Mohonk Agreement - Structure of The Agreement

Structure of The Agreement

The Mohonk Agreement lists the general principles and elements that should be the components of any certification program for sustainable tourism or the smaller niche of ecotourism. The principal aspects that should be part of any program are:

1. Overall
   1. Adaptation to local geographic (including sociocultural) conditions and sectors of the tourist industry, while complying with a series of universal principles.
   2. Clear objectives, benefits, and procedures.
   3. A defined standard with criteria that meet the objective, exceed what is required by law, and balance performance and process-based elements.
   4. The program should be transparent, free of conflicts of interest, and require audits, as well as considering the interests of consumers and local communities.
2. For sustainable tourism certification, criteria that reduce negative environmental and sociocultural impacts while benefiting the place where tourism takes place:
   1. General aspects: six basic criteria are listed
   2. Sociocultural aspects: four basic criteria are listed
   3. Environmental aspects: twelve basic criteria are listed
   4. Economic aspects: four basic criteria are listed
3. For ecotourism certification, there is a clear differentiation as a niche within sustainable tourism that not only reduces negative impacts, but also produces net positive impacts for the environment and the communities that are visited.
   1. All of the criteria for sustainable tourism listed above should be met, preferable to best industry practice.
   2. There are seven additional general criteria that clearly differentiate ecotourism from sustainable tourism in general.