Part 2: Protected areas and development
8.3 Enhancing PA conservation through tourism development
Government policy recognises that ecotourism should be ecologically sustainable and contribute to the conservation of natural heritage. Policy makers and PA managers therefore need to develop strategies not only for managing ecological impacts but for ensuring that tourism development, where possible, is
contributing to the conservation of the PA resource base. This also makes good economic sense as the success of the nature-based tourism industry, in an increasingly competitive market place, is very much dependent on the quality of the natural environment that supports it.
Apart from the direct flow of revenues to communities and protected areas through the use of economic instruments as detailed earlier in the chapter, tourism can contribute to the conservation of the PA resource base in a number of ways.
8.3.1 Collaborative management arrangements with PA communities
It is often assumed that the economic benefits from nature-based tourism will provide sufficient incentive for local people to conserve the natural resources that support the tourism enterprise. Yet, the threshold at which economic benefits will sufficiently motivate a community to conserve natural tourism attractions is difficult to predict and is influenced by many social-economic and cultural variables. Typically the limited revenues from community-based ecotourism - which is small scale by definition - will be insufficient to meet the basic needs of a community and will need to be combined with other forms of assistance to provide the necessary incentives for a community to change its resource use patterns in the interest of long term conservation.
The immediate economic benefit generated by tourism can however provide an effective entry point and opportunity to develop collaborative management arrangements with PA communities to protect and conserve PA resources. Experience from the UNESCO Nam Ha Ecotourism Project in Lao PDR has shown that communities benefiting from tourism are receptive to PA management programs and conservation agreements in return for tourism benefits and continued assistance.
Agreements that ask a community to forgo income from the harvesting of natural resources or use of land in return for tourism benefits alone are unlikely to succeed. To be effective, co-management programs should include provision for development incentives, education and awareness raising programs and capacity building (Box 8.9).
8.3.2 Targeting strategically important PA communities for tourism development
The survey and mapping of biodiversity in a PA, as part of the zoning process, will reveal areas and sites that are of relatively high conservation value but which remain within the traditional resource use areas of adjacent communities. Actively enforcing sites of high conservation value and core zones against
resource use can be very difficult in areas remote and rarely visited by PA staff. In these situations tourism
development can be an effective strategy for enhancing the conservation of these areas. High quality ecotourism products that include visits to remote and relatively undisturbed areas to observe wildlife and scenery in the company of ethnic guides can yield considerable economic benefits to communities which can be linked to a requirement to enter into collaborative arrangements to protect and patrol areas of high conservation value.
8.3.3 Creating tourism protected areas
The creation of voluntary, community managed biodiversity reserves for tourism development can be an effective way for diversifying the tourism product and generating additional income for the community while providing an additional incentive to communities to protect areas of high conservation value.
Box 8.9: Collaborative partnerships in community-based tourism to promote development and conservation, Kirirom NP, Cambodia
With assistance from the NGO, Mlup Baitong, villages in the Chambak commune of the buffer zone of Kirirom NP have prepared an Ecotourism Management Plan to develop and manage a waterfall tourism site that is becoming increasingly popular with domestic tourists. Tourism represents a significant opportunity for local communities to generate income and to help reduce their
dependency on the use of natural resources in the NP. The plan, in addition to prescribing actions for developing and managing tourism, includes a number of initiatives to conserve and protect the natural resources of the Park. These include:
• Local zoning of the tourism development area, including sub zones for the conservation of bats and rare plants.
• Patrolling of the site to enforce against illegal hunting and tree cutting activities.
• Protection of waterways from tourism waste and pesticides.
• Fire prevention by ensuring that tourists are always accompanied by at least one guide to patrol against accidental fires.
• Limits on the quantity and type of NTFPs collected by the villagers in the area.
In return the community requests support from the Ministry of Environment, the PA management agency and Mlup Baitong to help with tourism infrastructure development, technical advice on natural resource management and in managing visitor impacts, guide and tourism management training and protection from demands to share income with local soldiers and from the operations of unlicensed private tour companies.
