Ecotourism-Impacts, Potentials and Possibilities, Stephen Wearing and John Neil, 1999 2.57 MB PDF Uploded 1
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Ecotourism: Impacts, Potentials and Possibilities This Page Intentionally Left Blank Ecotourism: Impacts, Potentials and Possibilities Stephen Wearing and John Neil OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI Butterworth-Heinemann Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041 A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group First published 1999 © Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd 1999 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1P 9HE. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request ISBN 0 7506 4137 1 Composition by Genesis Typesetting, Laser Quay, Rochester, Kent Printed and bound in Great Britain Contents Foreword vii 7 Case studies: the local and the national Case study 1: the local – Costa Rica, About the authors ix the Santa Elena Ecotourism Rainforest Reserve and Monteverde Cloud Forest Acknowledgements xi Preserve 86 Introduction xiii Case study 2: the national – ‘Issues in protected area policy in Australia’ 94 Penelope J. Figgis, AM Vice President, 1 Departure – surveying the ground 1 Australian Conservation Foundation 2 If ecotourism is not just an activity 8 Marketing ecotourism: meeting and but a philosophy, which philosophy? 10 shaping expectations and demands 104 3 Tourism development: government, 9 Could the ‘real’ ecotourist please industry, policy and planning 21 stand up! 119 4 Ecotourism and protected areas: 10 Ecotourism – a model for sustainable visitor management for sustainability 39 development 130 5 The role of interpretation in Appendix I: Select glossary 138 achieving a sustainable future 57 Bibliography 145 6 Linking conservation and communities: community benefits and social costs 72 Index 159 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Foreword Ecotourism, the idea that nature based tourism industries. Scientists and environmentalists could contribute social and environmental bene- could see that there was little hope of saving fits, burst into public consciousness in the late these lands unless they could generate income 1980s and became virtually a phenomenon in from their natural state to meet the needs of their the 1990s. In many countries, it became a people. Ecotourism appeared to offer a sustain- substantial focus of debate, generating numerous able development option for countries, regions conferences, new courses and challenging policy and local communities, which would provide an development at all levels of government, the incentive to retain and manage their wild lands tourist industry and the environment and wildlife and hence the crucial biodiversity of movement. life. It could be an alternative to rapacious, It is not too difficult to explain the extraordi- resource extraction of logging and mining. It nary rise of interest. The publication of the could earn the desperately sought foreign cur- Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, in 1987 rency and bring in revenues to properly manage by the United Nations Commission on Environ- protected areas. ment and Development was the catalyst which A crucial component of the concept is that saw a major world-wide rise in environmental affected local communities need to be recipients consciousness. It focused on the greatest of such benefits if this incentive is to work. dilemma of life on earth – in a world of over 5 However, beyond simply being an incentive to billion people how do you meet the needs and keep forests alive and keep dynamite fishing demands of humans without destroying the very away from reefs, many saw that such tourism ecological fabric of the planet which underpins could actually foster an environmental ethic all life and human well being? The report through both the experience and good inter- identified the concept of sustainable develop- pretation. Most people who have swum on a ment as the answer. coral reef would want that reef to remain While conceptually there was broad agree- protected for all time. ment, it was not easy to find clean, green Ecotourism also appeared to hold promise to industries which were truly environmentally ameliorate another dilemma of our age. The benign or had positive outcomes over the long twentieth century has seen the tragic and rapid haul. This was especially true in developing demise of the rich cultural heritage of the countries where nature had its strongholds, but world’s indigenous people by the relentless where short-term economic drivers often saw pressure of modern industrialized society. Envir- natural lands and wildlife disappearing fast to onmentalists viewed this as both a human and satisfy both the needs of survival and resource ecological tragedy as ‘the wisdom of the elders’ viii FOREWORD seemed doomed to disappear. Ironically, as the seen ecotourism as the thin end of the wedge diversity and integrity of native cultures and in allowing for development in protected areas natural places were increasingly under threat, and fragile environments. Spreading benefits to the world’s educated and environmentally local communities is also fraught with prob- aware travellers sought contact with them. Low lems and often inadequate to offset the appeal key tourism appeared to offer an economic of short-term but more lucrative extractive return to such communities for conserving and industries. Tourism is after all an industry celebrating their cultures. frequently locked into the dynamic of short- Overall therefore the ecotourism concept was term profit before long-term social, cultural or to some degree the right idea at the right time. ecological sustainability. Tourism interests were looking for areas where This broad-reaching and comprehensive book their country had a competitive advantage and gives an excellent coverage of this important new angles to market their countries or regions. issue. It asks all the key questions about whether Environmentalists were looking for reasons why ecotourism can ultimately deliver on its governments should conserve land, as well as undoubted promise. In fact the book itself may examples of green industries and an alternative assist in the process of ecotourism realizing its to the rapacious model of mass tourism. Indige- potential benefits as its wide ranging chapters nous and rural communities were looking for identify many of the key issues practitioners and alternatives to destructive industries, new policy makers need to consider and identify employment opportunities, particularly ones many of the pitfalls. that could enhance their communities. Govern- I certainly commend the call in the introduc- ments were looking for economic development, tion for the need to get the frameworks right, income from their protected area assets and ecotourism is unlikely to succeed unless many of lower costs in land management. the key components such as an adequate pro- However, in the decade of ecotourism we tected area system, sound regulation and ade- have found that these benefits are not always quate funding of good management are easy to deliver. Undoubtedly there are forests available. still standing, rivers still clean and wildlife alive because of ecotourism. But we have also Penelope Figgis AM About the authors Dr Stephen Wearing’s background is in environ- education, guiding and interpretation manage- mental and tourism planning and management. ment, environmentalism and sociology of tour- He has an undergraduate and masters degree in ism. He is a Senior Lecturer in the School of town planning. He has worked in both local and Leisure and Tourism Studies, Faculty of Business state government and consulted internationally at the University of Technology, Sydney where in the area or ecotourism. His work in establish- he teaches in a number of these areas. ing the Santa Elena Ecotourism Rainforest Reserve in Costa Rica saw him receive an award John Neil is a freelance researcher, writer and from the Costa Rican Government and this work teacher across a range of subjects including also forms the core of his PhD. Stephen’s community development, ecology, poststructur- research focuses on the social sciences in natural alism, continental philosophy and textuality. He resource management including community is currently completing a PhD at the University development, community-based tourism, eco- of Sydney and is a research officer and tutor at tourism, gender and leisure theory, outdoor the University of Technology, Sydney. This Page Intentionally Left Blank Acknowledgements We have many people to thank for this book: Thanks also to Penny Davidson for all her To Penny Figgis, for providing the motivation comments and her contribution to Chapter 10; to begin this book by choosing to put her family her insights added great depth. first. We thank her for her inspiration and for Finally, thanks to all those students who have providing case study material and her Foreword. contributed to the development of the ideas in She has also contributed the second case study in the numerous workshops in ecotourism and Chapter 7, ‘Issues in protected area policy in protected area management – their enthusiasm Australia’. It is an infinitely better book for her and creativity created the basis for the book; to contribution. Barbara Almond in particular for work done that Thanks to Paula Drayton and Isabel Sebastian contributed to Chapter 5; to Joanne McLean and for their research and editorial comment and just Nikki Phillips for their ideas; and to Mark for being fun to be around.