Ecotourism and Its Impact on Forest Conservation
Sunday, August 29th, 2004A new century of environmental consciousness is dawning. Under the pressures of explosive human population growth, our planet’s natural communities are shriveling rapidly. They are shrinking on all sides because of the expansion of agriculture, urbanization, damming, forest fragmentation, contaminants into water tables, road building, and even more indirect human impacts such as the invasion by exotic species and the distribution of genetic crops. In Nepal, ecotourists flock to hike one of the remaining wilderness regions on the planet, but these hikers have stripped the landscape bare of sticks and twigs for fuel and left trash that spoils the experience for future visitors. In the Galapagos, the burgeoning number of visitors strains these sensitive and fragile islands. The impact of these visitors, manifested by disease, fire, and theft, has altered the natural balance of the island ecosystems. In the last decade, approximately 20 of the 230 species of plants face immediate extinction, and another 10 are thought to be extinct. In contrast, I have witnessed the salvation of exploited tropical regions by the interests of conservation and the economy of ecotourism working collectively.
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