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Planned Ecotourism in protected areas: an innovative tool for three case studies
Ubicación
In three protected areas with tourists’ development potential we will apply the “Planning for Areas Conservation Protocol issued by The Nature Conservancy that provides advice on sustainable tourism strategies while ensuring the conservation of the elements that generate the attractions. With the above-mentioned foundation, the defined tourism sustainability threshold will be estimated as the minimum recurrent investment requirement so that the tourist operation is compatible with the conservation of the natural wealth, thus providing visitors with a positive and safe experience, avoiding cultural erosion and generating an efficient management.
Selected areas are “Manglares Churute ...
Sobre ti
Información de contacto
Title
Titulo
First name
Dr. Natalia
Last name
Arango
Your job title
Coordinator
Name of your organization
The Nature Conservancy - Andes Tropicales del Norte
Organization type
Tipo de organización
Annual budget/currency
Presupuesto anual
Mailing address
Dirección
Telephone number
Número de teléfono
Postal/Zip Code
Código Postal
Country
Colombia
Website
http://Sitio web
Email address
Alternative email address
Otro e-mail
tu idea
Esta será la dirección usada para marcar tu participación en el mapa.
Street Address
Avenida del Arsenal 9A - 37
City
Cartagena
State/Province
Bolivar
Postal/Zip Code
Código Pos
Country
Colombia
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourist experience and educational benefit to tourists , Quality of benefit to residents for the destination , Quality of tourism management by destination leadership .
Organization size
Large (more than 1000 employees)
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Conservation/Preservation organization
Year innovation began
2001
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Living culture, Nature, Destination aesthetics, Education.
Name Your Project
Planned Ecotourism in protected areas: an innovative tool for three case studies
Describe Your Idea
In three protected areas with tourists’ development potential we will apply the “Planning for Areas Conservation Protocol issued by The Nature Conservancy that provides advice on sustainable tourism strategies while ensuring the conservation of the elements that generate the attractions. With the above-mentioned foundation, the defined tourism sustainability threshold will be estimated as the minimum recurrent investment requirement so that the tourist operation is compatible with the conservation of the natural wealth, thus providing visitors with a positive and safe experience, avoiding cultural erosion and generating an efficient management.
Selected areas are “Manglares Churute ...
BID/FOMIN
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Deseo postularme.
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Consumidores (viajeros), Agentes detallistas, Operadores de Turismo, Prestatarios de servicios turísticos, Atractivos naturales y culturales.
Indica cuales de estas tematicas cubre tu innovacion (elige todas aquellas opciones que apliquen)
Planificación y Gestión de destinos, Innovación y diversificación en el desarrollo de productos turísticos.
Innovación
What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
To develop tourist products based on sciences and environmental and financial sustainability thresholds for three protected areas.
Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.
In three protected areas with tourists’ development potential we will apply the “Planning for Areas Conservation Protocol issued by The Nature Conservancy that provides advice on sustainable tourism strategies while ensuring the conservation of the elements that generate the attractions. With the above-mentioned foundation, the defined tourism sustainability threshold will be estimated as the minimum recurrent investment requirement so that the tourist operation is compatible with the conservation of the natural wealth, thus providing visitors with a positive and safe experience, avoiding cultural erosion and generating an efficient management.
Selected areas are “Manglares Churute Reserve, Ecuador; Corales del Rosario National Park, Colombia and Península de Paria National Park, Venezuela. Within these locations, TNC is working on the design of conservation strategies, among which the development of tourist plans based on the areas’ natural and cultural values is a priority. In each of the protected areas and their areas of influence, local communitarian organizations with interest in the tourism business were identified. In Ecuador, local partnerships with crayfish collectors, in Colombia, Active native people from Orika island and in Venezuela, Vuelta Larga Foundation.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
Traditionally protected areas tourist services are not designed following estimations on feasibility and fragility of natural valued that attract tourists nor taking into consideration the cost incurred to mitigate the tourist activity impact in such a manner that the continuance of these values is guaranteed. In order to change this situation, this project proposes the application of the PCA methodology to estimate the sustainability thresholds that should be incorporated into the design of the tourist strategy of each area and its corresponding services. The process involves the design of tourist products based on scientific information about the condition of natural and cultural values object of the attraction. This phase is developed with the PCA. The starting point of this protocol is to define natural and cultural conservation objects and identify threats affecting these objects. Then, we identify the tourist potential in the areas and we develop sustainable development activities as a conservation strategy of the specified conservation objects. Moreover, we will estimate the minimum investment required in five key aspects aimed at a proper tourism management in protected areas: impacts monitoring, basic infrastructure, safety, interpretation, information, and training, staff salaries.
