Abstract
Parks and Tourism
Highlights
Why should it matter how many people visit national parks? In a word: politics
Economists estimate that ecosystem services worldwide contribute twice as much to the human economy each year as all forms of human industry combined—many trillions of dollars [1,2]
The actual funds allocated worldwide each year, a few billion dollars in total, are,5% of minimum requirements for effective conservation [11]. This compares with the trillions of dollars spent in 2009 to prop up financial systems in the US, European Union, and China [12]
Summary
Why should it matter how many people visit national parks? In a word: politics. Protected areas are physical places, reservoirs of biodiversity, and sources of ecosystem services, such as breathable air and drinkable water. The human economic value of conserving biodiversity is many orders of magnitude higher than the funds invested in it [2,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Both ecological and economic arguments support conservation investment orders of magnitude higher than those currently in place. Money, or force can buy political power in various circumstances, but demonstrating that conservation has a high global ecological or economic value does not generate political capital—even in democracies—unless voters in marginal electorates will change their voting preferences on this issue above all others.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
