Protected areas and tourism

Abstract

A key aspect of the use of tourism in environmental policy and management is its relationship to protected areas, especially national parks. Tourism offers a potential economic rationale for nature conservation through the establishment of protected areas. However, in the absence of professional and committed environmental management it also has the potential to cause environmental degradation. Since the inception of the first national park in Yosemite in 1872, the balance between conservation and the use of nature for enjoyment by urban populations is one that has required close management. This chapter explores the relationship between tourism and protected areas, focusing on national parks and also tourism’s relationship to World Heritage Sites.The contemporary relationship between tourism and protected areas can be traced to the influence of the Romantic Movement on interpretation of landscape and reaction to the Industrial Revolution. During the time of rapid nineteenth-century industrialisation of Western economies, literary figures such as George Catlin in the United States and William Wordsworth in England, were instrumental to the construction of images that raised awareness of the value of landscape. The subsequent desire to visit culturally defined landscapes of ‘beauty’ and the need to conserve natural systems presents dilemmas of how to best deal with the interaction between tourism and conservation in protected areas. This dualism has been inherent since the creation of the first national park of Yosemite in 1872, which was established with an edict to act as a pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of people (Eagles et al. 2002). Protected areas are landscapes that are denoted as having special status. Many are developed inaccordance with national legislation and systems that vary between countries, depending on national needs and priorities, and on differences in legislative, institutional and financial support. However, an oft-cited definition of what constitutes a protected area is the one given by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN): ‘A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values’ (www.iucn.org 2011). Important aspects of this definition include the concepts of geographical space, recognitionand dedication, management, conservation and cultural values. The emphasis on a long-termperspective is synonymous to the concept of sustainable development. There is then a requirement to integrate aspects of physical space and the conservation of nature and ecosystem services with cultural values. Typically protected areas are areas or combinations of areas of land, inland water or marine and coastal areas that have defined physical boundaries, transcending various environments and ecosystems that include mountains, seas and oceans, forests, deserts and lakes. Recognition and dedication of protected areas are typically identified by the state based oninternational conventions. Typically, this would take the form of an Act of Parliament in the case of public land or by an act of covenant or conservation agreement in the case of private or indigenous land. This latter category can also consist of those declared by people, for example the Anindilyakwa Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) was self-declared by aboriginal communities of the Groote Eylandt peninsula in 2006, having its legal status recognised by the Australian government (Dudley 2008; www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/publications/fs-anindilyakwa.html 2011). Inherent to the long-term existence of a protected area are management strategies anddedicated environmental management, requirements that demand consistent financial sourcing, either from state, private sector or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), or any combination of these stakeholder groups. Legal status is also critical to the recognition of protected areas, anointing the landscape with a special status for conservation and stricter planning regulations and enforcements than prevail elsewhere. An emphasis on conservation may seem self-explicit in the context of protected areas, theIUCN interpretation of its constituents being: ‘In the context of this definition conservation refers to the in-situ maintenance of ecosystems and natural and semi-natural habitats and of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties’ (www.iucn.org 2011). Inherent to this explanation of the context of conservation is recognition that many landscapes have been culturally modified by human action during centuries of endeavour, which has impacted on and led to the establishment of modified ecosystems determined by anthropogenic activity. Similarly, in an attempt to clarify the concept of nature, the IUCN includes alongside biodiversity at genetic, species and ecosystem levels, the geodiversity of landforms and landscapes. The recognition of cultural values is particularly important where indigenous peoples orcommunities live inside or alongside a protected area and are dependent on its resources for their livelihoods. Unfortunately, the establishment of protected areas has sometimes led to the displacement of local people, resulting in a denial of access to livelihood resources while fostering resentment to protected areas and the conservation of nature and wildlife. The recognition of cultural values and cultural economic practices that enhance conservation are important in the balance of using the resources of protected areas and providing livelihood opportunities, as is being enacted in the Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) of the Anindilyakwa.