The Community Tourism agenda has been widely adopted by major conservation oriented NGOs, governmental aid organisations and campaigns.
Ecotourism is rhetorically no longer solely about conservation of the environment – there has to be seen to be consultation and benefits for the local community – ‘ecommunity tourism’, perhaps? For example, the world’s biggest
conservation organisation, the WWF (cited in Goeldner et al., 2000: 556), define
ecotourism as ‘tourism to protect natural areas, as a means of economic gain
through natural resource preservation . . . ’ and The International Ecotourism
Society propose ‘[p]urposeful travel to natural areas to understand the culture
and natural history of the environment, taking care not to alter the integrity of the
ecosystem, while producing economic opportunities to make the conservation of
natural resources beneficial to local people’ (ibid.). USAID support projects that claim to integrate conservation and development activities in many Third World
countries. These, they claim, provide alternatives to encroaching into protected
areas to hunt, log and farm. Furthermore, ‘a new group of stakeholders with a
vested interest in protecting parks’ is created. It is clearly important for them to
offer benefits to host communities, as ‘potential local resistance to setting aside
forest and fishing areas for conservation can often be softened by employment
and income producing opportunities ecotourism can generate’ (USAID, 1996: 1).
This suggests that sponsorship of Ecotourism is after all to do with environmental imperatives, and that the small economic benefits to communities are instrumental to this aim – to clear the way for its acceptance within developing world
communities. In similar fashion, Conservation International argue that ‘All
projects need to integrate the conservation of neighbouring ecosystems with the
creation of economic opportunities for local residents...’ (CI, undated). Furthermore, ‘the development of an Ecotourism project depends on building a local
constituency that has a vested economic interest in protecting their natural
resources’ (CI, undated).
The Community Tourism agenda has been widely adopted by major conservation oriented NGOs, governmental aid organisations and campaigns.
Ecotourism is rhetorically no longer solely about conservation of the environment – there has to be seen to be consultation and benefits for the local community – ‘ecommunity tourism’, perhaps? For example, the world’s biggest
conservation organisation, the WWF (cited in Goeldner et al., 2000: 556), define
ecotourism as ‘tourism to protect natural areas, as a means of economic gain
through natural resource preservation . . . ’ and The International Ecotourism
Society propose ‘[p]urposeful travel to natural areas to understand the culture
and natural history of the environment, taking care not to alter the integrity of the
ecosystem, while producing economic opportunities to make the conservation of
natural resources beneficial to local people’ (ibid.). USAID support projects that claim to integrate conservation and development activities in many Third World
countries. These, they claim, provide alternatives to encroaching into protected
areas to hunt, log and farm. Furthermore, ‘a new group of stakeholders with a
vested interest in protecting parks’ is created. It is clearly important for them to
offer benefits to host communities, as ‘potential local resistance to setting aside
forest and fishing areas for conservation can often be softened by employment
and income producing opportunities ecotourism can generate’ (USAID, 1996: 1).
This suggests that sponsorship of Ecotourism is after all to do with environmental imperatives, and that the small economic benefits to communities are instrumental to this aim – to clear the way for its acceptance within developing world
communities. In similar fashion, Conservation International argue that ‘All
projects need to integrate the conservation of neighbouring ecosystems with the
creation of economic opportunities for local residents...’ (CI, undated). Furthermore, ‘the development of an Ecotourism project depends on building a local
constituency that has a vested economic interest in protecting their natural
resources’ (CI, undated).
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