Building the capability to manage tourism as support for the Aichi Target

Abstract

Gazetting the tens of thousands of protected areas needed to meet Aichi Target 11 will increase the need for competent management. Many of these protected areas will rely on tourism and visitation for at least part of the funding needed for the effective management also called for in Target 11. Managing tourism and visitation requires a number of needed competencies that provide frameworks for leadership. These competencies involve strategic thinking, planning and operational domains. Given that tertiary education is unlikely to provide in the short term the kind of educational background needed, developing continuing education programmes and communities of practice can help fill this need. need for management. During the 2003 World Parks Conference sessions on capacity building, little mention was made of the need for capabilities to manage tourism despite the fact that tourism exists in many areas. Some managers hold that that the role of protected areas to preserve natural heritage relegates tourism to a minor use. Others are more accepting (Luo & Lawson, 2011). Within this context, managing protected areas for tourism and visitation in a way that minimizes their negative impacts on biodiversity, enhances support for management, provides visitors with opportunities to learn about the role of biodiversity in human life and provides local residents with opportunities to improve their livelihoods is imperative. Many of the world’s 157,000 protected areas now listed in the World Database on Protected Areas (World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 2012) have some potential for tourism development. Tourism management must be viewed as an integrated component in the stewardship of these areas. The current need is large because many managers have little background in tourism and visitation and see a PARKS VOL 18.2 NOVEMBER 2012 10.2305/IUCN.CH.2012.PARKS-18-2.SM.en www.iucn.org/parks 94 PARKS VOL 18.2 NOVEMBER 2012 substantial need for greater capability (Pitkin, n.d.; McCool, 2008). The WCPA Capacity Theme description notes that, “A particular area that requires attention is to build up the skills of staff involved in enhancing visitor experiences” (World Commission on Protected Areas, 2012). This need will grow enormously over the next few years as countries, seeking compliance with Aichi Target 11, gazette new areas and gear up for their stewardship. In addition, the Aichi Target 11 sets a goal of effective and equitable management, which is critical to maintain a variety of park values, including biodiversity conservation (Woodley et al., 2012). Even today, perhaps only onequarter of existing protected areas are managed with a high degree of effectiveness (Leverington et al., 2010), leaving one to wonder how effective the management of new areas will be. Given projections for continued growth in international travel (at an average rate of 3.9 per cent per year 20102030; UNWTO, 2011), we expect that many of the new areas will be developed to meet this demand. For example, growing affluence in China has greatly increased visits to protected areas in Taiwan, nearly overwhelming their capability to offer high quality experiences (Hsu et al., 2011). And, given the generally acknowledged interest in nature-based tourism, visitors would likely hold expectations for experiences based in viewing, appreciating and understanding natural heritage (Carpentier, 2010). These expectations would provide a foundation for meeting several of the Aichi Targets concerning awareness of biodiversity and human impact on it. In this paper, we frame the challenge of building the professional competency needed to manage tourism in protected areas within the context of the Aichi Target. The Target itself recognizes the importance of managerial capacity in both Strategic Goal E (“Enhance implementation through ... capacity building”) and in Target 11 which calls for protected areas to be ‘effectively and equitably managed’. A variety of actors are involved in managing tourism in protected areas: local businesses that provide needed services (e.g., food, transportation, lodging, interpretation); community and destination marketing organizations that promote the protected area; planners, architects, engineers and construction workers who develop and maintain facilities (e.g., roads, trails, visitor centres, toilets, overlooks); scientists who develop knowledge about the impacts of tourism and the types of experiences visitors seek at an area; other individuals who help communities and residents cope with social impacts Stephen McCool et al. International Seminar on Protected Area Management (USA) participants discuss the capacity challenges in private protected area management © Steve McCool