Where the Green Money Grows: Assessing the Prospects of Ecotourism in Gabon

Illinois State University ISU ReD: Research and eData Theses and Dissertations Summer 8-2005 Where the Green Money Grows: Assessing the Prospects of Ecotourism in Gabon Daniel Chand Illinois State University Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd Part of the Other Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Chand, Daniel, "Where the Green Money Grows: Assessing the Prospects of Ecotourism in Gabon" (2005). Theses and Dissertations. 445. https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/445 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ISU ReD: Research and eData. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ISU ReD: Research and eData. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHERE THE GREEN MONEY GROWS: ASSESSING THE PROSPECTS OF ECOTOURISM IN GABON DANIEL CHAND A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Politics and Government ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY 2005 THESIS APPROVED: Date Robert Hunt, Chair Date Lucinda Beier Date Ali Riaz WHERE THE GREEN MONEY GROWS: ASSESSING THE PROSPECTS OF ECOTOURISM IN GABON Daniel Chand 196 Pages August 2005 An examination of the challenges to ecotourism development in the West-Central African nation of Gabon. APPROVED: Date Robert Hunt, Chair Date Lucinda Beier Date Ali Riaz WHERE THE GREEN MONEY GROWS: ASSESSING THE PROSPECTS OF ECOTOURISM IN GABON Daniel Chand 196 Pages August 2005 This is an examination of the challenges to ecotourism development in the West-Central African nation of Gabon. This study uses secondary analysis of past literature and utilizes primary, qualitative research in the form of surveys of experts on the subjects of ecotourism, sustainable development, and the Congo Basin. APPROVED: Date Robert Hunt, Chair Date Lucinda Beier Date Ali Riaz ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Foremost I would like to thank Dr. Robert Hunt for serving as my committee chair and providing guidance to me. He was always willing to help with the process of completing this thesis, even long before I chose the topic. I would also like to thank my two committee readers, Dr. Lucinda Beier and Dr. Ali Riaz, for their thorough reading, constructive criticism, and for always being available whenever I had questions. I would like to thank all of the participants who took the time to answer my research questions. Their opinions were invaluable to my findings. While working on this manuscript, there were a number of occasions where I had questions about the logistical process of completing a thesis. I would like to thank Beverly Beyer for helping me get through some of these bumps in the road. I would also like to thank Sandra Nichols at WildLaw for helping me to proof read the entire manuscript. Thank you all. D.C. i CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i CONTENTS ii FIGURES vi PREFACE 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 10 Study Methodology 13 The Participants 18 Limitations 19 Contributions 20 II. A DISSCUSSION OF ECOTOURISM 23 Culture Clash 30 Profits or Conservation: What is the Primary Objective? 37 Plugging Up Leaks 42 Withstanding the Unpredictable 45 III. GETTING TO KNOW GABON 51 Gabon’s Population 54 The Economic Conundrum 55 Alternative Sources of Income 58 Gabon’s Colonial History 62 Gabon’s Pseudo Independence 65 Bongo’s Continuation of French Influence 68 The Residue of Colonialism 72 ii Post-colonial Gabon’s Ecotourism Challenges 79 Political Corruption 79 Severe Stratification 81 A Decimated Culture 83 Child Slave Labor 84 Sex Trade 85 Lack of Rural Development 86 Traveling To and Around Gabon 88 Price Gouging 90 No International Image 90 The “Meatiest” Problem 91 Tourism Impacts of Bushmeat 99 Accomplishments So Far 104 Akanada National Park 105 Ivindo National Park 105 Loango National Park 106 Lopé National Park 106 Mayumba National Park 107 Bateke Plateaux National Park 107 Minkebe National Park 107 Help Is On the Way 108 A Long Way to Go 109 IV. COSTA RICA: A DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY 119 Costa Rica’s Head Start 122 A History of Costa Rica 123 Muted Effects of Colonialism 125 Democratization and Social Rights 127 Costa Rica Today 129 Ecotourism’s Development and Management Model 131 Developing Support for Conservation 136 The Successful Management Model 138 The True Eco-experience 141 Not All Good News in Paradise 142 Under Developed 142 Overly Developed 144 Private Reserves 148 The Problems With Packages 151 The Ecotourism Yellow Brick Road 151 iii V. CONCLUSION 157 Political Development 161 Democracy and political and social rights 162 Local empowerment and social stratification 164 Limited Accessibility 166 Direct flights from United States and more of Europe 167 In-country travel infrastructure 167 Getting visas 168 Local Education and Investment 168 The primary goal is preservation, not profit 169 Sustaining the environment 169 Sustaining culture 