NEAR EAST UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF TOURISM AND HOTEL MANAGEMENT
SUBMITTED BY YAĞMUR ERBOLAY SUBMITTED TO ÖZLEM YAMAK
THM 319 SPECIAL INTEREST TOURISM
Ecotourism and Conservation: Two Cases from Brazil
and Peru
This article evaluates two theories to explain the relationship between ecotourism and conservation. Two ecotourism projects from Brazil and Peru are compared. The Brazil
illustrates sea turtle tourism that
generates economic benefits for a
local community.
The Brazil study illustrates sea turtle
ecotourism that generates economic benefits for coastal communities.
The case in Peru also generates economic benefits for a local community, but has the added goal of building local management capacity. In Peru, local participation in
ecotourism management has also sparkled
collective action for conservation.
Literature Review
We define ecotourism as nature tourism that intentionally seeks to deliver net positive
contributions to environment conservation and sustainable development for local
communities.
Success and failure in ecotourism have varied over time as well. Short-term economic gains in some places have led to degradation of
resources in long-term.
Some researches have measured conservation as an ethic, discernible through people’s
attidudes or values. Others have evaluated
conservations as a set of behaviours, either
observed or reported, including how much
people hunt or harvest timber, or how they
dispose of waste.
Tourism revenues can become incentives for local residents to conserve the natural
resources tourists pay to see.
Economic Benefits and Conservation
Studies characterize ecotourism as a market- based approach to conservation.
The assumption is that “economic interests
metivate the use of natural resources offering
alternative income sources will alleviate the
egregious behaviors of local residents.
The logic further holds that more resource conservation, and conversely, that the
cessation of benefits will signal demise for resources.
Income and employement opportunities often appear in studies as indicators of successful ecotourism projects, for exapmle how
ecotourism income cause people to reduce
their reliance on commercial agriculture,
hunting and gol mining.
In Costa Rica ecotourism became a primary source of income for families, a destination where visitors pay to see sea turtles.
Economic benefits became incentives for
residents to protect sea turtles.
Women became responsible nor only for family chores, but also for producing
handicraft items to sell to tourists.
Gentry show that Belizean women involves in the tourism industry experienced espacially high levels of stress and illness problems
arishing from double workdays.
Sea turtles are protected, local residents are not restricted from harvesting sea turtle
eggs. However, because local economic
benefits from harvesting are superior to those
generated by ecotourism, changes in access
and use of sea turtle eggs will likely generate
resentment rather than increase local support
for conservation.
Social Changes and Conservation
Social dimensionsof ecotourism affects
natural resource use and conservation in host destinations. Whether and how local
residents participate in ecotourism
managament is one social dimension that
affects resource use.
An alternative framework looks beyond
economic benefits and pays explicit attention to social , political and historical variables
linking ecotourism and conservation.
In order to prevent loss of resources
residents of a communuty may coorporate to
create and monitor ecotourism reserve, or
limit hunting ndd other forms of resource
exploitation near a community ecotourism
lodge.
Ecotourism suggest at least two causal relationships between ecotourism and conservation. The mechanism linking
ecotourism with conservation is the creation
of economic incentives.
Sea Turtles and Ecotourism in Brazil
The Brazilian sea Turtle Conservation
Program, TAMAR promotes ecotourism as
one strategy for protecting sea turtles. The
center of Brazil collets enterance fees and
features a retail store that sells sea turtle
souvenirs.
Overall, we found a positive relationship
between TAMAR and the community. When
TAMAR started in 1982, only 500 people were living in Praia do Forte and tourism activities were minimal. Respondents described a kind of “growing together” between the Project and the community, as fishermen and
scientist changed information, and especially as the project provided certain kinds of
support to the community.
In summary, the Projeto TAMAR in Praia do Forte is an example of positive feed-backs between economic returns from ecotourism and conservation for marine life. TAMAR
researchers have addressed 99% of the original threats on sea turtle eggs and
nesting females in the region. This success is primarily a function of economic benefits
associated with ecotourism at the Research
Station and Visitor Center.
Rainforests and Ecotourism in Peru
Brazil represents a kind of ecotourism that
promotes primarily employement and income benefits for local communities.
Attractions are tropical bird and mammal
species, including abundant populations of
large macaws, primates, giant otters, and
caiman.
the relationship between economic benefits from ecotourism and conservation is
ambiguous in Infierno. Employment and
income seem to have countervailing effects on resource use one minimizes direct reliance,
whereas the other enables greater
exploitation. What is clear from Infierno is that economic benefits from ecotourism are no
panacea, either for community development or
for long-term conservation goals.
Conclusion
In this article, we have compared ecotourism case studies with the intention of evaluating linkages between social changes, economic benefits, and
conservation. In Brazil, employment opportunities and income from ecotourism have enabled sea turtle
conservation, even though local villagers have not been engaged in management or decision-making. This case suggests that, at least in the short-term, economic
benefits can effectively lead to conservation. The Peru case shows that engaging local residents as co-
managers and decision-makers can provide economic incentives for conservation while also building local capacity to manage environmental problems.
