Megan Epler Wood
Joined Atlas Obscura in 2026
I am one of the founders of the field of ecotourism and have worked on developing global guidelines for ecotourism development, as the co-founder and Executive Director of the first NGO in the world dedicated to sustainable tourism, The Ecotourism Society. I became an international consultant and worked with the UN to publish the first global book on ecotourism, for the Year of Ecotourism. I then worked with major agencies, the World Bank and US AID and GIZ to develop ecotourism destinations worldwide in over 30 countries. I then joined Harvard and Cornell to establish their first research programs on sustainable tourism. I am now semi-retired and just joined the Explorers Club.