Source: Adapted from the “Tuk Chrak Waterfall Ecotourism Management Plan”, Chambak Commune, Kirirom NP, Cambodia 2002
The village of Ban Nammat Kao in the Nam Ha PA of Lao PDR has created a 100 ha reserve within their village area for the purpose of tourism development and the conservation of bird and squirrel populations which are in rapid decline from over hunting. Hunters guide tourists who visit the village on a nature trail in the reserve to view bird life and learn about the ecological knowledge of the Akha people. A natural history field handbook for the reserve is in preparation to assist the guides with tourist interpretation. Each of the village guides receives a fee that is built into the price paid by each tourist for the trek thus
guaranteeing a steady source of income. The hunters are proud of their knowledge and abilities to track wildlife and this is readily observable in their interaction with the tourists. In this way the reserve is adding value to the trekking experience, fostering an enhanced appreciation for local culture, and providing an incentive to the community to preserve their knowledge and traditions – a primary objective of ecotourism.
The village has full authority for the management of the reserve and has taken it upon itself to establish penalties in the form of warnings and fines for enforcing the no-hunting regulations.
Tourism reserves also offer an opportunity to demonstrate to local communities the principles of natural resource management. With protection, time and simple monitoring techniques it should be possible for the people of Ban Nammat Kao to see increases in the abundance of NTFPs and bird and squirrel populations inside and around the reserve. In this way this local reserve can serve as a catalyst for the community to establish management systems for other economically important natural resources.
Initiatives like this however require active facilitation by PA staff and/or outside organisations.
8.3.4 Tourism as an employer of local resource users
The employment of local hunters as guides helps to raise conservation awareness among the sector of the community that has the greatest influence on the levels of wildlife harvesting. Paying a reward to local hunter guides who are able to locate wildlife for tourists also provides an incentive to conserve.
A policy to use local resource users in ecotourism enterprises may have a measurable effect on reducing the harvesting of wildlife and fisheries and will also assist in raising awareness about the link between conserving natural resources and tourism benefits (Ferraro and Kramer 1997).
This does not necessarily occur in all circumstances. In the Nam Ha PA of Lao PDR, for example,
ecotourism has not led to a significant reduction in the time available to harvest natural resources. On the contrary some households may be expending more time to harvest natural resources to provide food for tourists. Additional community controls and incentives may be needed.
8.3.5 Tourism as a deterrent to illegal land and resource use
The regular presence of tourist groups in certain sites of the PA can act as a deterrent to ‘outsiders’
undertaking illegal activities (Box 8.10). PA managers can channel tourism to areas under threat, such as navigable rivers, as a strategy for patrolling and deterring the presence of outsiders. It is imperative that security and safety issues are given priority consideration when employing this strategy and that locally trained guides and/or PA staff accompany tourist groups into areas where there is the likelihood of outsiders engaged in illegal activities.
Box 8.10: Tourism-based monitoring as a tool for enhancing PA management
In the Nam Ha PA, Luang Namtha, Lao PDR the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has worked with the PA Management Unit to develop and jointly implement a wildlife and resource use monitoring program with the Provincial Tourism Authority and local Guides Association along trekking trails and rafting rivers in the PA. The monitoring program is intended to detect the long term impacts, both positive and negative, of tourism on the wildlife populations and level of resource use in the PA. Additionally the regular visitation of guides and tourists to the PA and communities provides the under staffed PA Management Unit with valuable and regular patrolling information on urgent threats to conservation values that require immediate attention, such as the activities of wildlife traders, illegal logging and tiger-livestock conflicts in villages. The monitoring program is designed to be undertaken jointly with tourists offering them an opportunity to participate in PA management and, in the process, enhance their interpretive and educational experience.
Source: UNESCO Nam Ha Ecotourism Project, Luang Namtha, Lao PDR