ECOTOURISM
Ecotourism is now defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the
local people, and involves interpretation and education” (TIES, 2015). Education is meant to be inclusive of both staff and guests.
IUCN defines ecotourism as ‘environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to
enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features – both past and present) that promotes conservation, has
low negative impacts, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations.’
The term ecotourism was coined in 1983 by “Hector Ceballos Lascurain” a Mexican environmentalist, and was initially used to
describe nature-based travel to relatively undisturbed areas with an emphasis on education. Also called “nature tourism”, the
objective of ecotourism is to minimize the impact brought about by tourism on the environment. The idea is to focus on uniting
conservation, communities and sustainable development through the means of travel.
The following categories are generalizations, but serve to illustrate the diversity of green tourism customers and the ‘raw material’:
➢ Hard-core ecotourism – minimum negative impact/maximum benefit to environment and host population. Tourist interest
is genuine and deep, and tourists learn and have their attitudes affected. These tourists are willing to endure indifferent
accommodation and catering to enjoy pristine sites and reduce impacts but they tend to object to abundant visitors.
➢ Dedicated tourists – limited negative impacts and reasonable benefits for the local economy and some contributions
towards environmental care.
➢ Marginal – little benefit to the locality and some negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts.
➢ Casual – on the whole a negative impact. They have little interest beyond an entertainment visit, make a minimal
contribution to local economy and environment, stay within the boundaries of hotel or beach resort, which has a
considerable eco-footprint.
PRINCIPLES OF ECOTOURISM: Ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. This means that those
who implement, participate in and market ecotourism activities should adopt the following ecotourism principles:
➢ Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts.
➢ Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
➢ Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
➢ Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
➢ Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
➢ Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political,
environmental, and social climates.
➢ Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
➢ Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them
to create empowerment.
Generally, ecotourism deals with interaction with biotic components of the natural environments. Ecotourism focuses on socially
responsible travel, personal growth, and environmental sustainability. Ecotourism typically involves travel to destinations where
flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. Ecotourism is intended to offer tourists an insight into the impact of
human beings on the environment and to foster a greater appreciation of our natural habitats. Ecotourism aims at minimal
environmental impact on the areas visited. Besides fostering respect towards the natural environment, ecotourism also helps in
creating socio-economic benefits for the communities of the area visited. Responsible ecotourism programs include those that
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minimize the negative aspects of conventional tourism on the environment and enhance the cultural integrity of local people.
Therefore, in addition to evaluating environmental and cultural factors, an integral part of ecotourism is the promotion of recycling,
energy efficiency, water conservation, and creation of economic opportunities for local communities. For these reasons, ecotourism
often appeals to advocates of environmental and social responsibility.
In order for ecotourism to encourage patterns of sustainability, which can benefit local communities, protect the environment, and
be economically viable, it must be comprehensive and account for the complexity of environmental issues. Ecotourism is tourism
which is conducted responsibly to conserve the environment and sustain the well-being of local people. Its benefits include:
• Building environmental awareness.
• Providing direct financial benefits for conservation.
• Providing financial benefits and empowerment for local people.
• Respecting local culture.
• Supporting human rights and democratic movement such as:
− conservation of biological diversity and cultural diversity through ecosystem protection.
− promotion of sustainable use of biodiversity, by providing jobs to local populations.
− sharing of all socio-economic benefits with local communities and indigenous peoples by having their informed
consent and participation in the management of ecotourism enterprises.
− tourism to unspoiled natural resources, with minimal impact on the environment being a primary concern.
− minimization of tourism's own environmental impact.
− affordability and lack of waste in the form of luxury.
− local culture, flora, and fauna being the main attractions.
− local people, who benefit from this form of tourism economically, and often more than mass tourism.
