The Role of Private Wildlife Reserves in Nicaragua’S Emerging Ecotourism Industry
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The Role of Private Wildlife Reserves in Nicaragua’s Emerging Ecotourism Industry M.E. Barany, A.L. Hammett, L.J. Shillington and B.R. Murphy College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech, 210 Cheatham Hall (mail code 0323), Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 USA Ecotourismpromises to bethe fastest growing segmentof Nicaragua’s fledglingtourist industry,which isalready the country’ s secondhighest generator of foreignexchange. Developmentof alucrativeecotourism industry offersa unique opportunity forNica- raguato unify economicgrowth withnatural resource stewardship in asingle sustainabledevelopment strategy.However, as ecotourism is largely dependent on protectedarea systems, the current condition of Nicaragua’s public protectedarea systemis amajorobstacle to theindustry’ s development.Limited by inadequatepublic financing,the establishment of privatewildlife reserves can complimentNicaragua’ s under-developed public protectedarea system, further enhancing thedesirability of Nicaraguaas anecotouristdestination. The opportunitiesand constraintsof private reserveestablishment are examined in thisstudy of Nicaragua’s firstlegally recog- nised private wildlife reserve. Introduction Nicaragua’s touristindustry lags behind thatof othercountries in the region. However,the country’s recent politicalstability, natural resource richness, and proximityto CostaRica has recently madetourism Nicaragua’ s secondhighest sourceof foreign exchange, withecotourism playing anexpanding role(US Embassy,2000b). In need of sustainablerural development strategies,establish- mentof asuccessfulecotourism industry can offer Nicaraguaimportant economic,environmental, and social benefits. Currently, the industry’s potential isthreatened by environmentaldegradation and the inability ofthe government tofinance itsexpansive, but under-managed, protectedarea system (Figures 1 and 2). In developing nations,protected area systemsaccount for asubstantialshare ofthe overallrevenue accumulatedfrom tourism (Weaver, 1998).In asurvey of visitorsto LatinAmerican airports, 48% ofthe respondentssaid that protected Downloaded by [Virginia Tech Libraries] at 09:15 21 July 2013 areaswere avery importantreason for travel to theregion (Boo,1990). In Costa Rica,protected areas were visitedby 66%of the 780,000tourists in 1996(M. Mejia, pers.comm., 5 October1999). This evidence represents the majorinflu- ence thatprotected area systems have on tourists’ choice of country destinations.Development ofecotourismin theregion thusdepends in parton the conditionof nationalprotected area systems. However, countries such as Nicaragualack the financialresources necessary for a developed national system. Where the public sectoris too financially constrained to effectively manage protectedareas, sustainable tourism can be adirectway to generate arevenue 0966-9582/01/02 0095-16 $16.00/0 © 2001 M.E. Barany et al. JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Vol. 9, No. 2, 2001 95 96 Journal of Sustainable Tourism Figure 1 Country Map (LANIC, 2000) Downloaded by [Virginia Tech Libraries] at 09:15 21 July 2013 Figure 2 Protected Areas of Nicaragua (UdSi, 2000) basethat can financially support management of protectedarea systems. If promoted,an ecotourismindustry could increase finances forthe underdevel- oped Nicaraguanprotected area system, contributing to the overallquality of Nicaragua’s environment,and increasing the desirabilityof the countryas a touristdestination. When ecotourismto developing countriesis largely dependent onestablishedprotected area systems, how can developing countries Private Wildlife Reserves and Ecotourism in Nicaragua 97 withunderdeveloped protectedarea systems, such as Nicaragua,capitalise on the growing demand for ecotourism? Justification Thispaper will examine the potentialof privatewildlife reservesto comple- ment public protectedarea systems, thus contributing to thedevelopment ofa nationalecotourism industry. Private reserves are defined as‘sitesowned free- holdor formallyleased by individuals,corporations and other private bodies inwhich wildlife conservationis a primaryactivity and the responsibility of suchowners or leaseholders’ (Watkins et al.,1996).As private initiatives are becoming increasingly importantto biodiversity conservation (Langholz, 1996),partial privatisatio nofparkmanagement and the number ofprivately ownedsmall ecotourism reserves are increasing throughout Central America (Barborak,1992). Nicaraguarecently passedlegislation that officially recognisesprivate reserves,making Domitila Private Wildlife Reserve Nicaragua’s firstlegally recognised privatereserve. This paper presentsthe development ofthisprivate reserve andemphasises the methodsby which privatereserves