Ilha do Papagaio: Ecological and Sustainable Tourism in Santa Catarina

Interview with Renato Sehn, Owner of Ilha do Papagaio

We are going to begin by discussing the history of Ilha do Papagaio, how the hotel started and the concept behind it.

My father first visited the island in 1971-72. The residents here were fishing families who produced maize and manioc for the subsistence of their family. My father bought the island in 1971 and in 1972 we began to spend time there as a family hire. A large area of the island, some 142 thousand square meters, was completely rural. Since our acquisition of the island for leisure and tourism purposes, it has seen a huge transformation which has taken 40 years. Our family used this space for pleasure and holidays during the first 20 years. Then when it became necessary to invest in new houses and buildings etc. for the regeneration of this area, we had the idea of changing the island into a small hotel ‘pousada’ resort. Globalization brought a new rhythm of life to Brazil; we had to become more productive. We used to have 3 months of holidays a year and women didn’t work. Now we have 30 days of holidays and women are working, because globalization brings intensity and the need for production. This meant that our family had to think about making the property a space that is financially sustainable. In 1991, new building began along with refurbishment of installations that were already there, adapting them to this new commercial vision.

At the beginning none of us had any experience in the hotel business so we had to think about what we personally would like to encounter when on holiday abroad. We wanted to start a family orientated hotel that offers everything we believe to be important to having great holidays. This is how the hotel Ilha do Papagaio began, with just 8 apartments.

From the income generated by the hotel, we were able to start the ecological recovery of the 27 thousand square meters of rural land, which had become quite a blemish on the island.

We were then able to put more of our resources into environmental projects. We created a waste treatment program, and began to carry out social work programs. This brought a whole new vision to the hotel industry that we see as the future for this sector: working with your community and surroundings, not isolated from them.

What kind of social programs have you worked with?

We began to implement various social programs. We started with the literacy program for the fishermen. It was difficult to begin with because the fishermen work all day from dawn to dusk. They understood the need to learn but didn’t have the motivation or time to study. Our idea was to provide the teachers and the material and we gave a basic food basket with the food staples a family needs for one month to give them more motivation to go to school. As encouragement we increased this allowance for those who had good attendance and for those who finished the course. It was a real success.

We tend to have a slightly greater focus on children because they are the future generation. So we have started various projects for children. We work with a Dutch artist, Hetty Van der Linden who has created a project called ‘Paint a Future’ focused on disadvantaged children. It is a great project.

We search amongst the local communities and public schools for children who have the greatest and most pressing needs. Then well-known artists from all over the world come to Brazil, we provide all of the art materials and ask the children to paint their dreams. It gives us and the artists the opportunity to see what these children really need, a house could symbolize better housing, a bicycle could symbolize better transport , etc., even a flower could symbolize colour and a longing to see the world in a better way. These paintings are then exhibited here in the hotel, and can sell for between R$ 7-10,000 depending on the size. This is the price of the special moment that the painting represents; the story of that child. 100% of the money is put to building a house, refurbishing a school, paying for education , etc. We are in the 5th year of this social project and it is one of the projects we are most proud of.

In terms of the environment, we work a lot with the state schools, organizing cleaning projects, regulating the size of fish that can be caught , etc. We also have a children’s day; a big event where we bring the staff from Project Baleia Franca, an organization which protects the right whale species to educate the community about these whales, native to these waters. With Baleia Franca we use theatre to teach children about the whales. There is a misunderstanding of the local community: the fishermen are worried that these huge whales will eat up their own fish supply but right whales don’t eat fish when they migrate hire, because they eat their body fat! So we hope that the children will go home and tell their parents that the whales don’t pose a problem for them, in fact they could take tourists on boats to view the whales, providing better financial sustainability for their families through ecological tourism.

We have another lovely project that is not finished yet: where tourists, mostly Europeans particularly Germans and Dutch, who come here to Ilha do Papagaio get to meet families who are living in very difficult situations and listen to their problems. These European families who would like to help and make their tourism here in Brazil sustainable are able to finance the construction of a small but dignified house that costs about R$ 8-10,000 and takes 10 days to build. Before the tourists go home they are able to personally hand over the house and they can return to visit in the future.

What does the future hold for Brazil, in terms of ecological and sustainable tourism?

In my opinion, Brazil has huge potential for sustainable tourism, perhaps more so than other countries in the world. However we are still a country of great extremes, and we have a dispute about sustainable development. Some people don’t want any development at all while others are not interested in sustainability. However there are a growing number of people who are creating awareness and looking for solutions to this dispute and to radicalism here in Brazil. When these differences become less extreme we will be able to make better progress. It is early days. When I arrived here 20 years ago, to live here and open the hotel, nobody talked about sustainability. We did an educational program with the local children about used cooking oil which is extremely bad for the environment. I think something like one liter of cooking oil contaminates up to 1 million litters of water. We gave new computers as a prize to the school that did the most to reduce cooking oil contamination. The children collected the waste cooking oil in PET bottles and brought them to school where we then transported them away for proper disposal and at the end of the year the school which had collected the most oil won the prize.