Impacto
Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
In the three protected areas selected, TNC has leaded the initiation of planning process for the areas’ conservation, being able to identify key local actors and critical threats for the natural or cultural conservation. In the Ecuador’s case, Churute mangrove swamps for example, critical threats are crayfish over exploitation, farming frontier advance and deforestation. Our proposal is to turn the traditional practice into an experience-based tour for the tourist and thus reduce the pressure over the resource. In Colombia - Corales del Rosario we propose, jointly with National Parks from Colombia, establish a green hotel unique in the area, managed in accordance with the environmental sustainability standards and operated by communities that at present exercise fishing pressure over marine diversity. In Venezuela we will offer alternatives to farming practice with local gastronomy accommodation and guide services offer to tourists attracted by the park. An impact measure in terms of sustainability will be the percentage of local population who changes his/her economic activity, changing from non-sustainable practices or activities into tourists activities based on environmental guidelines, as well as the analysis on quality of life indicators from local residents.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
During the initial stage the planning process for conservation in which local actors are identified, organizations and communitarian leaders with potential interest in participating in tourist development activities are acknowledged. Said organization and leaders are summoned to participate in Conservation Planning workshops, where their expectations and ancestral knowledge are incorporated in the collective development of strategies and tourism plans, in line with area’s conservation objectives. The tourism strategy for each area is developed with then and the services to be offered to tourists are designed.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Visitors to the Churute mangrove swamps, de Paria Peninsula and Corales del Rosario protected areas will be guided by local residents who are proud about their natural wealth and traditions. Visitors will be pleased by noticing that the money invested in the visit contributes to the long term conservation of the flora and fauna they are enjoying at that moment and to improve the quality of life of local communities. When they get to know other ways of using resources and relating with the environment, they will be more aware of the tight relationship between human wellbeing and ecological balance.
Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.
As tourism activities are focused on the area’s natural values and with a design aimed at mitigating impact over the natural and cultural diversity, local resident will be more aware of the value of their place for the world and will transmit said value and pride to visitors.
Esta presentación se trata de
Sustenibilidad
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
(no más de 150 palabras)Our financing base is achieved by private donations to conservation projects and by partnerships with multilateral and international cooperation organisms. Specifically in Ecuador, during the last years we have been implementing partners in the Ecuadorian Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism, in order to strengthen tourism in the protected areas system of said country. Said project made an investment of US$35,000 in the Churute mangrove swamps. The investment in Corales del Rosario to be initiated by TNC will be US$50,000 approx. In Paria Peninsula the investment is US$ 130,000 applied in the park’s consolidation activities. We are able to co finance at least 50% of the project’s amount.
We have a working team on protected areas with specialists in marine conservation, tourism and financial sustainability. We have a support team in each country in the following areas: politics, administration, trading and science in addition to technical advice at worldwide level.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
Nature tourism is a growing activity and protected area provide ideal locations to perform it. Sustainability in organizational terms is guaranteed by the joint work with the authority in charge of the protected areas system in each county as well as with the local residents and users of natural resources within said areas. Both in Ecuador as well as in Colombia, government have adopted sustainable tourism as a key strategy in the financial sustainability of their national parks. in the three countries, TNC is regarded as well equipped partner to coordinate this kind of approximations.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
International tourism dynamics may vary by external factors, which cannot be controlled by local communities or by national governments. Official entities priorities may be modified with government changes.
The traditional vision by some operators in the tourism private sector who asses the growth of their industry based exclusively on the increase of the number of visitors.
Low capacity for tourism management in actors.
