Monitoring Costs and Benefits of Ecotourism

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Monitoring Costs and Benefits of Ecotourism
A proposed World Heritage
Tourism and Evaluation Methodology
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• Impact of tourism development on World Heritage
  sites.

- Few World Heritage sites have monitoring and
evaluation tools for tourism.
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UNF funded initiative involving UNESCO, UNEP and
RARE Centre
Linking Biodiversity Conservation and
Sustainable Tourism at World Heritage Sites.
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World Ecotourism Summit, Quebec

• Accepted definition of ecotourism.Standards for
  evaluation of tourism costs and benefits.

• Adequate baseline data, research mechanisms and
  improved information sharing.

• Inclusion of social factors in what is a holistic
  monitoring program.

• Indicators developed by all stakeholders.

• Monitoring system in potential development areas.

• Need to monitor tourism mechanisms at the local,
  national and regional level.

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Goal
To enhance the ability of World Heritage sites in
developing countries to conserve biodiversity
through sustainable tourism.
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Expected results

• enhanced staff capabilities
• clear tourism strategies with an active support
  from the tourism industry
• increased revenues
• widespread benefits for local people.

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Six World Heritages sites
Sian Kaan Reserve (Mexico)
Tikal National Park (Guatemala)
Vizcaino Reserve (Mexico)
Komodo National Park (Indonesia)
Rio Platano Reserve (Honduras)
Ujung Kulon National Park (Indonesia)
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Objectives

• Enhancing site management capacity and building
  of site personnel skills through site-community
  planning.

• Increased revenue generated from tourism

• Increased local awareness and support for
  conservation.

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• Provision of local economic incentives for
  biodiversity conservation.

• Linked regional, national and international-level
  tourism marketing strategies and programs.

• Promoting shared experiences and best practices.

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Two key issues

• Information on project interventions and the
  subsequent production of alternative employment.

• Positive contributions of project interventions
  for biodiversity conservation.

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Methodology
Threat Reduction Assessment (TRA) methodology
(Biodiversity Support Network methodology
developed by Richard Margolis and Nick Salafsky)

• Basis
• selection of a key conservation target
• identification and tracing of the factors
  threatening this target.

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Target project
conservation of forest biodiversity at Pirin
National Park.
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EXAMPLE CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Limited jobs
Contributing factors
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Adaptive management cycle
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Why take a
learning portfolio approach?
Opportunity to improve
Failures are transformed into valuable learning
opportunities
Development of networks between projects
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World Heritage Learning Portfolio
A systematic way for sharing experiences, best
practices and information and knowledge among
project partners, site managers, and
decision-makers in World Heritage sites and
other protected areas.
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We have one learning portfolio to exchange
information across sites.
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Site assessment
participatory needs assessment and planning
process
Identification and conceptualisation of the
threats in the site model.
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Set-up Visit

• Outcomes
• Collaborative relationships initiated with
  site/national stakeholders.
• Greater understanding of site.
• Initial planning for site assessment.

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Vision workshop of key stakeholders
Outcome Initial site conceptual model (i.e.
map of what is happening at site)
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Data collection
Outcome Validation of the site conceptual model
using appropriate quantitative and qualitative
techniques.
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Data analysis
Outcome Site assessment document which includes
revised conceptual model and draft SMART
objectives.
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Project design and workplan
Outcome Series of targeted interventions to
mitigate some or all of the factors in the site
conceptual model.
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Final
stakeholder meeting

• Outcomes
• Approved site conceptual model
• Approved goals and activities
• Approved workplan/monitoring plan

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Site workplan
Identification of individual site needs (site
goals and objectives) and tourism interventions
to mitigate the threats.
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Monitoring plan

• Measures the effectiveness of
• the collective impact of the interventions on
  the goal of biodiversity conservation
  (biomonitoring framework).
• the impact of individual interventions in each
  site (intervention monitoring framework).

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Conclusion

• Effectiveness of the system through the use of a
  combination of social, economic and biological
  factors, both qualitative and quantitative.

• Contribution to the monitoring and evaluation
  process for protected areas.

• Contribution to the World Heritage nominating
  process.

• Identification of conservation oriented
  activities for the tourism industry.

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• To advance monitoring and evaluation with the
  information provided through this methodology,
  through the information provided by the
  International Year of Ecotourism and the
  experiences already developed in Bulgaria.

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• Knowledge
• exists to be imparted.
• - Ralph Waldo Emerson