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Ecotourism in the North Pantanal, Brazil: Regional Bases and Subjects for Sustainable Development

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Ecotourism in the North Pantanal, Brazil: Regional Bases and Subjects for Sustainable Development Geographical Review of Japan Vol. 78, No. 5, 289-310, 2005 Ecotourism in the North Pantanal, Brazil: Regional Bases and Subjects for Sustainable Development MARUYAMA Hiroaki*, NIHEI Takaaki**, and NI HIWAKI Yasuyukl* *Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan **Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan Abstract: The Brazilian Pantanal, the world's largest wetland holding abundant wildlife, has recently drawn profound concern about the development of the tourist industry. To provide significant proposals for ecotourism in the wetland, we believe that detailed data acquired by fieldwork is requisite, This study examines the regional bases that carry regional ecotourism, and attempts to present some proposals for ecotourism from the case of the north Pantanal. The results are shown as follows in order of regional scale. (1) In the water source of the Pantanal, Cerrado region, it is necessary to make efficient plans to control recent agricultural development, especially in soybean and cotton production. (2) On the wetland level, legally protected areas such as national parks and RPPN (Reserva Particular do Patrimonio Natural) should be extended. (3) On the municipal level, environmental subsidies are needed for disused goldmines, and for the maintenance of tourist infrastructures such as Transpantaneira and MT 370. (4) Modern hotels and eco-lodges need to provide ecotourism organized by local people, and to equip the facilities with adequate sewage facilities and garbage recycle plants to preserve the natural environment. Key words: ecotourism, Transpantaneira, hotel, eco-lodge, Pantanal, Brazil ment1 that aims at coping with the fixation Introduction and indivisible quandaries of tourism in the late 1980s (Funck 2002). That is to say, The expansion of mass-tourism involving not ecotourism entails the practice of "sustainable only developed countries but also developing tourism," or "responsible tourism," which gives countries has reached terrestrial scale. At the priority to regional resources and residents same time, the problems that mass-tourism (Lindberg and Hawkins 1993; Fennell 1999). causes are apparent, such as the disturbance of However, from the beginning it holds a contra natural resources, indigenous culture and soci diction in economic development and environ ety. This situation is essentially a result of the mental preservation. development of tourism that pursues a high With the participation and cooperation of re return in the short term. In such conditions, gional people, ecotourism achieves environ alternative tourism was conceived, and the no mental preservation in the tourism sector that tion of ecotourism was manifested in the late accompanies sustainable usage of regional na 1950s (Ceballos-Lascurain 1957; weaver 1998). ture and culture resources. It is certainly dif Though the definition of ecotourism varies ferent from "external tourism" that is brought among researchers, it consists of nature frequently by profit-seeking developers from adventure-culture oriented travel such as wild outside the region, and is an attempt to con life-watching, adventure travel, cultural and ceive self-supportable "internal tourism." The historical travel (The International Ecotourism initiative should be substantiated by the people Society 2000). Ecotourism is basically a con in the region in which ecotourism is practiced, cept to bring fruition to sustainable develop and it follows an understanding of long-lasting 289 44 MARUYAMA H ., NIHEI T,, and NISHI WART Y. preservation and protection of the resources of the valuable natural environment and biologi tourism (Ishimori 2001; Foucat 2002). cal diversity, UNESCO registered the Pantanal In order to practice the principles of ecotour as a World Natural Heritage in 2000. Further ism, it is necessary that scrupulous guidelines more, as the environmental problem of the Pan should be created for every place in terms of tanal extends as a worldwide issue, it has re regional conditions of natural and social re ceived attention from international organiza sources. Then, ecotours of as high quality as tions such as the World Bank and the Inter commercial tours should be offered to tourists - American Development Bank, WWF, and (Ross and Wall 1999). The guidelines must NGOs. include the purposes of the tour, actual practice The empirical data of this study was obtained methods, and codes of conduct. This also re from our field work conducted mainly in 2001, lates to people who are indirectly connected i.e., interviews with owners and employees of with ecotourism. It should simultaneously pro hotels and farms, and government agencies vide tourists with environmental and humanis such as EMBRAPA (Empresa Brasileira de Pes tic education (Japan Ecotourism Society 1999; quisa Agropecuaria), SEMA (Secretaria de Es Ceballos-Lascurain 1996). tado de Meio Ambiente), IBGE (Instituto Brasi Actually, superficial ecotours in which ama leiro de Geografia e Estatistica), IBAMA (Insti teur travel agencies or guides merely take tour tuto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recur ists into the countryside are rampant. This sos Naturais Renovaveis), and FEMA (Funda condition contains the possibilities for ecotour cao Estadual do Meio Ambiente). We also used ism to deteriorate into mass-tourism. Introduc GPS and GIS to show the location of buildings tion of ecotourism may actually lead to the and trees in large-scale maps. ironic situation that would bring about the re gional destruction of natural, cultural, and so Study Area cial resources, which form the bases of the de velopment of ecotourism (Burton 1998; Weaver Centers of Ecotour and the Pantanal 1999). Whereas great anticipation and concern is given to the development of ecotourism, As in the case of Costa Rica and Ecuador, there is also considerable anxiety. which are regarded as models of world ecotour To cope with these problems that ecotourism ism, many regions suitable for ecotourism that embraces, the authors believe that it is impor enclose abundant nature resources are dis tant to pay attention to the importance of basic persed in the Central and South Americas. Re data obtained from fieldwork. Former studies gions such as the Amazon, the Andes, the Gala on ecotourism are concentrated rather too pagos, and Patagonia, are popular as ecotour much in conceptual approaches and inductive tourists can enjoy nature fully (Sendai 2001; theories, and nor seem the information of case Duffy 2002; Wallace and Pierce 1996). In the studies do not seen sufficient to substantiate case of Brazil, EMBRATUR (Empresa Brasileira the theories. To make persuasive suggestions de Turismo, Instituto Brasileiro de Turismo) and to provide considerable data for future designated 26 centers of ecotourism (polo de ecotourism, this study examines the regional ecoturismo) in order to introduce ideal regions bases that sustain modern ecotourism in the for ecotourism to domestic and foreign tourists. case of the Brazilian Pantanal. The main cause of the designation by the gov Expanding across the middle part of the ernmental organization can be attributed to the South American Continent, the Pantanal is rise of the ecotourism in the Pantanal and Ama known as the world's biggest wetland. It in zonas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. cludes the borders of Brazil, Bolivia and Para The centers of ecotour are roughly divided guay, and the total area consists of numerous into four regions, i.e., Amazon (numbers of the subdivided wetlands that amount to about 230 centers of ecotours: 1), Pantanal (3), North East thousand square kilometers, which is equal to (13), and South East (9) as shown in Figure 1. Honshu island of Japan. In order to preserve Except for the Amazon and the Pantanal, the 290 Ecotourism in the North Pantanal, Brazil 45 Figure 1. Centers of ecotourism and national parks in Brazil, 2003. Source: EMBRATUR area of the centers of ecotours in the plateau the 47 national parks in Prazil.2 Comparing and coastal region is minute. Almost all of the with the large area of the center of ecotourism ecotour centers are located in and around na in the Pantanal, the area of national park pro tional parks. The Parque Nacional do Pantanal tected by government is small. Mato-grossense is the only national park lo Nature in and around the wetland cated in the Pantanal. It was designated as a national park on the 24th of September 1931, The wetland of the Pantanal counts for no seven years after the Amazonas, and the area, less than 133 thousand square kilometers of 135 thousand ha, is the fifteenth largest among Brazilian territory. The great wetland is sur 291 46 MARUYAMA H ., NIHEI T., and NISHIWAKI Y. rounded by the extensive Brazilian Plateau in the east, the Gran Chaco of Bolivian territory in the west, and the Paresis Mountains that form the watershed between the Amazon and the Paraguay River (Figure 2). Climatically, be longing to the savanna, the average annual temperature is as high as 24•Ž. The yearly precipitation is around 1100mm, and it re ceives 45% of its rainfall in three months, from December to February. Described as a wildlife treasury, the Pantanal has abundant flora and fauna. The outlined number of species is 95 mammals, 162 reptiles, 656 birds, 263 fishes and 1700 phanerogams (Ministeroio do Meio Ambiente, dos Recursos Hidricos e da Amazonia Legal 1997; Britski et al. 1999). Typical animals are the jacare (cai man) and the capivara whose population is as sumed to be 3.5-10 million and 0.5 million, re spectively (Mourao et al. 2000). Tuiuiu (jabiru: Jabiru mycteria), which is 1.5m in height and has a 2.6m of wing, is regarded as the symbol of the Pantanal. In addition to these animals, there is a large number of endangered species documented in Washington Treaty Appendix I, such as the cervo campo (marsh deer: Blastoce rus dichtomus) and the arara azul (hyacinth ma caw: Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) which also inhabit the wetland (Nakasumi 1990).
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