Is Ecotourism a Viable Tool Toward Sustainability? Essays

Tourism is the world’s largest industry with nature-based ecotourism seeing rapid growth since its initial arrival in the 1980s. It is estimated by the World Tourism Organisation that nature tourism generates 7% of all international travel expenditure (Lindberg, 1997) and this figure will have increased rapidly over recent years. It’s increase in popularity is due to a number of factors; tourists becoming increasingly bored of the typical sun, sea and sand holiday’s, the increase in global awareness or environmental issues such as global

This article was meant to provide Canadian’s insight into the struggle of preserving Canada’s national parks, and how quickly they are being consumed for commercial purposes. The article was also mean’t to provide as a warning for Canadians to take a stand to preserve the parks before they are entirely eradicated by the tourism and commercial industry. The CPAWS is currently taking action against developers since they feel that the parks are endangered and they are the only one’s willing to fight for the protection of the

In addition to providing the animal with shelter, and necessary supplies the natural parks can bring back a whole species from near extinction. In the passage “The Impact of Animal Protection” it directly states that keeping animals protected has proven to be beneficial and increase the population of endangered animals. Bringing animals back from near extinction can be a difficult task, however it is very beneficial. Animal protection is also used to help control animal population from getting out of control. These programs have brought back plenty of species such as black footed ferrets, California condors, red wolves, and golden lion tamarins. (Do Animals Lose in Zoos?) The community would never get to see these amazing creatures if these

Tourism plays a significant role in sustainable development and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) wish to encourage all countries to make sure that their policies and actions for its development and management fully embrace the principles of sustainability. Likewise, policies to promote sustainable development should take full account of the opportunities offered by tourism. Various international conventions and declarations have put forward principles and guidelines for sustainable tourism and the importance of tourism and its sustainability was underlined at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Many countries declare that they are pursuing, or wish to pursue, policies for ‘sustainable tourism’. Despite this interest, there remains a degree of uncertainty over the scope and priorities for making tourism more sustainable and only partial appreciation of how to put this into practice (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

National parks play an essential role in this country. Not only do they preserve land areas, but they also preserve bodies of water that need to be protected. The amount of drinkable water left in the world is dwindling at an alarming rate, and with the help of The National Parks Service, that rate can be slowed down. Protecting these lands and bodies of water also protects the habitats of animals living in these areas. One article, “A Monumental Fight”, written by Katy Steinmetz, discusses the fight that former President Obama made to increase these areas and protect the wildlife living in them, “In waters around Hawaii, Obama quadrupled the size of Papahanaumokuakea...

The Biodiversity Treaty sanctioned that countries whose biological resources are exploited by bioprospecting companies have a right to share the financial benefits resulting from the sale of these resources (Adair, 1997). National parklands are owned by the federal government. Therefore, our national parks have the legal right to share in the financial benefits that

treatment of natural resources the evolution of the National Parks. He examines what the parks

According to Richard Stroup, a free-market advocate, there is need to reform the Endangered Species Act to ensure that endangered species are our friends and not foes. Private ownership is the number one problem for the Endangered Species Act(Nelson, 2006). Of all the endangered species, especially in the US, are dependent on habitats that are privately owned. In order to avert the problem of loss of diversity, then, the focus should be on developing strategies that effectively work on privately owned land. Both the mainstream environmentalists and free-market advocates argue that the current status results in persistent incentives that produce objectionable results

A century ago, the lion population of Africa thrived as these animals were able to roam freely across the continent. However, owing to a multitude of factors such as poaching, trophy killings, loss of habitat area and conflicts with humans- the population of the African lion today is just 10% of what it once was. The need to address this rapid decline in lion populations is vital in ensuring that these animals are present for future generations to enjoy, whilst not impeding the access for the current generation. Lions, being a non-market public good without well-defined property rights results in society’s inability in managing this resource effectively (Shogren and Taylor, 2008); to overcome this, a market must be established which

In the assessment there were only two alternatives, purchasing the land was the first alternative and the second was to take no action (Vinkey, 2006). These both are fine as actions that can be taken; however, there are organizations that will procure land for conservation purposes. The Safari Club Foundation uses private donations and other procurements to promote conservation and game preserves (Safari, n. d.). The statement that “a conservation easement or lease are not feasible alternatives (Vinkey, 2006)” suggests a lack of options. This seems to be a bias on the part of the author.

Responsibility for areas of natural beauty (other than those within park boundaries) is currently held at local government level. These local administrative bodies are generally happy with the existing situation, which they argue is the best way to balance the need to protect the countryside with the importance of ensuring employment and affordable housing for local inhabitants. Adopting this viewpoint, Marchmont (1999:45) argues that

This paper uses the terms natural resource(s), resource(s), and reserve(s) in many different contexts. Please use care when interpreting their usage and context.

When it comes to the topic of ecotourism, most of us will readily agree that it is a less harmful alternative to mass-tourism and that it promotes responsible and low-impact travel to areas where flora, fauna and cultural heritage are the primary drawing power. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of what the impact of ecotourism actually is and what its long-term consequences are. Whereas some are convinced that ecotourism provides the basis for sustainable development, particularly in places that suffer from exploitation and excessive resources’ usage, and that could only improve the general conditions of the local people, others maintain that we are still far from true ecotourism, for many are those in the

As mentioned by Rimmington & Morrison (2009), the assistance from different parts of the world presents a new and diverse outlook for future research including theoretical innovations and revelations, cultural and environmental aspects, tourist destination and other ecotourism and recreational aspects of tourism and hospitality industry (Brotherton,

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry