Download ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTS OF
ECOTOURISM
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Ecotourism involves traveling pristine and undisturbed
ecosystems (Newsome & Moore, 2012).
Ecotourism has both negative and more positive impacts
on the environment, locals and the society than mass
tourism.
Enables the local communities make money because it
advocates for local ownership as well as the management
of nearly or all of the services utilized by the tourists.
This is a case study on impacts of ecotourism in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, found in Central America prides itself for 95%
literacy levels and high life expectancy (78 years), high
social spending in tourism is about 24% of GDP
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Major ecotourism sites in Costa Rica include found in
towns such as San Juan, Matina and Tarcoles and the
Carara National Park.
Carara National Park sits on 4,700 ha of land Pacific
rainforest which is a zones with moist forest and wet forest
(McKeone, 2011; Dasenbrock, 2001).
It is the most popular because of the biodiversity richness and
proximity to San Jose (Dasenbrock, 2001 & McCrory,
2006).
It home to several types of species such scarlet macaw and
Ara macao which fall in the group of the most endangered
species in the area, which are at the verge of extinction due
to poaching.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Benefits or impacts of ecotourism can be positive and or
negative.
Further classifications of both categories yield
environmental, social and economic benefits and/or
challenges (Buchsbaum, 2004; Dasenbrock, 2001 &
McCrory, 2006).
Positive environmental impacts come in the form of
protection and preservation of national and private parks
and reserves and environmental education.
Protection and preservation of national and private parks
and reserves is done to protect Costa Rica’s rich floral and
faunal estimated to be 850 species of birds, 1260 species of
trees, 1200 species of orchid, 270 species of mammals, 361
reptiles and amphibians; and to crown it, Costa Rica has
over 35,000 species of insects (Weaver, 1999).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Many of ecotourism activities take place in communities or
villages which are nearby to the parks, as well as the
protected areas.
The communities have a huge role to play in the security.
Trickle down effects of the well-coordinated and collective
protection of national and private reserves are felt in
conservation of watersheds and soil.
Environmental education takes through different channels
including national parks, lodges, operators, private
reserves as well as different types of ecotourism related
activities.
It is the cornerstone of ecotourism philosophy.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Economic gains of ecotourism, they come in the form of
opportunities that come in the form of conserving the
tourism sites, the fees charged by tourists to access the
areas and payment for the services and goods they
consume during their visits.
Ecotourism, entails giving nature its value. This is the
basic underlying principle of environmental economics.
According to Honey (1999) and Weaver (1999),
ecotourism attracts more income compared to destructive
use land witnessed in Agriculture and cattle rearing,
hunting and the widely accepted mass tourism in Costa
Rica.
Costa Rica is on a global map in ecotourism because its
citizens are cognizant of their of the great value of their
natural resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Social benefits, are in the form of participation from
community members in all the phases of project planning
and implementation.
Involvement of the locals has promoted ownership of
ecotourism projects as well as collective responsibility.
This has translated to greater sustainability of development
in the areas adjacent to ecotourism sites (Dasenbrock,
2001).
The national government has taken it upon itself to educate
the planners (from both government and private
organizations) the importance of doing so.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Negative impacts of ecotourism
If unmonitored, can be distressing to the environment in
what is termed as green-washed travel.
Environmentalists argue that letting in tourists, large
numbers is responsible for unrestricted development of
hotels; this unmonitored growth will eventually put a stress
on the very resources.
Ecotourism projects tend to be overzealous and concentrate
tourists to one area bringing about degradation of the
environment.
Ability to handle liquid and solid waste management, if
strained, can bring about increased pollution, destruction of
natural habitats, degradation of forests and uncontrolled
erosion (McCrory, 2006; Miller &Tangley, 1991).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Conclusion
There is need for ecotourism to put emphasis on reduction
of negative impacts via institutionalization low-impact
construction hotels and other amenities, regulated visitor
numbers at a time and practicing of caution and care when
interacting with flora and fauna.
This will prevent further deterioration of ecosystems to
unsustainable lengths like the Manuel Antonio National
Park; which is characterized by overcrowding, improper
planning, an over-developed neighborhood, and solidwaste disposal difficulties.
A degraded environment will turn away visitors because
the ecosystem upon which it relies on ceases be attractive.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
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Ecotourism is a prefect chance to preserve and our
natural ecosystems and biodiversity that will be lost in
the event that ecotourism is not practiced (Wall, 1997).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
References
Wall, Geoffrey. (1997) Is Ecotourism Sustainable?
Environmental Management. 21(4), 483-491.
Miller, K. and L. Tangley (1991). Trees of Life: Saving
Tropical Forests and Their Biological Wealth. World
Resources Institute, Washington D.C.
McCrory, P. (2006). Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing
but footprints…?. British journal of sports medicine, 40(7),
565-565.
Dasenbrock, J. (2001). The pros and cons of ecotourism in
Costa Rica. op. cit.
Honey, M. (1999). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development.
Who owns Paradise? Island Press, Washington D.C.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Weaver, D. B. (1999). Magnitude of Ecotourism in Costa
Rica and Kenya. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(4), 792816.
Buchsbaum, B. D. (2004). Ecotourism and sustainable
development in Costa Rica.
McKeone, E. (2011). Ecotourism in Costa Rica:
Environmental Impacts and Management.
Newsome, D., & Moore, S. A. (2012). Natural area tourism:
Ecology, impacts and management (Vol. 58). Channel View
Publications.