Ecotourism resources (13/06/05)

Good afternoon everyone:

I have four resources on ecotourism that I would like to share with you, but to begin with let me remind you of an earlier email to this list on other useful ecotourism/tourism materials, available here http://www.ramsar.org/outreach_cepanews_e23.htm.

1. Produced by the Nature Conservancy in the USA, the publication Ecotourism Development: A Manual for Conservation Planners and Managers recognizes ecotourism as an important activity in natural areas around the world. It provides opportunities for visitors to experience natural areas and to learn about the importance of biodiversity conservation and local cultures. At the same time, ecotourism generates income for conservation and brings economic benefits for communities living in rural and remote areas.

This manual consists of two distinct but related stand-alone volumes. Conservationists who want a greater understanding of ecotourism, or who are considering ecotourism as a conservation strategy for a protected area, should consult Volume I, Part 1: An Introduction to Ecotourism Planning, for a brief but comprehensive overview.

For a fuller understanding of the ecotourism management planning process, Volume I, Part II on "Ecotourism Planning and Management" should be consulted. This explains the process for ecotourism development and management planning, from site conservation planning and preliminary site evaluation to preparing and implementing the plan (including participatory processes) as well as measuring the success of the plan.

Volume I can be downloaded as a PDF file (3.6MB) here http://conserveonline.org/csd;internal&action=buildframes.action (go to General Subjects then Ecotourism, then click on Ecotourism Development: A Manual for Conservation Planners and Managers.

There is a second volume, The Business of Ecotourism Development and Management, which provides orientation and guidance on both key conservation management and key business development strategies. I have not yet been able to find an electronic version of this but have made enquiries and will inform the list if I receive a useful reply.

2. Available from the same web source is another useful document that looks at assessing the impacts of ecotourism. "Ecotourism Impact
Monitoring: A Review of Methodologies and Recommendations for Developing Monitoring Programs in Latin America" rightly points out that unplanned or poorly planned and implemented tourism can have serious negative effects on the environment and on communities. To anticipate negative impacts and to prevent or mitigate them, monitoring of ecotourism impacts is required. This report sets out to do this.

The report offers a summary of some existing methodologies for measuring visitor impacts on protected areas and provides recommendations for how to establish ecotourism monitoring programmes in Latin America. It is designed for use by The Nature Conservancy partner organisations in Latin America but is also applicable for others involved in ecotourism throughout the world.

The report is available as a 2.0MB Word document which can be downloaded here http://conserveonline.org/csd;internal&action=buildframes.action
(go to General Subjects then Ecotourism).

3. WWF has created some useful material online that targets the tourists themselves. They have provided simple tips for travellers encouraging responsible tourism. They also have a number of links to good ecotourism operators around the world as well as some more general information on the relationship between ecotourism and conservation. Have a look here: http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/travel.cfm.

4. Finally, another document that may be of interest is a case study on a community-owned initiative in South Africa which looks at how much a community-owned lodge development within a protected wildlife area can contribute towards sustainably improving livelihoods of households in communities living on the border of a protected area. You can view this here: http://www.livelihoods.org/lessons/case_studies/lesson-lekgo1.htm.

With best weekend wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

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