Travelling to Sustain -- and Degrade -- Nature
Ecotourism is a booming industry that helps protect natural wonders, but environmental and social trade-offs loom large. By Wendy Vanasselt
As Dave Williams dips his kayak paddle into the languid waters of Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand, he states the obvious: "Most people who work 9-to-5 jobs for their entire life will never experience the beauty of a place like this."
Williams, owner and founder of Paddle Asia, moved to southern Thailand from the United States in 1992 and has become a part of the burgeoning global ecotourism industry. From African wildlife safaris, to diving tours in the Caribbean's emerald waters and coral reefs, to guided treks in Brazil's rainforests, nature-based tourism is booming.
根据世界旅游组织（WTO）的最新可用统计数据，1999年，有超过6.63亿美元的国际旅行者花费了超过4530亿美元。预计在未来二十年中，该数字将每年增长4.1％，预计有16亿国际旅行者将在2020年中增长。超过2亿个工作岗位，或全球所有工作的10％，是由旅游业产生的。
Ecotourism and nature-related forms of tourism account for more than 20 percent of total international travel, the WTO claims.
This burgeoning interest in traveling to wild or untrammeled places offers a way for developing countries to finance preservation of unique ecosystems with tourist and private-sector dollars and to provide economic opportunities for communities living near parks and protected areas.
For Costa Rica, tourism generated $654 million in 1996, and for Kenya $502 million in 1997, much of it from nature and wildlife tourism. Tourism has been influential in helping to protect Rwanda's mountain gorillas and their habitat in Volcanoes National Park. Prior to the outbreak of civil war, tourist visits provided $1.02 million in direct annual revenues, enabling the government to create antipoaching patrols and employ local residents.
但是基于自然的旅行可以维持生态系统并降低它们。许多基于大自然的旅游业未达到“生态旅游”的社会责任理想，这是生态旅游社会定义为“前往环境并维持当地人福祉的自然地区”。
Destinations and trips marketed as ecotourism opportunities may focus more on environmentally friendly lodge design than local community development, conservation, or tourist education. Even some ecosystems that are managed carefully with ecotourism principles are showing signs of degradation.
"The term 'ecotourism' is misleading," said Williams. "It is nearly impossible to visit and learn from an area without leaving footprints, but some tour operators do a better job than others."
At first glance, Ecuador's Galápagos Islands epitomize the promise of ecotourism. Each year the archipelago draws more than 62,000 people who pay to dive, tour, and cruise amidst the 120 volcanic islands and the ecosystem's rare tropical birds, iguanas, penguins, and tortoises. Tourism raises as much as $60 million annually, and provides income for an estimated 80 percent of the islands' residents.
自1970年以来，游客增加了十倍，扩大了厄瓜多尔公园服务的资源。旅行社，博物学家向导，公园官员和科学家共同努力为低影响力，高质量的生态旅游创建模型。
But closer examination reveals trade-offs: a flood of migrants seeking jobs in the islands' new tourist economy nearly tripled the area's permanent population over a 15-year period, turned the towns into sources of pollution, and added pressure to fishery resources. Only 15 percent of tourist income directly enters the Galápagos economy; most of the profits go to foreign-owned airlines and luxury tour boats or floating hotels-accommodations that may lessen tourists' environmental impacts, but provide little benefit to local residents.
This pattern has unfortunately been repeated in many eco-tourism hot-spots around the world. By investing in park management, protection, and planning, these impacts can be minimized. Developing countries, however, often lack the resources to monitor, evaluate, and prevent visitor impacts, and infrastructure and facilities may be rudimentary or nonexistent.
With well-established guidelines, involvement of local communities, and a long-term vision for ecosystem protection rather than short-term profit by developers, ecotourism can provide breathtaking experiences for tourists and important revenues for cash-strapped developing economies.
"One could argue that just visiting natural areas, to some degree, has a negative impact," said Williams. "But by showing our guests the wonders and beauty of these destinations, we are generating awareness. This awareness will hopefully, in turn, spawn a desire among our guest to help preserve these few remaining natural wonders."
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Wendy Vanasselt was senior associate/editor of世界资源报告2000-2001，从中改编了此功能。完整报告可用在线的.
