Can Wilderness Really Support Ecotourism?

Can Wilderness Really Support Ecotourism?

Defining Wilderness

Wilderness has been classified by Mittermeier et al. (2003) as an area ≥ 1 million hectares with the environment characteristics ≥70% of those 500 years ago and a human density ≤ 5 people per km². A wilderness should present a challenge to those who venture into its depths, creating feelings of isolation, where survival is in part self reliant, with rewards gained from the exposure to the environment (Henderson and Vikander, 2007; Johnson, 2008; Willderness.net, 2012).

What is Ecotourism?

Ecotourism presents an interesting relationship with wilderness; it proposes a possible solution for the generation of funding to support the management and protection of a wilderness area, though it brings about an element of risk (Buckley, 2000). Ecotourism is a type of tourism that can be defined as a project that aims to protect and preserve areas of beauty, whether they are for natural heritage or a unique biological habitat (Partin, Robinson and Meade 2006; Fredickson, 2003).   Ecotourism is also designed, like all types of tourism, to generate an income though with successful ecotourism the profit should be returning to the local community (WWF, 2012).  The International Ecotourism Society (TEIS) would define ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." (TIES, 1990). Ecotourism should also provide a platform to develop environmental education to help with the preservation of the environment for future generations (UNESCO, 2004).

Ecotourism should establish the long term ecological integrity of the environment (Fredickson, 2003).  Within these destinations the traditional culture and ties to the environment require plenty of thought (De La Barre, 2005).  However ecotourism itself should provide jobs for the local community (Schlesinger, 2008), the combination of these aims proposes several contradictions.

A term that usually arrives with ecotourism is sustainable development, the term itself is perhaps contradictory, as we should question any development within an ecotourism site. Therefore the more accurate term is balanced development, whereby any development is balanced with gains for the environment (Garnett, Sayer and Du Toit, 2007). Both these terms should value the perseveration of biodiversity and conservation over development (Oelschlaeger, 2005).

Case study: The Galapagos Islands.

The Galapagos Islands will be used as a case study through out this work. The islands are known by many as a key area for the development of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.  Sixteen islands make up the Galapagos, of which 97% is designated a national park (Taylor, Yunez-Naude, Dyer, Stewart and Ardila, 2002). The Islands contain a vast range of beautiful and interesting flora and fauna, including Galapagos Penguins, Blue-Footed Boobies, Giant Tortoises and Iguanas, figure 1.  The development of this environment for tourism has slowly placed more and more pressure on the islands.  The impacts have included disease, fire and theft, all altering the natural balance of the islands. (Lowman, 2004; Galapagos Island Wildlife, 2012). 

Figure 1: A Collection Of The Flora And Fauna On The Islands.

Types of Ecotourism

Essentially there are two types of ecotourism hard and soft (Orams, 2001), this refers to the level of accommodation provided.  Soft ecotourism allows the majority of modern comforts to the individual usually within a high end lodge.  Hard ecotourism refers to a more natural relationship with the environment where the tourist would have little in the way of developed accommodation or facilities. Within the Galapagos Islands the majority of the accommodation is soft, provided in the form of hotels or a cruise ships (Galapagos Island wildlife, 2012).

Top down or Bottom up?

Another aspect of ecotourism is how a resort is developed, whether it is top down, with the government determining an ideal locations or bottom up, when the local landowners push to develop an ecotourism industry. Within certain countries a top down approach is sometimes the only way development occurs, due to the lack of democracy, meaning locals struggle to hold an opinion yet alone develop ecotourism (Pleumarom, 2002).  Governments can take advantage of the ecotourism branding when their aims are not to protect the environment, one of the best examples is found in Thailand. The government proposed a new golf course in the Mekong drainage basin with the idea that while playing golf the tourists could observe the environment around them.  However the project required vast infrastructure developments, which is clearly only using ecotourism as a marketing label, as the development was incompatible with values of ecotourism, not to mention the logging required to clear the course (Pleumarom, 2002). Although, a top down approach is not always negative, in the case of the Galapagos Islands the Ecuadorian government passed the Ley Especial de Galapagos, Special Law of the Galapagos, to protect further ecological harm (Taylor, Hardner and Stewart, 2006).

What are the impacts of developing Ecotourism?

With developing ecotourism publicity and advertising are required to make money from the industry.  This can attract large volumes of people to fragile ecosystems that the project was aiming to protect (Schlesinger, 2008).   With the movement of people ecosystems can become damaged through the transportation of alien species, which can potential destroy a wilderness area, for example Japanese knot weed (Asher and Harmon, 1995). Within the Galapagos Islands the increasing number of visitors, 108,600 in 2005 from 17,500 in 1980, has caused a large amount of pressure on this fragile ecosystem.

One problem that arises from a top down approach is the potential lack of reinvestment into the protection and preservation, rather the economic gain is retained for those in higher areas (Patterson, 1999).  De Miras (1995) suggests only 7% of income generated in the Galapagos Islands is returned into the islands economy; while Zador (1994) argued 90% of the income generated went to the airlines that support the island (Taylor et al., 2002). Furthermore, much of the income is sourced out of the country due to the reliance of imported goods from mainland Ecuador to support the tourism industry (Taylor et al., 2002).