• Ecosystem protection can occur as ecotourism can help the funding of the operation of protected areas
To manage and steer ecotourism and to assess sustainability performance it is important to develop effective indicators and
monitoring methods. The trend has been away from narrow focus indicators to those derived from a number of multidisciplinary
inputs; various institutions have developed such sustainability indices or benchmarks which can be adapted. The following indicators
and assessment tools have been applied to sustainable tourism and ecotourism: (C.J. Barrow, 2006)
➢ EIA – a structured assessment of existing and potential threats, problems and opportunities. EIA can be a valuable input to
tourism planning, but it is not by any means 100% effective. EIA has been used during coastal resort development in
Peninsular Malaysia (Vun and Latiff, 1999).
➢ CARRYING CAPACITY – an assessment of what can be tolerated. This can be misleading; for example, exploitation well within
carrying capacity may falter if conditions alter and reduce it. There are a multitude of carrying capacities to be assessed –
physical/ environmental; social; cultural; aesthetic and so on. Ecotourism must fit the carrying capacities (environmental,
cultural, economic, or whatever) in the affected area. One strategy is to zone areas according to their sensitivity, so as to
give maximum protection to pristine and vulnerable localities; buffer areas around these help to protect them from more
intensive exploitation in outer zones. Less sensitive outer zones could be used for mass tourism, and zones near and possibly
including buffer areas could support smaller scale ecotourism and occasional day trips by those based mainly in mass
tourism zones. It is important that the pristine core areas are grouped close together, if possible, ideally linked with wildlife
migration corridors; and that sufficient regard is given to the possibility of climate and other environmental change,
increasing pollution and natural disasters. Too rigid and unimaginative zoning with insufficient adaptability will not sustain
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flora and fauna. Even apparently ‘safe’ tourist development may damage the environment – various cave sites have suffered
because visitors bring in fungus organisms and the lighting supports mould and moss growth – proactive problem spotting
should help prevent problems, but there will be surprises, and any development should, above all, be flexible and adaptive.
While mass ‘sun, sea and sand’ tourism tends to demand large and intrusive hotel complexes, ecotourism can make use of
much smaller facilities, such as redundant mansions, old plantation buildings and so on
➢ LIMITS OF ACCEPTABLE CHANGE SYSTEM.
➢ ECO-FOOTPRINTING: Eco-footprinting has been used to measure progress towards sustainable development by cities,
businesses and service providers, and Göslinget al. (2002) explored it as a tool to assess tourism in the Seychelles. Eco-
footprinting uses space equivalents to express appropriation of environmental resources by individuals, groups, companies
and so on. An eco-footprint is an expression of the area required to support a lifestyle or activity, compared with the
available area. The assessment tries to include all inputs and outputs, and even the environmental impacts of travel to the
destination from country of origin.
Figure: Sustainable development through ecotourism (Bhuiyan et al., 2012)
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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Environmental management seeks to steer the development process to take advantage of opportunities, try to avoid hazards,
mitigate problems, and prepare people for unavoidable difficulties by improving adaptability and resilience (Barrow, 2006).
EM has to work with environmental planning. The focus of EM is on implementation, monitoring and auditing. Therefore, EM is a
field of study dedicated to understanding of human-environment interactions and the application of science and common sense to
problem-solving. NRM in contrast with EM is more concerned with specific components of the earth. (Resources which have utility
and can be exploited mainly for short-term gain and the benefit of special-interest groups, companies or govts.) Therefore, NR
managers have often been drawn from a limited range of disciplines with little sociological and limited environmental expertise.