本文已重印。WRI Features. It first appeared in the January 2005 edition of that publication.
As Dave Williams dips his kayak paddle into the languid waters of Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand, he states the obvious: "Most people who work 9-to-5 jobs for their entire life will never experience the beauty of a place like this."
Williams, owner and founder of Paddle Asia, moved to southern Thailand from the United States in 1992 and has become a part of the burgeoning global ecotourism industry. From African wildlife safaris, to diving tours in the Caribbean's emerald waters and coral reefs, to guided treks in Brazil's rainforests, nature-based tourism is booming.
根据世界旅游组织（WTO）的最新可用统计数据，1999年，有超过6.63亿美元的国际旅行者花费了超过4530亿美元。预计在未来二十年中，该数字将每年增长4.1％，预计有16亿国际旅行者将在2020年中增长。超过2亿个工作岗位，或全球所有工作的10％，是由旅游业产生的。
Ecotourism and nature-related forms of tourism account for more than 20 percent of total international travel, the WTO claims.
This burgeoning interest in traveling to wild or untrammeled places offers a way for developing countries to finance preservation of unique ecosystems with tourist and private-sector dollars and to provide economic opportunities for communities living near parks and protected areas.
For Costa Rica, tourism generated $654 million in 1996, and for Kenya $502 million in 1997, much of it from nature and wildlife tourism. Tourism has been influential in helping to protect Rwanda's mountain gorillas and their habitat in Volcanoes National Park. Prior to the outbreak of civil war, tourist visits provided $1.02 million in direct annual revenues, enabling the government to create antipoaching patrols and employ local residents.
但是基于自然的旅行可以维持生态系统并降低它们。许多基于大自然的旅游业未达到“生态旅游”的社会责任理想，这是生态旅游社会定义为“前往环境并维持当地人福祉的自然地区”。
Destinations and trips marketed as ecotourism opportunities may focus more on environmentally friendly lodge design than local community development, conservation, or tourist education. Even some ecosystems that are managed carefully with ecotourism principles are showing signs of degradation.
"The term 'ecotourism' is misleading," said Williams. "It is nearly impossible to visit and learn from an area without leaving footprints, but some tour operators do a better job than others."
At first glance, Ecuador's Galápagos Islands epitomize the promise of ecotourism. Each year the archipelago draws more than 62,000 people who pay to dive, tour, and cruise amidst the 120 volcanic islands and the ecosystem's rare tropical birds, iguanas, penguins, and tortoises. Tourism raises as much as $60 million annually, and provides income for an estimated 80 percent of the islands' residents.
自1970年以来，游客增加了十倍，扩大了厄瓜多尔公园服务的资源。旅行社，博物学家向导，公园官员和科学家共同努力为低影响力，高质量的生态旅游创建模型。
But closer examination reveals trade-offs: a flood of migrants seeking jobs in the islands' new tourist economy nearly tripled the area's permanent population over a 15-year period, turned the towns into sources of pollution, and added pressure to fishery resources. Only 15 percent of tourist income directly enters the Galápagos economy; most of the profits go to foreign-owned airlines and luxury tour boats or floating hotels-accommodations that may lessen tourists' environmental impacts, but provide little benefit to local residents.
This pattern has unfortunately been repeated in many eco-tourism hot-spots around the world. By investing in park management, protection, and planning, these impacts can be minimized. Developing countries, however, often lack the resources to monitor, evaluate, and prevent visitor impacts, and infrastructure and facilities may be rudimentary or nonexistent.
With well-established guidelines, involvement of local communities, and a long-term vision for ecosystem protection rather than short-term profit by developers, ecotourism can provide breathtaking experiences for tourists and important revenues for cash-strapped developing economies.
"One could argue that just visiting natural areas, to some degree, has a negative impact," said Williams. "But by showing our guests the wonders and beauty of these destinations, we are generating awareness. This awareness will hopefully, in turn, spawn a desire among our guest to help preserve these few remaining natural wonders."
-------
Wendy Vanasselt was senior associate/editor of世界资源报告2000-2001，从中改编了此功能。完整报告可用在线的.
本文已重印。WRI Features. It first appeared in the January 2005 edition of that publication.