Is Ecotourism important for Conservation?
Now more than ever, we are all eager to travel and see the world. But with that desire, comes responsibility.
Most of us loves being in nature and seeing wildlife. When deciding what and where to visit… you need to choose a responsible travel. By doing that you can play a central role in protecting wildlife and their habitats.
Today we are talking about if ecotourism is important and helpful for conservation.
Let’s do this!
What is ecotourism in the first place?
Ceballos-Lascurain first defined ecotourism as “responsible travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas, with the object of studying, admiring and enjoying the natural landscape and its wild plants and animals, as well as existing cultural manifestations (both present and past) found in these areas”. Ceballos-Lascurain later made some adjustments to his first definition and adds that ecotourism is “environmentally responsible travel and visitation to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features), that promotes conservation and sustainable development”, has low visitor impacts, and provides for beneficial, active socio-economic involvement of local populations.
Conservation and tourism have worked in tandem since the early twentieth century.
Ecotourism is both an expansion and a refinement of the connection between tourism and conservation. It builds on the idea of using tourism to reinforce conservation and vice versa, while deepening the criteria for sustainability. The early planners saw it as a form of tourism that could and should be designed and managed proactively with concern for channeling revenues to conservation and community development.
Ecotourism is designed to ensure a positive feedback loop between tourism and conservation— not simply that they can work together, but that they must. Explicit in all definitions of ecotourism is the hypothesis that tourism, when designed and practiced as ecotourism, can benefit wildlife and biodiversity, create incentives to protect landscapes, and support local communities. In this way, ecotourism is a specific kind of tourism, distinguished from nature tourism and outdoor recreation by its conservation and development goals.
Sustainable ecotourism is proving to be a powerful tool for stimulating local economies and empowering local people to protect wildlife, rather than resorting to short-sighted exploitations such as poaching and deforestation. Quite simply, ecotourism motivates people to ensure that wildlife remain healthy and alive.
To travel is to enjoy new and life-changing experiences, and encounters with wildlife can be some of the most unforgettable. Around the world, the exploitation of wildlife is unabating, and tourists can inadvertently become contributors to the problem. On the other hand, choosing responsible ecotourism can profoundly contribute to the conservation of wild lands and wildlife. As global tourism swells and tourists are increasingly interested in wildlife encounters, an opportunity is arising for local and ethical ecotourism to meet demand while developing local economies and conserving the world’s endangered species.
We inspire because we care
Love,
Bea & João
Two Leopards, One Carcass
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