At its simplest, environmental management must do three things:
(1) Identify goals;
(2) Establish whether these can be met;
(3) Develop and implement the means to do what it deems possible
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
➢ It is supportive to the concept of sustainability (sustainable development)
➢ It deals with a world affected by humans (entirely natural environments)
➢ It demands a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approach
➢ It has to integrate different development viewpoints
➢ It seeks to integrate science, social science, policy making and planning
➢ It recognizes the desirability meeting and exceeding basic human needs
➢ The time-scale involved extends beyond the short-term and concern ranges from local to global
➢ It should show opportunities and address threats and problems
➢ It stresses stewardship rather than exploitation
GOALS/ OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: EM is an approach to environmental stewardship which integrates ecology,
policy making, planning and social development. Its goals include-
(1) The prevention and resolution of environmental problems
(2) Establishing limits
(3) Establishing and nurturing institutions that effectively support environmental research, monitoring and management
(4) Warning of threats and identifying opportunities
(5) Sustaining and if possible, improving existing resources
(6) Where possible improving ‘quality of life’
(7) Identifying new technology or policies that are useful
APPROACHES: There may be overlap between groupings, and within categories. Environmental managers may be more or less
anthropocentric or ecocentric, more or less ‘green’, more or less supportive of technology. There is also a wide spectrum of political
and philosophical stances, all of which colour the approach adopted
➢ AD HOC- an approach which is developed in reaction to a specific situation
➢ REGIONAL APPROACH- mainly ecological zones or biophysical units, which can be international, i.e., involve different states (for
instance, internationally shared river basin)
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➢ ECONOMIC APPROACH- an approach which emphasizes on the economic development to environmental management
strategies.
➢ Problem-solving approach: follows a series of logical steps to identify problems and needs and implement solutions
➢ STRUCTURAL/ENGINEERING– to consider structures (adopting engineering methods) while doing environmental management.
➢ INTEGRATED APPROACH- an approach integrates multidiscipline to conduct EM. Integration refers to
-integration of different disciplines
-integration of sectors
-integration of objectives
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Sustainable development is defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection
of the natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. There exist a large
number of definitions of sustainable development. It is many things: a goal, a paradigm shift, above all difficult to achieve and often
complex. The linkage between environment and development was first made in 1980, when the World Conservation Strategy (WCS)
was formulated by the IUCN, UNEP & WWF and the term "sustainable development” was used in late 1980s.
“Sustainable Development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”. (WCED, 1987)
Most definitions stress inter-generational equity (passing to future generations as much as the present enjoys) and intra-
generational equity (sharing what there is between all groups).
“Sustainable development is now a key goal for environmental management” (Barrow, 2006). EM can support sustainable
development by-
1. identifying key issues;
2. clarifying threats, opportunities and limits;
3. establishing feasible boundaries and strategies
4. monitoring to reduce the chance of surprises
SCOPE: Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues. Sustainable
development has three component goals:
➢ Economic Development (especially Poverty Reduction);
➢ Social Development;
➢ Environmental Protection.
Related SDGs: It is very clear that sustainable development involves careful
handling of the available resources such that these resources are not extinct for
even the future generations to use and enjoy. Since the future generations continue
to face the challenge of an increasing population growth rates, the need for more resources for energy and other needs continue
to rise. Natural resources should therefore be generously guarded despite intense human activity. This calls for an agreement with
the proper resource management so that the future generations can also benefit. Some of the factors necessary for sustainable
development include; proper management of natural resources, poverty eradication, proper consumption behaviours that results
into sustainable production patterns and proper policies in regard to environment management and investment.
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The Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to
achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the UN General Assembly and are intended
to be achieved by the year 2030.
The environmental management is a business management instrument ensures a structural and organizational organization to
reduce and control its environmental impacts, the Environmental Management System means technical management and business
organization for the environment. The environmental management is accomplished principally in response to requirement in
environmental laws and regulations. It is an innovative approach that aims to consider systematically the impact of industrial
business operations on the environment, assess the impact and reduce. It is therefore to integrate the environment into
management and business strategy. The Environmental Management is therefore in a perspective of sustainable development: it
involves interdependence between economic development and environmental quality.
Sustainable development and environmental management depend on human activity. When the environment is properly handled
in man’s endeavor to attain his needs, the ecosystem is maintained thus sustainable development. On the other hand, careless
handling of the natural resources through human activity will abuse the environment. The end result will be poverty and hunger,
deforestation, pollution, resource depletion and general fall in the welfare of the population. This calls man to revisit his ways of
co-existence with the environment without causing any natural conflict. Better methods of dealing with the environment are
necessary. These include; aforestation, pollution control, better methods of agriculture that are sustainable. Social economic
factors, good governance and policies are also necessary for sustainable development.
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