Ecotourism

 

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a type of tourism to conserve and improve natural, rural areas. So this is quite different from a typical tour to a place. Instead, this type of tourism includes a keen focus on learning and developing that area and the people residing there. Around 1980, the concept of ecotourism took place officially in the Oxford Dictionary. The word ecotour was included in 1973. However, there’s still confusion about the classification of the proper ecotourists. Generally, it’s based on the sustainability and economic contribution of the place while maintaining its basic identity and natural properties.

Wildlife is one of the most important resources provided by forest ecosystems all around the world. In the tropics alone, hunting is an ubiquitous activity on which 200- 300 million forest-dwelling people are directly dependent for part or all of their livelihood and food. In recent years, the abundance of wildlife has declined in many tropical forest areas as a result of increased commercialization and market integration, increased access to remote forest areas, growing human populations, increasing demand for wild meat from urban centers, more effective hunting technologies, and changes in hunting practices and settlement patterns of forest-dwelling people. The loss of wildlife jeopardizes the nutritional base on which local communities depend and can lead to the collapse of local economies. Moreover, it threatens the ecological integrity of the tropical forests. Given the importance of wildlife resources, the implementation of sustainable management approaches is thus an imperative issue.

Wildlife is also important in tourism. In tropical forests, rare, dangerous or colorful animals represent a major travel motive, even though the significance of forests for recreation, education and experiences is now growing in general. Mid-latitude forest resources in industrialized countries serve as buffer zones from daily urban life, and in countries such as Austria, Switzerland, Sweden or New Zealand, they are a central element of the landscapes that attract millions of foreign tourists each year. With increasing demand for outdoor recreation, visitors to natural areas put substantial stress on forest ecosystems. As both tourism and wildlife populations are ultimately dependent on intact forest ecosystems, the importance of maintaining their integrity is clearly rendered prominent. In the light of this, the article analyzes the development of tourism and the situation of wildlife resources from a socio-economic and ecological perspective. Suggestions for the sustainable use and conservation of forests are made. Focus is on the tropical forests, because these face rapid decline, while an increasing number of people continue to be directly dependent on the resources they provide.

Importance of Ecotourism

• Through ecotourism, it’s easier to reach out to the rural settlements and observe their conditions from close quarters. The significance of ecotourism lies in the interaction with the people, understanding their culture, and helping them develop their overall living conditions.
• Conserving the environment is another important application of ecotourism. Various sensitive natural areas require particular attention and effective management. Without the right observation and analysis, it is not possible to initiate the required operation.
• Similarly, for the well-being of the residents in the natural areas, it’s crucial to understand their community culture and lifestyle. That’s how systematic development can be done in all such areas.

·                  Also, ecotourism encourages a better understanding of the environment and the importance of its conservation.

 

Ecotourism examples in India

India has been widely supporting the concept of ecotourism. A few spots in the country include:

• Honey Hills- Thenmala Eco-tourism, Kerala
• Bandipur National Park, Karnataka
• Sunderbans National Park, West Bengal
• Tribal excursion in Chhattisgarh

Impact on society

• Ecotourism is spreading a positive impact on society with the notion to observe natural places to develop their overall condition, maintaining their natural essence. Here, travellers are getting an opportunity to know more about sensitive places while travelling. Places like Nepal, Madagascar, and Ecuador are some of the beautiful natural places in improvised countries.
• Even after so many positive sides of ecotourism, there is some negative effect on the environment. The environmentalists want to promote ecotourism to upgrade the rural community and conserve nature. On the contrary, the tourism industry uses ecotourism as a business model to attract tourists.
• As a result, the rural places are getting congested, and the natural beauty is compromised gradually. So, instead of solely developing the area and community culture, it’s becoming a general tourist spot.

Climax persistence

• Persistence is the key to climax. In a climax community, all species (including dominant species), are continually able to reproduce successfully and persists in a uniform climatic area.That is known as climax persistance.
• Climax concept. According to classical ecological theory, succession stops when the sere has arrived at an equilibrium or steady state with the physical and biotic environment. Barring major disturbances, it will persist indefinitely. This end point of succession is called climax.
• Because changes in climate, ecological processes, and evolutionary processes cause changes in the environment over very long periods of time, the climax stage is not completely permanent.
• A climax community is a term used to express a community in its final stage of succession. Species composition is stable, and the community has reached equilibrium. ... The climax community may change if there are changes in climate or long-term evolutionary changes in one or more species.
• Climax communities are said to be in a state of equilibrium because organisms have already adapted to their environment and succession is no longer taking place. Therefore, it can be assumed that it is stable.
• Higher stability doesn't necessarily entail higher diversity. In fact, it is those communities with intermediate levels of stability that have the highest diversity.
• A community is known to be stable when there is no apparent change in the number of species and population size over a long period of time. It is then important to note that a community's stability is prevented by periodic or stochastic disturbances that give way to recolonization. It is the climax community that is most stable since the species that comprise it, which are the dominant late successional species, are least affected by gradual changes in the physical environment unlike the communities with lower stability. This high stability in climax communities would lead to a low species diversity since the time between disturbances is long, allowing dominance by one or a few number of species that, in turn, competitively exclude other species. It is the communities with intermediate levels of stability that are most diverse since the interval between disturbances are long enough for a wide variety of species to colonize and become established but are disturbed before successional replacements result in dominance and competitive exclusion
• A climax community is the end result of ecological succession. The climax community is a stable balance of all organisms in an ecosystem, and will remain stable unless a disaster strikes. After the disaster, succession will start all over again