On the Issue of the Impact of Recreation on Coastal Territories

Abstract

Recreational human activity, as well as other types of nature management, have a remarkable impact on natural landscapes, including in coastal territories. Its most important consequences include environmental pollution, the activation of dangerous natural processes, in particular, those related to the dynamics of the coasts, the transformation of natural landscapes, a decreasing biodiversity, the degradation of ecosystem services provided by the natural landscapes of coastal territories, visual and noise pollution, and a number of others. Similar consequences are characteristic of other types of human activity, and for some of its types, for example, for industrial human activity, they are much stronger. As a rule, an area attractive for recreation usually holds a high value for many other types of human activity, in particular, for permanent residence, which causes conflicts between them. It is necessary to know the structure of the nature management of the region and the history of its formation in order to understand the causes of conflicts—they are often caused by competition for the same territorial resources. In order to achieve the sustainable development of the territory, it is necessary to mitigate the most intense conflicts between different types of human activity. In many cases, conflict mitigation makes it possible to achieve mutual concessions to different types of economic activity to each other. Another condition for the sustainable development of territories actively used for recreation is the preservation of their tourist potential, which is impossible without control over the flows of recreants, both organized and unorganized (independent). It will allow recreationists to visit the region in the future, and will keep the attractiveness of the territories for tourists at the current level. However, other types of economic activities should also be taken into account, which also have an impact on the recreational potential of the region—its basis is largely untouched or slightly modified natural landscapes. In many cases, the only way to preserve them is to create protected natural areas within their borders and restrict economic activity on them provided by their status.