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Canadian province hopes for ecotourism boost
Environmental specialists are bound to be in high demand as Muskoka, Ontario, is preparing to host the 2010 G8 summit.
City officials are hoping tourism, in particular from those who are environmentally inclined, will receive a major boost from the gathering of the world most powerful leaders, many of whom advocate climate control and carbon dioxide emissions reductions with a view to creating a greener planet and spurring job creation in sustainable technologies.
"This summit is really a great opportunity to begin building a popular tourist attraction in Muskoka," said Paul Eagles, a professor at the University of Waterloo who spoke at a recent lecture on ecotourism and the G8 at the Algonquin Theatre in Huntsville, quoted by the Huntsville Forrester.
Eagles added that ecotourism helps to balance destructive economic pressures from logging and farming, distributes money from urban to undeveloped areas, provides quality jobs in rural areas and boosts environmental education and conservation efforts.
Meanwhile, U.S. Labor Department statistics estimate that job growth rates for holders of degrees in environmental science and engineering will be around 25 percent until 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations. 
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