170 Developing local managers 171 Developing local interest 171 Staying Small 172 Limited development around parks 172 Promoting small business 172 Gabon’s Image 175 Price gouging 175 Hunting of rare wildlife 176 Marketing Gabon 178 Agricultural Problems 178 Helping Farmers 178 Controlling logging 180 Economic Diversification 181 Putting your eggs in one basket 181 iv Ecotourism: Good for Gabon and the World 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY 186 APPENDIX A: Institutional Review Board Approval Letter 193 APPENDIX B: Informed Consent Form 194 APPENDIX C: Survey for Experts on Environmental Protection or Ecotourism 195 APPENDIX D: Survey for Experts on Gabon or Congo Basin 196 v FIGURES Figure Page 1. Gabon map adapted from Mapquest 51 2. National parks map adapted from park service’s website 105 3. Costa Rica map adapted from Mapquest 119 4. Tortuguero National Park map adapted from Costa Rica Map and Travel Guide website 138 vi PREFACE Throughout this thesis, I refer to my experiences with WildLaw working to promote ecotourism to Gabon. I would like to use this preface to explain how I started working to promote ecotourism in Gabon and, consequently, ended up writing about ecotourism. My academic and professional work background has not dealt with ecotourism. Before I began this study, the ecotourism was new to me; yet, I soon developed an interest in the subject. I came to work for WildLaw, a nonprofit, environmental law firm based in Montgomery, Alabama, through a former employer who, at the time I was hired, was the organization’s development director. (For the purpose of this paper, I will refer to this person as Bill.) Bill was in charge of WildLaw’s fundraising and development projects. Bill did not have much experience with grant writing or other typical fundraising strategies for nonprofits such as WildLaw. As a result, he was continually on the search for a moneymaking venture that he thought would serve as a steady source of income for WildLaw. One day while reading his National Geographic, Bill noticed a story on the pristine, untouched rainforest of the Central African country of 1 2 Gabon. The government of Gabon, he discovered, was hoping to establish itself as the newest addition to the list of major ecotourism destinations. At this point, however, Gabon was essentially unheard of in tourism circles. There were a number of conservation organizations working on environmental protection and research in Gabon. But there currently was not a single nonprofit recruiting individuals to travel to Gabon. “How interesting,” he thought. There are conservation nonprofits recruiting travelers and organizing trips to places like Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Kenya, and various other places. Many had made large profits working with ecotourism. Bill had devised a plan. “If WildLaw were the first to organize tours to Gabon,” he thought, “it could stand to make a lot of money.” In late 2003, I began looking for a professional practice to finish my master’s degree. I started calling people I knew to see if anyone knew of any job openings. One of the people I called was Bill. He informed me that he was working for a nonprofit in Montgomery that was embarking on a major project. The organization was working on developing ecotourism in the Congo Basin—and he thought there could be a job on the project for me. Needless to say, it all sounded very exciting. As I said, I did not know anything about ecotourism, but it did not matter. My job, Bill explained, would deal more with researching prospective tourists and some administrative duties. 3 At first I knew next to nothing about the organization for which Bill was working. In fact, I did not even know the name. I assumed it was some type of international conservation nonprofit. Later I discovered that it dealt entirely with domestic issues. In fact, it was a law firm. The normal duties for its staff were activities such as reviewing environmental impact statements and bringing legal actions against government agencies such as the National Forest Service. It seemed peculiar to me that a nonprofit that had nothing to do with international conservation or tourism was embarking on a major venture in another country. But I went along with it anyway, assuming that the people involved knew what they were doing. I arrived in Montgomery in February 2004 and hit the ground running. Before I even arrived, I was already reading every ecotourism or Gabon-related piece of literature I could find. I immersed myself in my work, determined to make the project a success. Shortly after I began my work, however, I started to realize my optimism in the project was somewhat misplaced. WildLaw was a moderate-sized organization. Its operating budget was roughly $500,000 a year. In addition to its office in Montgomery, the organization’s main office, it also had offices in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Utah.

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