Janet Akselrud
Eng 151 – 19582
Professor Seecharan
14 May 2020
Ecotourism: Holistically Complex
Long ago, travel used to be for necessity. Humans needed to find water, food, land, materials, and riches. They followed animal migration patterns, and sent explorers into the unknown. As time passed, humans evolved to traverse countries in order to escape from persecution while also reaching for opportunities. All this still fell in the domain of survival. However, the world is a different place now. In the twenty-first century, with easy transport and many planes, it is the first time in history people have the ability to travel for leisure. Touring the globe is not just possible, but regularly done. Unfortunately, tourism taking flight only increased human tampering with the natural balance of ecosystems. Species are rapidly becoming extinct, and entire habitats are being destroyed due to modern technological society. At the center of this chaos is “ecotourism.” Consumers are willing to pay. They want to stay in lodges, go on tours, see authentic environments, and interact with locals. It is often thought that ecotourism is the chance to make money while preserving natural habitats; the alternative to deforestation, mining coal, and fracking. It started out that way, but the word itself has many definitions which can add or remove the act of supporting local economies, tourist education, and sustainability from the equation. Demand for ecotourism skyrocketed since its inception, making it the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. In fact, 2002 was named the International year of Ecotourism by the United Nations General Assembly. Soon enough, as problems surfaced, the shaky roots of ecotourism were exposed. Ecotourism has never been defined, and no international certification has been created, leaving businesses with no obligation to be environmentally conscious. Owners that saw an opportunity to create more money could not, and still cannot, be held accountable for adhering to sustainable practices. They can simply use the word “ecotourism” as a label while only pretending to follow ecotourism principles. It could also happen that an owner believes they are following ecotourism values while others with a different definition in mind will not agree. Regardless of the cause, there are numerous cases where ecotourism ventures have ended up hurting ecosystems and locals. The worst part is considering that there is no one person at fault. The legitimacy of the ecotourism industry, even with its merits, is at risk without a definition. There are many stakeholders, not just business owners, within the tourism industry whose interests do not align with one another’s. There are tourists, indigenous people, tour guides, and managers involved. Now is the crucial time to work through these barriers. With the coronavirus pandemic, the entire tourism industry has been put on hold. Governments have closed borders and restricted international travel. The world is in a state of emergency, but the lockdown is not going to last forever. Once travel restrictions end, people are going to want to travel, and the ecotourism industry will need to be ready. It will need to be sustainable while still making profit, encourage tourists to learn, and most importantly, it will need to present a solid, stable foundation. The lack of a definition for ecotourism adds to the confusion of the varying goals of environmental enthusiasts, indigenous communities, and greedy companies. This makes the industry overly complex and vulnerable until some consensus about certification or a definition is reached.
The first of many formal ecotourism definitions was introduced in the 1980’s by Hector Ceballos-Lascurain. He said ecotourism meant “Traveling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas. (Ceballos-Lascurain 193)” This definition by Ceballos-Lascurain was a starting point, but since then many organizations and works of literature have produced their own interpretation. Each interpretation varies by containing additional values while omitting others, as well as changing the focus placed on whatever values the author sees fit. However, they all connect to each other in some way, and it is through these commonalities that a general understanding of ecotourism can be reached. Holly M. Donohoe and Roger D. Needham, members of the geography department at the university of Ottawa, did a literary analysis of modern ecotourism definitions. They used 30 academic definitions of ecotourism after 1990, and 12 definitions from Canadian government and private sectors. Releasing their findings in “Ecotourism: The Evolving Contemporary Definition” Donohoe and Needham concluded that, for the sake of clarity, it is better to look at ecotourism as a set of principles rather than one definition. By analyzing the criteria each definition of their sample alluded to, Donohoe and Needham identified the top six principles of ecotourism. According to the literary sources, the criteria ranked in order from most important to least were: “Nature-based,” “preservation/conservation,” “education,” “sustainability,” “distribution of benefits,” and “ethics/responsibility/ awareness” (Donohoe 199). Essentially, ecotourism is not only associated with nature and the environment, but the ecotourism activities themselves must be mindful of maintaining natural areas. Additionally, tourists are welcome to explore these areas, and even more so are they encouraged to learn about the local culture and the importance of keeping the local ecosystem safe. Ideally, the ecotourism ventures also adhere to sustainability, meaning they use resources at a rate slower than the resources are being replenished to prevent throwing off ecological balance. Along with being considerate to the environment, local communities and workers should be valued. For example, allowing for a line of open communication can ensure managers respect traditional celebrations. Also, creating opportunities such as employing locals as tour guides could facilitate distribution of benefits. An indigenous person could earn money, and in turn contribute to the development of their community. Lastly, ethics and awareness refer to morals about striving to take actions that benefit all involved. The literary sources, and the Canadian sample in Donohoe and Needham’s study, provided comparable results with one exception. The Canadian sample did not include “sustainability” in the key criteria. Rather, it was replaced with “minimizing impacts” in 6th place. Donohoe noted that the result could “be representative of the philosophical discussion of ecotourism present in the academic literature where sustainability is increasingly a key element” (Donohoe 203). Sustainability is gaining supporters on paper because it is becoming more crucial in the conversation about preserving nature, but implementation is yet to be present on a large scale in real life.
