Relations Manager, he also has to deal with all sorts of customer related sensitive issues from cooperation requests to customer complaints. In addition, he specialized (as so-called “Fixer”) on organizing shooting tours from A-Z for several TV film crews (most recently from BBC and Television France).