TOURISM S RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE: HOW DOES TOURISM IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT?

Transcription

1 TOURISM S RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE: HOW DOES TOURISM IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT?

2 Key Questions What do we understand by the natural environment? The balance of material reality or social construction? How does tourism have positive and negative impacts on nature?

3 How do we form our beliefs & opinions about the environment? Combination of religious, cultural and scientific beliefs and knowledge Pagan belief systems emphasise the presence of spirits in nature Christian- Man is made in the image of God- Great Chain of Being -God was removed to a celestial high Nature loses its spiritual value- therefore can be used in an instrumental and utilitarian mode Notion of stewardship in the Bible Enlightenment- scientific enquiry- Descartes Industrial Revolution Romanticism Need for reflection on what is being impacted upon

4 Think Point What does the natural environment mean to you? Which types of values do you associate with nature i.e. what is its use? Does it have a value in itself (intrinsic)?

5 Time of re-evaluation of our relationship with nature- growth in awareness 1960s- Spaceship Earth ; Carson s Silent Spring Callicott (1991) Environmental Turn 1970 s- origins of Greenpeace;; Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania; Limits of Growth Report 1980s- global warming; ozone depletion; Chernobyl; rain forest depletion; origins of green consumerism; Brundtland Report; origins of alternative tourism 1990s- GM crops; animal rights; inequality in global trade; growth in organic crops; Earth Summit- PPT; responsible tourism; ST-EP Green Consumerism, Climate Change; RIO+20; Paris Accord

6 How is tourism associated with nature? Environmental constructsescapism (Boorstin, 1964) or search for the authentic (MacCanell, 1992) Images of the unspoilt by human agency Opposition to modernity Relaxation/emotional experience Setting for dreams Nature provides resources

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8 International arrivals : ( ) Acutal and projected figures Year I n t e r n a t i o n a l A r r i v a l s

9 The tourism naturerelationship is complex- a reflection of a global system, incorporating economics, ethics, environmental values we place on nature that inform constructs and various stakeholder interests

10 Mix of economics and environmental norms and ethics will be important in determining the balance of the tourism-nature relationship Stakeholders with an interest in tourism Intergovernmental agencies, eg. UNEP, European Union, governments; communities; private sector; non-governmental organisations (NGOs); tourists All will be searching for outcomes from tourism

11 The nature-economic link in the context of tourism Recreational tourism is dependent on high quality natural environments e.g. mountains; oceans, seas, lakes and rivers; wildlife; and coral reefs Often the quality of the environment is the main attraction for touristsvalue of the aesthetic In an anthropocentric philosophy there is an economic logic to conserve nature for tourism as it lends it an economic value

12 BUT IT CAN GO WRONG

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14 WHY? Absence of policy and planning in tourism- incremental and cumulative impacts Limitations of conventional economics that fail to reflect environmental costs and negative externalities market failure Lack of legal protection for nature- no acknowledgement of an independent right to existence A weak environmental ethic of societythe instrumental use of nature Behavioural aspects of tourists Construction of tourism as a liminal activity

15 Pollution: global to local Air- air travels contribution to GHG emissions and global warming; car travel- reliance on carbon based energy Water- sewage; cruise ships Aesthetic Mishan (1969) Cost of Economic Growth Noise

16 Over-use of resources Water- social/economic issues Wildlife rights of nature Nature as a sink- pollution

17 THINK POINT- Issues of natural resource usage Why does it matter if tourism harms nature and the environment? How could the problems/challenges be rectified?

18 Issues of assessing tourism s impacts Sometimes it may be difficult to attribute negative impacts caused by tourism vis-à-vis other industries Impacts of tourism are made difficult to assess because tourism development is often incremental and its effects are cumulative There is often a lack of a baseline to manage change against

19 Summary Tourism s relationship with nature is a manifestation of the human to nature relationship that embraces social construction and environmental values The interaction involves a variety of stakeholders The approach to usage will be determined by a combination of market economics; policy and planning; and environmental ethics

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