can greatly affect the successof Nicaragua’s ecotourismindustry in the initialstages of itsdevelop- ment.This is an importantstudy as very littleattention has been given tothe role ofprivatenature reserves in sustainabletourism development. Itwas also found thatthere isa deficiency ofresearchon Nicaragua’s effortsto develop aprivate reserve system.The constraintsand opportunities for private reserve establish- mentexperienced by Domitilaand addressed in thispaper arenovel contributions to the development of Nicaragua’s ecotourism industry. Methodology Basedon the need ofdeveloping countriesto generate foreign exchange, we explored variousmodels of sustainabledevelopment strategies.Nicaragua was chosenas a focuspoint. The country’s recent transitionfrom a closedeconomy to aliberalised markethas magnified boththe challenges ofresourcemanagement in aglobalisedeconomy and the potentialfor adopting innovative strategies. Firstwe conducteda detailedliterature search hoping tolocate research and development workconcerning Nicaragua’s protectedarea systems, ecotourism, Downloaded by [Virginia Tech Libraries] at 09:15 21 July 2013 andprivate reserve development. Thiswas followed up by visitsto several public protectedareas in the southernPacific region andto the Domitilasite. Throughoutthis visit we conductedunstructured interviews with government officials,non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in naturalresource management,and members of the privatesector (including the ownersof Domitila).These interviewswere followedup throughe-mail correspondence, aspolicies affecting the development of privatereserves in Nicaraguahave recently changed. Layout of the paper The resultsfrom our research are presented in the following sections.First, we argue thatthere existsa potentiallypositive relationship between Nicaraguan privatenature reserves and the development ofa successfulnational ecotourism 98 Journal of Sustainable Tourism industry.Second, weemphasisesome criteria in privatereserve establishment andmanagement that increase the likelihood of itbecoming asustainable ecotourismenterprise. We then provide acasestudy to illustratethe assimilation of these criteriain the field andto evaluate the opportunitiesand constraints associatedwith private reserve establishmentin Nicaragua.This is followed by a discussionconcerning the recent legislationpassed by the Nicaraguangovern- mentto facilitate the establishmentof anationalprivate reserve systemand recommendationsfor future development ofthissystem. We conclude by high- lighting the internationalimportance of privatereserve establishmentto national sustainable tourism efforts. Background Is ecotourism a sustainable development strategy? While ecotourismis often defined in anexperiential contextemphasising travelto natural areas that benefits localecosystems and communities, ecotourismis rarely defined in acommercialcontext. In acommercialcontext, there arethree maintenants that define ecotourism.First, ecotourism is aform of tourismthat is economically sustainable (Gauthier, 1999; Scace, 1999). Second, ecotourisminvolves resource conservation, as its economic sustainability isdirectly dependent onthe sustainabilityof the productbase, the local ecosystem(Scace, 1999;Wight, 1994). And third,the touristreceives environ- mentallybenign utility fromthis ecosystem such as wildlife observation, environmentaleducation, etc. (Nelson, 1999). Economic sustainability ,conser- vationof naturalresources, and non- consumptiveutility formthe conceptual foundationof anecotourismindustry. Effortsof the privateand non-profit sectorare mainly responsible forthe initial development of thisrapidly growingsegment of the internationaltourist industry(Gauthier, 1999, Higgins, 1996;Scace, 1999; Weaver 1994). Only recently havepublic agencies begun tothoroughly address ecotourism’ s potentialas both aneconomically and ecologically sustainable development strategy.Ideally, ecotourismcan be consideredan environmentallyand socially benign develop- mentpolicy; however, there arereasons to questionthe industry’s capacityto abide by ecotourism’s informal code of ethics. Downloaded by [Virginia Tech Libraries] at 09:15 21 July 2013 Criticsof ecotourismargue thatit often exhibits aconflictbetween short-term profitand long-term sustainability.The focuson meeting demandsof tourism andprofits can supercede the conservationof resources(Nelson, 1999). Commercialoperators often use ecotourismas amarketingploy toenlarge their marketshare (McLaren, 1998; Minca & Linda,2000; Wight, 1994). Indeed, in Nicaraguasome companies disguise masstourism as ‘ naturetours’ (T. Fletcher, pers.comm., 27 July 2000).According to TomFletcher, president ofone of Nica- ragua’s firstecotourism operations, ‘ everything fromnatural history to off-road motorcycleshas been toutedin the localpress as shining examplesof “ecotourism”’.