Sylvie’s bio and profile
Sylvie Blangy is a European Union Marie Curie research fellow. She was hosted by Carleton University, the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies in Ottawa, Canada for 2 years and is currently in her "reintegration phase" back to Europe and at Paul Valéry University, Montpellier in France.
She is working on a collaborative research project with 2 aboriginal Canadian Inuit and Cree communities.Sylvie is currently working on a collaborative research project with several aboriginal communities in Canada and Scandinavia ;
- The Inuit of Baker Lake in Nunavut ;
- The Moose Factory Cree Nation in Northern Ontario ;
-The Cree of Eeyou Istchee in the James Bay area, North West of Québec and the COTA, Cree Outfitting Tourism Association.
-The Saami of Övre Soppero in Northern Sweden.
She was previoulsly a consultant in ecotourism and sustainable tourism for 15 years based in the South of France. She has worked extensively throughout the world and more particularly in Latin America, Africa and Europe (Eastern Europe included) for various contractors, such as the European Union, the French, German and US Development Assistance Agencies, IDB, WTO and UNEP. For 4 years, she has been the director of the ecotourism department of a French consulting company specialized in environment, protected areas and conservation of biodiversity, SECA, Société d’Eco-Amènagement. She also worked for the French Ministry of Agriculture on the development of an experimental rural tourism programme in France.
She has a wide range of expertise and is knowledgeable in eco-certification, product development, market studies, national policies, park master plan, regional strategies, environmental impact assessment, code of ethics, environmental guidelines, project evaluation for donors and developing agencies, etc. She published more than 40 articles in French and English speaking magazines and scientific journals.
Sylvie seats on the board of TIES and is an active member of the oldest and largest international ecotourism society in Europe. She is also involved in the co-management group of IUCN.
Sylvie is currently completing a PHD on “Ecotourism, indigenous communities, land management and conservation of biodiversity”.
She has contributed to the creation of a Master degree in "ecotourism and sustainable tourism" at Montpellier III University in France in 2004. She has been giving lectures in ecotourism in 5 french universities for 5 years.
Sylvie has published a guide book on Indigenous tourism in French released in April 2006 and has uploaded the book on line and is currently exploring the possibilities of conducting collaborative research with web based technologies.