Santa Catarina won the prize for the best capture of cooking oil in the world; we are going to be in the Guinness Book of Records! 30 something thousand liters in one or two months! The runner up had collected just 8,000 liters, so we were well ahead. You can see how a small action reverberates and spreads.

Today, I think the great majority of hotels are trying to look at their waste management or doing some social work in their area, because it can be transformed into a selling point. I believe that social responsibility and ecological responsibility are linked. If you implement an ecological project well, you can show the local community how important it is for their future, such as catch and release fishing for example. This means the project you implement will produce lasting results. Today in Brazil, there are many companies that use natural resources without damaging the environment. The forests for example can be used responsibly; companies that use this resource generate a year lots of money and lots of employment for those who live in the forest without changing their environment but providing them with a bit more comfort.

Brazil is like a laboratory, we don’t have to be a slave of the world, we don’t need the outside world to tell us how to do things, we already know how. In time Brazil will be a sustainable and developed country. Obviously becoming sustainable is not the cheapest option. It comes at an extra cost. We have to find the financial mechanism to make it viable. We need to show the world that it is worth the investment for a better future.

I will say it again: we have to eliminate radicalism; we must sit down to talk and show people how sustainability can work, we mustn’t fight, because the world has seen time and time again that it doesn’t work.

Are there any areas that show the whole world that Brazil is performing better than other countries in terms of environment?

Certainly, on the island for example, our total area of the island is of 142.000 sqm + area in front of the island that belongs to us 62.000 sqm = 204.000 sqm total. For the front garden we use 20.0000 sqm we have constructions on just in 6.000 sqm which is only 0,30 % of our territory, that’s an amazing statistic and our total complex use up just 10 % of the island so it is still extremely natural. Today we have transformed this into a way of generating income. We have to make sure everyone can see that you can make a profit and be sustainable. That is why I say Brazil is like a laboratory and there are many areas like this all over the country. We have to import good ideas from the outside world, find the solutions and export them. Historically other countries have spent so much of their natural resources and now they are coming to Brazil wanting to invest here, which is great. I think you have to look at it positively and I don’t believe we will lose our sovereignty but that we can benefit from good ideas.

Brazil is growing economically, and we have a stable economy in comparison to other developing countries. We have lots of resources we can use, but we need the government to facilitate these investments. For example, if you build an ecologically sustainable house here in Brazil, you pay the same taxes as if you built the most unsustainable house hire in Brasil, so the government needs to implement small financial mechanisms to minimize these costs. I don’t support expropriation, I don’t believe you have to take people off their land, I believe you have to teach people to live with the land. As an example, in New York, they had a problem with the water from the rivers and there was going to be a plan to expropriate the area which would have cost billions of dollars and the loss of homes for thousands of people, until one man had the great idea of teaching people how to look after the environment and the water system without having to leave the land. I don’t have the exact facts but I believe that New York now has one of the cheapest and cleanest water supplies. Producing results without force or moving people off their land is the kind of approach we still need in Brazil today.

It is important that the government advances and can achieve their objectives, because here in Brazil the government tends to say a lot but not follow through. But things are changing and I’m very happy about that. We just need more loyalty and dedication to the environmental policies that are productive; regardless of which political party is in government we have to keep developing.

Is Brazil ready to meet the needs of the tourists, staff and media that will come for the Olympics 2016?

I don’t consider it to be prepared just yet. I think we have come a long way in the last few years and we are getting closer to being ready. We need investment and strong focus from the government because it’s the government who creates action. I think commercially we are ready but we need support from the government logistically, principally with the infrastructure.

For example, I am ready to receive guests from all over the world, and I’m quite sure that they will really enjoy their stay here at Ilha do Papagaio. However I am concerned about the physical infrastructure that brings them here: the road is not finished, the airport is not ready, and there is no bus that goes directly. I say this because I like to go to Porto Alegre and to the market there, I decided to use the bus system. To return to the international airport, it can take 30 minutes by taxi. Once I asked someone where do you get a bus to the airport, and they told me “no, from here you can’t get a bus, you have to walk 2 and a half blocks to take a bus to such and such a neighborhood…” and so I thought to myself how would a foreign tourist coming to Brazil for the Olympic Games react. So I went to get the bus, the bus stop was not in the nicest part of town, but a friendly person told me where to wait. In a couple of minutes the bus arrived, it took 10 minutes to wait for people to get on before we set off and all the time I was imagining how those tourists are going to react to this. I know places like India are like this but I think Brazil can improve and offer much more. The bus was rather old, noisy and it was a rough ride, I didn’t think it was a good service but I arrived at my destination. The government does have time to react. We have 2 years to make improvements; they have begun to give classes to motorists, English and Spanish classes etc. Everyone is very happy that foreigners and Europeans are going to come here and spend money and go home and tell the world about Brazil. We are not ready yet but there is time.