A Tourism No-No: Why Ecotourism is Bad
If you love the environment, perhaps an idea of yours is to spend a vacation in the wilderness, or a place with natural wonders, such as the Grand Canyon. You are not alone in this, because more and more people like the idea of spending time in an environment free from cars, traffic, and tall buildings. However, while ecotourism was initially invented to help preserve the environment, there are actually a number of reasons why ecotourism is bad.
Reason #1 Why Ecotourism is Bad
The first reason why ecotourism is bad, specifically in woodland areas and areas where animals live, is the element of surprise to the animals. Animals that have lived their entire lives in the forest are not tame, and pose a problem to humans, especially if those humans are carrying food. The presence of humans alternately causes stress to wild animals.
Reason #2 Why Ecotourism is Bad
If you have ever visited a National Park, no doubt you have seen at least a few pieces of litter in different places. No matter how diligent the park rangers can be, sometimes the forest is too big to find every single piece of litter. Not only does litter make the environment look messy, but it also can be hazardous to the animals in the environment. Remember, plastic especially is very hard to destroy and is not biodegradable. It really all has to do with how diligent the tourists themselves are about not littering.
Reason #3 Why Ecotourism is Bad
One of the most prevalent reasons why ecotourism is bad has to do with the structures that are built for various ecotourism events. For example, if a park decides to have a nature walk aspect to it, paths will be cleared and some trees cut down to make way for the paths. Also, in parks, lookout towers are sometimes built in trees. While these structures have a purpose, they cannot help but damage the delicate environment.
For More Information
There are a variety of different ways in which ecotourism can be bad for the environment, and if you want more information there are a variety of different options. First of all, if you have environmentalist groups in your area that are know to oppose ecotourism, be sure to talk to them and see what information they can offer. You can also search the internet for more information, just be aware that opinions differ on this subject. You are sure to find interesting information with the proper research.
Ecotourism Conservation
Another example of what is needed to transform nature tourism into ecotourism is seen in the case of Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania.
For example, if a park decides to have a nature walk aspect to it, paths will be cleared and some trees cut down to make way for the paths. With too few people to help and because the issue has been neglected for so long, its a great race to the end in trying to inhabit ecotourism and programs like it. In the late 1990s, communities realized that they could even start getting people to help them make things better. Hopefully, such a study of ecotourism should help understand the alternative approaches for support of ecotourism and lead to development of new policies. This, in spite of the fact that Costa Rica is the leader in the world as far as deforestation rates and ransacking of forest resources is concerned having lost approximately half its forest areas between the fifties and nineties to much cutting down of trees.
Another type of ecotourism is pro-poor tourism, which is a type that is set up in developing countries as a means to basically improve the local economy and assist people as best as possible.
Because of the fact that from the awareness that it creates there comes a movement for conservation. The term ecotourism implies having a wide range of recreational possibilities close to the natural environment of the ecotourism destination. you have a variety of different options as to how you can get more information. Ecolodges and ecotourism operators sprang up all over the place in more remote locations than ever before.
Another of the negative effects of ecotourism is that some land may have to be stripped to make landing strips and which can result in destruction of nesting sites as well as threaten local water supply.
There have been a number of notable achievements that have resulted from this ecotourism campaign including of course assessing and developing ecotourism sites in places such as Mtein, building teams of experts in ecotourism and also being able to secure adequate sources of finance in the form of income as well as support. Moreover, a perfect ecotourism example is to visit such destinations as well as photograph and learn about orangutans that are found in other ecotourism destinations such as in Borneo. What is the International Ecotourism Society? The popularity of ecotourism increased when in 2002 the United Nations declared it as being the Year of Ecotourism. |
