Some students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have embarked on a wide range of activities to raise continuous awareness of conserving and preserving the natural environment.The final year students of the University’s Culture and Tourism Programme are applying learnt concepts and theories in ecotourism to impact on the livelihood of people in a typical ecotourism community.Most visits to rural areas are mostly for funeral, political or religious purposes. However, a number of these rural communities are home to the most natural environment, well protected, uncontaminated and of rich cultural heritage.In today’s stressful workplace environment, people are now looking for relatively undisturbed and uncontaminated areas to appreciate, learn, admire, de-stress and enjoy natural scenery.The protection of natural resources and the well-being of the communities surrounding these resources are critical to sustaining sources of income and promoting domestic and international tourism.During a two-day field trip to Bobiri Forest and Butterfly Sanctuary in the Ashanti Region, the KNUST students involved the community members in activities to improve upon their self-worth, including hiking in the butterfly sanctuary, football match with the youth in the community and an interactive session with pupil in the main public school in the community.Foster Frempong, a lecturer at the KNUST’s Department of Geography and Rural Development led the students on the trip.He says “the concept of ecotourism should be proclaimed to every individual for community members to protect their resources for sustainable use”.Tourism has over the years contributed immensely to the Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and there are lot more potentials yet to be tapped.Mr. Frempong observed “the need to take a critical look into the country’s protected areas”.Protected Areas cover more than 12 percent of the world’s land area. Globally, many countries and regions who are rich in biodiversity but poor in economy have vigorously been promoting ecotourism as a conservation tool or measure in protected areas.He said such measure would push Ghana’s drive to conserve biodiversity and promote eco-tourism.According to him, the visit has been beneficial to both the community and the students themselves.“The interaction with the pupils challenged them to learn harder than before so that they can also pursue higher level education and some of the parents expressed their relief from the burden of providing stationery for their wards due to the donation made to them”, stated Mr. Frempong.He added that “the students also benefited from the cultural exchange with the community members which helped them to erase some of their negative perceptions concerning rural folks”.The students donated stationery and dustbins to the local school and patronized products and goods produced by the community.