So, how green are Rio's hotels? Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Home to unbounded nature in the form of mountains, ocean and the largest urban forest on the planet, and host to the Rio+20 Earth Summit (20 - 22 June 2012), the sunshine city of Rio de Janeiro should be the perfect location for eco-friendly hotels. If only.

 

The city’s Eco Hostel bigs up air-conditioning and taxi travel, but, hey, it does have a beachside location. Style leaders like the Philippe Starck-designed Fasano make little more than a nod to the green scene. Marriott have been publicising the planned launch of fifty eco hotels in Brazil over the next few years and the full impact of this initiative remains to be seen. Meanwhile, long-touted plans to create a green-roofed eco hotel and model for sustainable tourism in the city’s Tijuca Forest have so far come to nothing.

 

Sadly, for Brazilians, ‘eco’ refers more to something outdoors and with a flavour of the natural, rather than anything seriously to do with saving the planet. Yet just a few hours’ drive from Copacabana, three simple but elegant establishments are showing the city boys how it should be done, combining privileged pristine locations, rustic luxury and ice-cold caipirinhas.

 

Three and a half hours drive south of Rio, Picinguaba is a beacon of sustainable practice in an area that has seen increasing tourist development. Here, water consumption is carefully monitored and limited and solar power is set to arrive soon, but a larger positive impact comes from its holistic approach. By hiring and educating local people, buying locally and supporting local craft traditions, this luxury beachside resort is helping to preserve the traditional way of life of the local fishing community. Showing that really green needn’t be really grim, Picinguaba is a member of Hip Hotels and Chic Retreats as well as Responsible Travel.

 

A three and a half hour drive off the beaten track to the north of Rio brings you to Reserva do Ibitipoca, a 3000-hectare private reserve in the heart of a parrot-filled rainforest. At the centre of this rural idyll is Fazenda do Engenho one of Brazil’s most desirable hideaway hotels but off the radar of most international visitors. Like its southern sister, Picinguaba, Ibitipoca has one eye on the environment, reusing and recycling wherever possible, and the other on social responsibility, including local employment and education.

 

Partnered with the World Land Trust, Guapi Assu Bird Lodge lies on the edge of recently restored wetlands, two hours northeast of Rio. Surrounded by lush banana plantations and sweeping views of the forested Serra dos Órgãos mountains, it is home to 450 bird species, the brown-throated, three-toed sloth and the woolly spider monkey. Just by checking-in to this not-for-profit eco lodge, you will support its research programme and the reintroduction of local species, or you can go that extra eco mile by volunteering and contributing first hand to Rio’s eco effort.

 

These three exemplary hotels all lie within the Mata Atlântica, South East Brazil’s indigenous tropical forest. It’s one of the most threatened biomes on earth with only 7% of the original forest remaining, so it’s heartening to see tourism help to save what’s left with innovative, inclusive hotel developments. With the eyes of the world on Brazil and the city of Rio for the 2014 World Cup and the Olympic games in 2016, the bigger players could take a leaf from this book.

 

Jane Egginton is a travel writer and Brazil specialist.