Southern Africa
Call to review proclamation of year of eco-tourism

afrol News / SARDC, 17 April - Environmental pressure groups who say eco-tourism has failed on the basis of its own principles, are advocating for a speedy review of the concept if the world's biodiversity is to be preserved and mounting poverty alleviated.

Eco-tourism was once touted as a major breakthrough for alleviating poverty in southern Africa while conserving the region's environment and culture. Now, concerns abound that the principle is not as benign as initially believed and could result in increased degradation of ecosystems, a loss of biological and cultural diversity.

The controversy has been stirred by the UN proclamation of the year 2002 as the International Year of Eco-tourism (IYE). "It can be concluded from the many case studies conducted around the world that eco-tourism generally falls short of the ideal system inherent in the principles it promotes, for example, in terms of conservation of nature and cultures, education, material benefits to resident people and local participation," says a letter to UNEP's tourism programme coordinator, Oliver Hillel. 

The letter was signed by more than 20 groups from South and North, lobbying the UN to have the Year of Eco-tourism proclamation reviewed and monitored to reflect what they perceive as the true status of eco-tourism.

The organizations, which include the Third World Network and the Tourism Investigation and Monitoring Team, want the year renamed "the International Year of Reviewing Eco-tourism" arguing that this will serve as a precaution against possible misunderstandings and risks, and offers a unique opportunity to forge ahead new paths to tackle the challenges posed by tourism, development and the environment.

The group points out that this way, the theme will also be less susceptible to abuse by profiteers and privileged minority groups, who may seek to exploit this UN programme for self-serving purposes. The re-focused programme should prioritize concerns such as ecological protection, economic equity, social justice and human rights, over narrow commercial eco-tourism interests.

There are also grave concerns that the event will result in "mass nature tourism" policies and programmes that will worsen problems such as the degradation of ecosystems, loss of biological and cultural diversity, disruption of local economies, displacement and dispossession, and resistance from community and indigenous peoples' groups.

Environmentalists have urged the organizing agencies, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and UNEP, to initiate a reassessment of the 2002 theme in collaboration with all concerned parties, particularly affected communities and grassroots initiatives.

The organizers have acknowledged that there is "little consensus" about the meaning of eco-tourism, and that a number of "concerns still need to be wholly addressed". The agencies have also recognized the need to avoid eco-tourism's "past shortcomings and negative impacts" and that "there has not been so far a truly comprehensive effort to allow the various stakeholders to voice their views." 

The environmentalists charge that governments are ill-equipped for the Year of Eco-tourism pointing out that they have tended to promote all forms of rural and nature tourism as eco-tourism, while frameworks to effectively scrutinize, monitor and control developments are poorly developed or non-existent.

There is concern that supranational institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organization who are pressuring developing countries towards trade and investment liberalization, that national and local governments will lose the capacity to plan and manage tourism, and eco-tourism, on their own.

The corporate tourism industry aggressively pushes for non-intervention in companies' decision-making processes to expand their business and maximize their profits. As nature-based tourism is presently seen as one of the most lucrative niche markets, powerful transnational corporations are likely to exploit the Year of Eco-tourism to dictate their own definitions and rules of eco-tourism on society, while people-centred initiatives will be squeezed out and marginalized.

Tourism is a key industry for southern Africa. According to the Southern African Initiative of German Business (also known as SAFRI), in 1999, the sector contributed on average 23 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the region and catered for 17 percent of employment needs in Mauritius, Namibia and Seychelles. In countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia, the travel and tourism sector contributed 5.3 percent to economic output and 5.2 percent to employment.

Some 1.6 million new jobs could be created in the travel and tourism sector in southern Africa by the year 2010, a June 1999 study by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) says. 

But while eco-tourism is beneficial to southern African economies, an assessment of the benefits must be weighed against destruction to the environment. In some cases, indigenous peoples have been forced out of their traditional lands to make way for tourism businesses.

According to Anita Pleumarom writing in Third World Resurgence, such tourists are illegally collecting forest plants with potential medicinal value for the biotechnological industry, a clear case of biopiracy.

Meanwhile, Cousin Island in Seychelles has obtained world - wide recognition for eco-tourism and coastal management after being the first nature reserve in Africa to feature in the International Biodiversity Observation Year. Cousin Island Special Reserve was recognized as the best example of how eco-tourism is practised as well as for coastal and marine management in two recent publications released by international organisations.

by Tinashe Madava, SARDC

© SARDC/Tinashe Madava. can be reproduced with credit to SARDC and the author.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com