Tourists in the Amazon. (Photo by R. Butler)
|
|
ECOTOURISM
Ecotourism is rapidly becoming a leading way for developing countries to bring in foreign revenue by preserving
their rainforests. Eco-tourists pay to see a country's natural beauty, not the destruction caused by short-run exploitation. Money spent directly in the local economy helps give economic value to forest preservation. The locals, along with
the government, can see the importance of keeping the forest intact. Most tourists are willing to pay directly for preservation in the forms
of park entrance fees and donations.
Ecotourism can provide local people with economic assistance by offering them employment opportunities as wildlife
guides and rangers for parks, and as workers in the service force of hotels and lodges. This employment provides
a relatively even flow of income often higher than they would receive from selling their marginal, small-scale
agricultural crops at market. With eco-tourism, income is earned from preserving the ecosystem, and forest clearing
is discouraged because it is detrimental to income. Similarly, ecotourism can reduce the need for poaching and
hunting of forest animals for income. For example, in West Africa, former poachers are hired as park rangers since
they have intimate knowledge of local animal wildlife. Ecotourism also provides the opportunity for intellectual advancement for locals educated as wildlife guides. With an education, their children will have a better chance
of breaking out of their subsistence lifestyle and improving their livelihood. Finally, local communities can earn
supplementary income from the fabrication of handicrafts.
Some hints for successful ecotourism in Madagascar
How to travel ethically
How to be an ethical traveler
Visiting the rainforest - a practical guide
Eco vacationers engage in cutting-edge environmental research
While ecotourism is promising, it must be carefully developed and well planned, because short-term development can doom rainforests just as logging has, with extensive damage to the environment. Several countries, including Costa Rica and Malaysia, are facing adverse effects from tourism (it can no longer be considered "eco"-tourism). Costa Rica is one of the best examples of a tropical country developing its ecotourism potential to its fullest. Every year, hundreds of thousands of foreigners visit Costa Rica's many national parks, making tourism the country's third largest industry behind coffee and bananas. However, some of the parks are being overwhelmed by the mass numbers of tourists and are consequently losing species which seek out areas away from noisy, intrusive humans. Meanwhile, in the Bornean parts of Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak, environmentalists are concerned over extensive new development for tourism. Construction requires locally cut wood, resulting in deforestation, while pollution and sewage are a problem in otherwise pristine environments. A mass inflow of tourists can also be damaging to forest trails and frightening to wildlife.
To be sustainable, ecotourism requires careful planning and strict guidelines; short-term development can doom
forests as easily as unsustainable logging. Too many people, inadequate facilities, and poor park management can spell
the end for the "eco" in ecotourism. Eco-tourism, when carried out in a sustainable fashion, can be very
beneficial to local people, the economy, and the environment. It should not be restricted to legally protected
areas, but should also be promoted in natural areas that lack protection. The presence of tourists, when properly managed, protects the area from over-exploitive activities.
Review questions:
- How can ecotourism help the environment?
[print version | spanish
Other pages in this section:
|
|
| |
CONTENTS
Other languages
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
INTERACT
|
Recent news
Price of gorilla permit increases to $750/day
(02/05/2012) Rwanda has raised the price of a permit to see mountain gorillas to $750 per day starting June 1, 2012, up from $500.
Saving the world's biggest river otter
(01/30/2012) Charismatic, vocal, unpredictable, domestic, and playful are all adjectives that aptly describe the giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), one of the Amazon's most spectacular big mammals. As its name suggest, this otter is the longest member of the weasel family: from tip of the nose to tail's end the otter can measure 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. Living in closely-knit family groups, sporting a complex range of behavior, and displaying almost human-like capricious moods, the giant river otter has captured a number of researchers and conservationists' hearts, including Dutch conservationist Jessica Groenendijk.
Picture of the day: the world's largest bromeliad
(01/30/2012) Found in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, the world's biggest bromeliad Puya raimondii is imperiled by climate change and human disturbances.
Will Taiwan save its last pristine coastline?
(01/05/2012) Voters in the January 14 Taiwanese presidential election will decide the fate of the island’s last pristine wilderness known as the Alangyi Trail. Amongst the three candidates, only one (Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party) may support the conservation of Alangyi Trail and its coastline. One of the top domestic stories of 2011 were the efforts by the Pingtung County government, indigenous tribes, and NGOs to preserve the Alangyi Trail, according to the Taiwan Environmental Information Center. Alangyi is now a major issue reflecting steadily growing environmental concern amongst the Taiwanese, but its fate is sadly uncertain.
The other side of the Penan story: threatened tribe embraces tourism, reforestation
(12/19/2011) News about the Penan people is usually bleak. Once nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo, the indigenous Penan have suffered decades of widespread destruction of their forests and an erosion of their traditional culture. Logging companies, plantation developments, massive dams, and an ambivalent government have all played a role in decimating the Penan, who have from time-to-time stood up to loggers through blockades, but have not been successful in securing recognition of legal rights to their traditional lands. Yet even as the Penan people struggle against the destruction of their homelands, they are not standing still. Several Penan villages have recently begun a large-scale reforestation program, a community tourism venture, and proclaimed their a portion of their lands a "Peace Park."
More news on ecotourism
More rainforest news
|
|
|