There are many ecotourism initiatives that genuinely benefit the environment, locals, and visitors. One great example is Valle Escondido in Costa Rica. According to their website, the Monteverde Inn is “A small eco hotel/lodge within a captivating private nature preserve, working towards sustainability.” The main goal of Valle Escondido is to bring humans closer to nature and to keep the preserve safe from urban development. In doing so, they adhere to the principles of ecotourism as well. Monteverde Inn is Nature-based because the surrounding preserve has trails and waterfalls that all visitors are welcome to use. Conservation is practiced in all areas, beginning with heating shower water with solar panels. This shower water, along with water from sinks, kitchens, and laundry is recycled using a gray water management system and used to water the garden where food for their cafe is grown. Education is evident from all the courses and workshops offered at the Inn, as well as the policy to give tourists a brief introduction to the hotel’s sustainable practices as part of their check in. Sustainability builds upon conservation, as seen in Valle Escondido’s rainwater catchment and aquaculture projects. Rainwater is collected from building roofs to serve the main purpose of creating a pond for harvesting tilapia. The tilapia becomes a meal for guests while a small coffee plantation receives the nutrient rich runoff water from the pond . As for distribution of benefits, though Valle Escondido manages to produce a lot of their own food, they also help the local economy by buying goods from locals. If the necessary produce is not available locally, they make a point to check that the product is at least organic. Last but not least, they practice responsibility and ethics by requiring all staff to be trained in nonviolent communication. Valle Escondido is the perfect example for others to follow.
Despite the necessity for sustainable practices, and the amount of existing successful initiatives, greedy stakeholders can serve as barriers to many ecotourism principles. Sometimes negative outcomes are unforeseen side effects like in the cases of Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park and Uganda’s Kibale National Park. Paul Hanson, an anthropologist currently working as an instructor at Case Western Reserve University, lived for eighteen months with the Tanala people in Ambodlaviavy, Madagascar conducting ethnographic research. He found that Ambodiaviavy residents in Madagascar had two options for food markets: Kelilalana or Ranomafana. However, Ranomafana, the site of a national park project intending to protect nature and benefit locals through tourism, saw a decrease in local buyers. He wrote:
First, and perhaps most importantly, over the last five years, prices in the Ranomafana market have skyrocketed. People in Ambodiaviavy believe that these increases are due to the numerous vazaha (foreigners) attending the market. Ecological tourists from all over the world visit the RNP[i] and before entering the forest, stock-up with provisions bought at the local market. Believing that most vazaha “have wealth” (manan-karena), the salespeople raise the prices of fruits and vegetables. These merchants are then reluctant to sell such produce to area residents as they are never sure when the next tourist may arrive [i]. (Hanson 41)
The effects Hanson observes goes against two principles of ecotourism: distribution of benefits and ethics/responsibility/awareness. The benefits from the Ranomafana National Park project are being hoarded by shop owners around the park. Other locals experience the negative effect of having a more limited choice of where to shop. In addition, when correlating his observation with statistics, Hanson learned that out of 1,820 people visiting Ranomafana National Park during the spring months of 1993, none of them were locals. The people that did show up were either Malagasy, French, British, American, or Chinese (Hanson 41).