Buckley (2000) described tourism as dancing with a messy monster, ecotourism has sufficient political support and provides an economic boost that can support wilderness conservation. However, using tourism to provide economic support and wilderness conservation is a risky choice, which requires careful planning otherwise it is likely to destroy the area it set out to protect. The Galapagos Islands have seen huge population growth, 15,311 in 1998 to 24,000 in 2005, from Ecuadorian immigration (Taylor et al., 2006). This has challenged the fragile environment through the increased expansion of the fishing industry to supply food for an increasing number of residents (Taylor et al., 2006).

With the increasing number of tourist visiting the Galapagos Islands a careful management structure was implemented, boat licenses and access to the island are only allowed with official guides, to sustain the quality of the natural environment (Egret Communications, 2001).  Managing wilderness in this aspect requires the avoidance of impact that are avoidable and to minimize those that are not (Leung and Marion, 2000).

Is it all bad?

For the Galapagos Islands 30 years of ecotourism, through careful management, has caused an economy to boom and the continual protection of the unique environment (Sitnik, 1999; Egret Communications, 2001; Taylor et al., 2003, 2006).  

Ecotourism has also shown success in; Shilin Stone Forest, China; Mt Lushan, China; Yosemite, North America; Central Highlands of Iceland.  Linking these success stories are their own strict management policies, heavily controlling both visitor numbers and where those visitors may go.  In the Galapagos this is done through the boat permits and affiliated tour guides, without a guide then groups may not access any of the islands and guides may only take groups to certain location and under strict guidelines (Sitnik, 1999). All these management processes are focused around the theory of a carrying capacity, which is a mathematical model to predict the number of visitors an area may support before damage occurs (Honey, 2008).

Successful Ecotourism requires management

The case study of the Galapagos Islands highlights that a wilderness environment may be protected through the use of ecotourism. Though this requires a level of management to be implemented, for the islands this was focused around carrying capacity theory. If this is done successfully then an economic growth may also be supported, generating a thriving economy for the local people, as is the case for the Galapagos (Sitnik, 1999). There is an abundance of literature available on the management of wilderness and it is certainly possible to create a solution that allows ecotourism to work alongside the protection of a wilderness area (Farrell and Marion, 2002).

Do the three criteria of wilderness allow for ecotourism?

Human density.

As previously stated three criteria must be met in order to classify an area as wilderness, therefore ecotourism must comply with these criteria.  The most challenging of these criteria is a human density of less or equal to 5 people per km². With an increase in tourism to an area the number of people in the environment also increases.  If the area is already heavily populated then it possible for ecotourism to remove these areas out of the wilderness threshold, meaning the co-existence would not be possible. However with careful management, focused around strict carrying capacity then it may be possible to gain the benefits of ecotourism without going over the threshold. Therefore, if the accommodation level, number of beds available, does not exceed the wilderness threshold of 5 people per km² then it is possible for the two ideals to exist.

Intactness

Tourism has been shown to improve economy and therefore the infrastructure is likely improved, in the case of the Galapagos two airports have been built. This combined with the development of so call ecotourism resorts may begin to reduce the percentage of intact wilderness to below the threshold.  However once again with carefully planned and managed ecotourism, utilising a balanced development, it is still possible for the two to co-exist.

Area

Finally Mittermeier et al. (2003) suggested the area a wilderness covers must still be greater than a million hectares, though this was to ease his own research rather than a strict criterion. Though an ecotourism destination must not impede on the vast area of wilderness it should be trying to protect. In the Galapagos Islands this has been rather easy as there are only populations on three of the islands leaving the rest of the islands in their natural state. With this in mind where there are not so many natural barriers, those responsible for the management of these areas must consider the distribution of any development.

Broadening the picture.

With the future increase in population then it is fair to challenge the Mittermeier et al. (2003) model, particularly the size aspect. Lets suggest that wilderness is an environment of 70% intactness and with a human density of less than 5 per km² with a size of ≥500,000 hectares. With the size of our wilderness minimized lets suggest that the value comes from the protection and preservation of these environment over their size.  In order to protect this land the government or locals have chosen to provide some forms of ecotourism, they have carefully plan walks and trails through the wilderness from their accommodation provided on the outer realm of the wilderness..  The trails where carefully marked in order to maintain minimal damage, while the accommodation was built focusing on a balance development and with a suitable carrying capacity. If camping is provided then it should be limited, to keep the human density below the carrying capacity, developing specific campsites may minimise further degradation of the wilderness.  The wilderness itself should be heavily managed and controlled with a strict leave no trace policy (Fredrickson, 2003).

Can wilderness really support ecotourism?

Potentially YES, the Galapagos Islands have been living off the benefits of ecotourism for the past 30 years, while maintaining the islands as a wilderness area. Though to create this success ecotourism requires very strict management, with the tourists kept to strict thresholds, not exceeding carrying capacities, in order to avoid ecological harm and to meet wilderness guidelines. Tourism is a wild and unpredictable beast, the messy monster, which with the wrong guidance will destroy everything around it until no one wishes to return (Buckley, 2000; Koeman, 1997).   It is a deadly balancing act where the protection and preservation requires funding, tourism is not an ideal partner but one that holds enough weight in both political and economic circles to protect the wilderness for future generations. Furthermore, the tourism industry is ever changing and those who manage these areas must be aware of this.

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