Comprising nine chapters squeezed into just 57 pages, Environmental Education and Ecotourism is a stimulating addition to the Springer Briefs in Environmental Science series, which features over 80 compact volumes covering a range of professional and academic content across a wide spectrum of environmental fields. In this volume, Ramírez and Santana present a concise summary of the scope, perspectives and goals of environmental education and biodiversity conservation, as well as the relevance, educational dimensions and philosophies of ecotourism. Concise and compact are apt adjectives to describe this short but broad-based book, because I for one was left wanting more content and exegesis. Ramírez and Santana cover diverse aspects related to ecotourism and environmental education with speed, and the novice reader will likely benefit from using an online search engine to learn more about the theories and examples mentioned. That said, the book is accessible to a wide range of readers, and stands in contrast to the more jargon-heavy literature in this genre. Situating environmental education as key to positive change in nature conservancy, management and policy, Ramírez and Santana advocate for more research in conservation education, greater implementation and uptake of ecotourism, and a stronger engagement between humans and the rest of nature.

The paradox of ecotourism, introduced in Chapter 1, is that the benefits to local populations can be disruptive to traditional ways of life and an obstacle to sustainability. Ecotourism, the authors contend, best proceeds in tandem with environmental education. Leading individuals to value nature is not taken to be a theoretical endeavour, but a highly practical imperative. Education in situ is seen as the innovation and anvil of environmental education that Ramírez and Santana feel would be best directed at (1) guests who have a unique opportunity to engage in local biodiversity, (2) the local population who must learn how to sustainably manage their local resources, and (3) the future generations by which the authors perhaps mean younger generations who will inherit the custodianship and stewardship of the environment.

Chapter 2 explores five pivots of environmental education and biodiversity conservation: scope, perspectives, goals, themes and assimilation. Synthesising earlier work in the field, the authors argue that the scope of environmental education is vast and encompasses the efforts of diverse groups who may have difficulty agreeing on its focus. Using Costa Rica as a prime example, the perspectives of environmental education are multiple but unified in their effort to achieve intimacy with the rest of nature. Matching the goals of environmental education with the stakeholders who are closest to and reliant upon natural resources requires an ethical strategy for distributing responsibility among target and subsidiary populations. Appropriate themes for environmental education, as the authors argue, vary according to the actors and require attending to the issues relevant to a community, site, or a specific point in time. The assimilation of environmental education programs requires monitoring and evaluation to measure whether what was implemented achieved the set goals.

Ecotourism offers an environmentally responsible way to manage resources in a globalised world where the overproduction of goods and services is an obstacle to biodiversity. Ecotourism is also a marketable buzzword. Chapter 3 explores the relevance of ecotourism to biodiversity conservation and its rollout in countries such as Costa Rica and Colombia. Chapter 4 looks at the innovation of integrating hands-on environmental education and ecotourism. Chapter 5 discusses the philosophy and values of ecotourism and its links to environmental education. These topics are swiftly covered before a discussion of protected habitats and biodiversity conservation in Chapter 6 and, a topic close to my heart, Indigenous stewardship, education and ecotourism in Chapter 7. The philosophical leanings of the authors towards valuing and upskilling local knowledge in ecotourism development is reiterated in Chapter 8, which discusses the social, economic and ecological impacts of tourism.

Turning to wetland restoration and protection, Chapter 9 discusses the potential role of environmental education and ecotourism to remedy the immense wetland loss worldwide, which has been due to the expansion of human settlements, agriculture and silviculture. A primary reason wetlands are a unique site for environmental education programs and ecotourism is that only 40–50% of wetlands worldwide remain. Novel biodiversity education initiatives and ecotourism ventures could inject new drive into the Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty initially adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. Speaking from firsthand experience, Ramírez and Santana highlight the transformative, ground-breaking and emotionally laden experiences wetland locations offer to students and visitors.

One of the most commendable features of this book is the breadth of examples from Latin America brought to an English-speaking audience. The philosophy of environmental education is dominated by Western perspectives, but Ramírez and Santana strongly advocate the exploration and engagement of Indigenous knowledge, attitudes and practices in conservation and ecotourism efforts. A more systematic, structured and well-signposted approach to presenting evidence, theory and argument would make the take-home messages of this book more coherent, hard-hitting and persuasive. Examples leap, from Monarch butterflies in Mexico to wildlife conservation in Nepal, with little segue between. A little effort on the behalf of the reader to source the primary references, however, will make this book highly rewarding for those looking to understand the growth of conservation education and ecotourism over the last 25 years.