In regard to Uganda’s Kibale National Park, Darcey Glasser conducted research while studying for a Master’s in psychology at Hunter College of The City University of New York and presented her findings at the 88th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Glasser’s research found that chimpanzee ecotourism created risks for humans and chimpanzees to spread disease between each other. This was prevalent because 100% of visitors participated in self grooming behaviors and 99% had direct forest interactions such as touching trees (Glasser 47). Diseases not only spread through the air but can remain on surfaces for longer times and can cause diarrhea, coughing, or sneezing symptoms in both humans and chimpanzees (Glasser 45). In this case, the same ecotourism principles are violated. The distribution of benefits decreases because the owners get to make profit while chimpanzees and visitors cause each other harm. Just the likelihood of such a situation is not responsible. Taking all this into consideration, it is clear how Ecotourism initiatives that go wrong are, without a doubt, the reason to create and enforce an Ecotourism certification.
While some countries have attempted to create a certification, no international one exists. Attempts that have worked successfully include Costa Rica whose Tourism Board administers the certificate of Sustainable Tourism. Costa Rican ecotourism certification was one of the case studies compiled by Christie Ian for the World Bank to show the potential of tourism to strengthen economic development. This certification is based on “the balanced interaction between proper stewardship of natural and cultural resources, improvement of local communities’ qualities of life and economic success that can contribute to national development.” Tourist numbers have increased in Costa Rica from 261 to 2289 between 1986 to 2009, creating thousands of jobs and millions in income (Christie 159). The certification helps manage small-scale ecotourism sites that make up half of Costa Rica’s Tourism industry (Christie 158). As of 2011, 224 hotels and tour operators have received the free certification (Christie 160). One significant downside is that the certification is “costly and time-consuming”. The certification does drive sustainability but there is room for improvement. Also, it is important to note that different countries have unique needs and priorities. Costa Rica is working to clear its name from being a sex tourism destination, so they take more precaution when dealing with child protection. In turn, an ecotourism definition for them includes respect for the rights of children. Each country or designated region should have their own standards for certification, but in general the certifications should exist.
Ecotourism can appear to be all over the place because any stakeholder can define the term how they see fit. Ecotourism can also seem unnecessary when there are other types of sustainable tourism like minimum-impact tourism, responsible tourism, and community-based tourism to encourage sustainability and mindfulness. However, ecotourism brings the uniqueness of combining principles from multiple types of sustainable tourism together. Ecotourism has already acquired a large client base and strives towards positively impacting both humans and the environment. The ecotourism industry has the capability to bounce back after the coronavirus pandemic and be the example for other forms of tourism. However, the legitimacy of the ecotourism industry is at risk unless some consensus is made. The consensus could include deciding ecotourism to be a set of principles rather than continuing to devise a definition where one cannot be made. More likely, the consensus should include multiple certifications for the multiple stakeholders, principles, and values ecotourism holds. Since business managers have different perspectives than tour guides and local communities, each category of people involved could work together to form their own standards. Having standards they created, everyone can hold themselves accountable for one part of ecotourism. Brought together, the whole process and everyone involved can strengthen the industry.
Works Cited
Primary
Birch, Karen Aiyana. Monteverde Eco Hotel. Monteverde Inn, 2015. https://www.monteverdeinncr.com/. Accessed 14 May 2020.
Glasser, Darcey, and Hunter College. Observation of Visitors at a Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes Schweinfurthii) Ecotourism Site Reveals Opportunity for Multiple Modes of Pathogen Transmission. CUNY Academic Works, 2019.
Hanson, Paul. (1997). The Politics of Need Interpretation in Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park. Dissertations available from ProQuest.
Secondary
Christie, Iain, et al. Tourism in Africa : Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods, World Bank Publications, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csicuny/detail.action?docID=1732176.
Donohoe, Holly M, and Roger D Needham. “Ecotourism: The Evolving Contemporary Definition.” Journal of Ecotourism 5, no. 3 (2006): 192-210.