What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
Formal partnerships with government authorities are an evidence of our commitment in the implementation of this initiative, not only in the three protected areas selected for this project, but also in all the protected areas with tourist potential in each country. On the other hand, we expect that benefits, both in economic as well as life quality terms received by local communities related to this initiative motivate more communitarian organizations to initiate similar processes in their own locations.
La historia
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
The Nature Conservancy – TNC is a leader organization in the conservation of lands and water that are ecologically important for the nature and human wellbeing. The conservation program called Andes Tropicales del Norte de TNC [Northern Tropical Andes] included the non-Amazonia portion of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. One of the conservation strategies is aimed at consolidating the systems of public protected areas, which implies the promotion of financial sustainability in said areas for example by means of ecotourism.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador subscribed the Biologic Diversity Agreement, and in the Framework of said agreement they have committed to develop the Protected Areas Working Plan agreed upon during the Seventh Parties Conference [Séptima Conferencia de las Partes (COP7)] in 2004. One the goals set under said plan is to achieve financial sustainability for the protected areas systems in each country, while promoting the adoption of good practices and standards, benefit distribution equity, and strengthening the participation of local communities.
Taking into account the “nature tourism” industry global growth, the development of tourism in protected areas has been acknowledged as a tool aimed at achieving financial sustainability in said areas, since these are considered as an non extractive economic activity and thus theoretically compatible with the area’s conservation objectives. However, there is wide evidence that a non planned or mismanaged tourism could turn into a threat for the protected areas, since it generates impacts both ecological impacts (significant ecosystem deterioration, change in the life cycles of species, etc) as well as socio cultural impacts (unfair distribution of economic benefits, loss of cultural identity, etc). Thus, the Nature Conservancy has identified tourism as a threat for biodiversity conservation in 78 planning exercises for areas conservations carried out in the last seven years.
Likewise, the three country integrate the list of 10 mega-diverse country so they have a wide environmental offer (biologic and landscape diversity), cultural offer (ethnic diversity, folkloric and gastronomy wealth) which are highly attractive for the international tourist market. Based on said offer, the government of the three countries have identified tourism as an important strategy in their current development plans and in this sense at present there exist: “Strategic development Plan for sustainable tourism in Ecuador up to 2020”, “Policy for Ecotourism development” established in November 2004 by the Colombian government, National Strategic Plan for Tourism 2007-2012 from the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Taking the above mentioned into account, The Nature Conservancy is working on two new paradigms: Planning for the Conservation of Areas (PCA) in order to plan conservation actions and the Tourism Sustainability Threshold (defined above) and it has initiated consistent actions, in coordination with authorities in charge of the protected areas administration in Ecuador and Colombia and other strategic partners. In the Venezuela case, as from 2006 and with UNESCO support, The Nature Conservancy has been strengthening capacities in local actors on the subject, mainly tourist operators and indigenous communities in the Canaima National Park, a World Natural Heritage Site.
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
TNC has evidence to affirm that well managed tourism is an effective contribution to the conservation of biodiversity in protected areas. The planning and management of tourist activities based on environmental and economic sustainability standards will enable visitors to: 1) contribute to the area’s conservation strategies financing 2) increase their knowledge and awareness on the importance of biologic and cultural diversity at worldwide level and 3) contribute to mitigate the threads implied by other productive activities developed by neighboring communities.
For example, our proposal contemplates the promotion of communitarian tourism initiative in the Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve. During the last two years, TNC has worked closely to this area and community, improving communities’ capacity to manage tourists and improving the area’s physical infrastructure. In this community, there exists the ancestral crayfish collection practice. During the last years, crayfish collectors became aware about the increasing pressure over the resource and the mangrove swamp ecosystem and they are exploring other economic alternatives, among which tourism stands out.
The fact of promoting new tourist destinations in the location, visitors will get to know the cultural and natural area, guided by traditional crayfish collectors while contributing to the conservation of the species.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
Our approximation to planning aimed at conservation, involves in a direct manner protected areas administrators, community representatives associated to the protected area and key actors as local tourist operators. IN order to guarantee the success of this approximation, it is essential to establish a permanent working team with representatives from these actors. This team is trained in the methodologies and collectively, it develops the appropriate strategies and tourist services for the area. The partnership among similar tourism initiatives in the region will also enable to share experiences and learned lessons
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