User:Jfelmgart/Ecotourism

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Environmental hazards[edit]
The industrialization, urbanization and agricultural practices of human society are having a serious impact on the environment. Ecotourism is now also considered to be playing a role in environmental depletion including deforestation, disruption of ecological life systems and various forms of pollution, all of which contribute to environmental degradation. For example, the number of motor vehicles crossing a park increases as tour drivers search for rare species. The number of roads disrupts the grass cover, which has serious consequences on plant and animal species. These areas also have a higher rate of disturbances and invasive species due to increasing traffic off of the beaten path into new, undiscovered areas. Ecotourism also has an effect on species through the value placed on them. "Certain species have gone from being little known or valued by local people to being highly valued commodities. The commodification of plants may erase their social value and lead to overproduction within protected areas. Local people and their images can also be turned into commodities". Kamuaro points out the relatively obvious contradiction that any commercial venture into unspoiled, pristine land inevitably means a higher pressure on the environment. '''The people who live in the areas now becoming ecotourism spots have very different lifestyles than those who come to visit. Ecotourism has created many debates based on if the economic benefits are worth the possible environmental sacrifices.'''

Impact on indigenous people and indigenous land [edit]
Valorization of the indigenous territories can be important for designation as a protected area, which can deter threats such as deforestation. Ecotourism can help bring in revenue for indigenous peoples.

However, there needs to be a proper business plan and organizational structure, which helps to ensure that the generated money from ecotourism indeed flows towards the indigenous peoples themselves, and the protection of the indigenous territory. '''Debates around ecotourism focus on how profits off of indigenous lands are enjoyed by international tourist companies, who do not share back with the people to whom those lands belong. Ecotourism offers a tourist-appealing experience of the landscape and environment, one that is different from the experience of the residents; it commodifies the lives of indigenous people and their land which is not fair to its inhabitants.'''

Indigenous territories are managed by governmental services (i.e. FUNAI in Brazil, …) and these governmental services can thus decide whether or not to implement ecotourism in these indigenous territories.

Ecotourism can also bring in employment to the local people (which may be indigenous people). Protected areas for instance require park rangers, and staff to maintain and operate the ecolodges and accommodation used by tourists. Also the traditional culture can act as a tourist attraction, and can create a source of revenue by asking payment for the showing of performances (i.e. traditional dance, ...) Ecotourism can also help mitigate '''deforestation that happens when local residents, under economic stress, clear lands and create smallholder plots to grow cash crops. Such land clearing hurts the environment. Ecotourism can be a sustainable and job-creating alternative for local populations.'''

Depending on how protected areas are set up and handled, it can lead to local people losing their homes, and mostly with no compensation. Pushing people onto marginal lands with harsh climates, poor soils, lack of water, and infested with livestock and disease does little to enhance livelihoods even when a proportion of ecotourism profits are directed back into the community. Harsh survival realities and loss of traditional use of land and natural resources by local people can occur. Local indigenous people may also get a strong resentment towards the change, especially if tourism has been allowed to develop with virtually no controls. This, as it can lead to too many lodges being built, and tourist vehicles may drive off-track and harass the wildlife, if no control mechanisms have been put in place and tourist vehicles can indeed be used. Vehicle use may erode and degrade land.

There is a longstanding failure by the Peruvian government to acknowledge and protect indigenous lands, and therefore the indigenous peoples have been forced to protect their own land '''. The land has a better chance of staying safe and free from deforestation if the people who care about it are the ones looking over it.'''