The GSTC is saddened by the loss of Amos Bien, GSTC Founding Member and Former Technical Director
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and its members are very saddened by the loss of Amos Bien (1951-2017), who was a leader of the GSTC from its inception.
On Sunday 19 November 2017, after a long struggle, Amos died of cancer.
Read the Tribute to Amos Bien from Former GSTC Executive Director Erika Harms.
Amos Bien was a population ecologist by academic training, and has worked in the tourism and standardization sustainability field for many years. He was the lead consultant in developing the “Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria,” author of the Tourism Sustainability Scorecard for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), member of the ISO Technical Committee on Tourism, author of the Guide for Tourism: Instrument for Environmental and Social Management (IUCN) for the environmental authorities of Central America and the Dominican Republic, and lead consultant for the study “Policy elements for the sustainability of cruise tourism in Central America” (IDB and INCAE).
Amos worked for the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) on sustainable tourism issues, where he coordinated the projects for establishing a Global Sustainable Tourism Partnership and the Sustainable Investment and Finance in Tourism (SIFT) initiative. He was a founding member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and was the founder and CEO of Rara Avis Rainforest Lodge and Reserve, one of the first ecolodges and private reserves in Costa Rica.
Bien has also worked as a university professor, and in business administration, environmental auditing, and construction. He was the founding president of the Costa Rican Private Nature Reserves Association, president of the Costa Rican Youth Hostel Association, treasurer of the Federation of Costa Rican Environmental Organizations, member of the National Biodiversity Commission, and a country representative to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development.
The GSTC and its members send condolences to the Bien family and thank Amos Bien for everything he has done.
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