Hey Urban Nomads! Welcome to another issue of the Nomad chronicles. I happen to chance upon an interesting video during my study break and therefore I would like to discuss them with you today! In this article, we will focus on the complex issue of tourism and how ecotourism can help to protect the environment.

Rather than focusing predominantly on the environmental impacts of pollution, this post will look at the approaches taken to address the issues. In a few of our previous post, there was an emphasis on how mass tourism can exacerbate the environment; such as Halong Bay in Vietnam. However, ecotourism might potentially be the answer that governments could have been seeking for—generating revenue without sacrificing the environment.

Eco Resort Misool wins Tourism for Tomorrow Environment Award

The benefits of Eco-tourism

Ecotourism broadly refers to a more sustainable form of  nature based tourism ( unlike mass tourism) — which minimizes physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts on the environment. Ecotourism helps fostering a culture of environmental respect and protection while not sacrificing positive experiences to visitors and hosts. In fact, Eco-tourism has been dubbed as “sustainable” as it is able to meet the needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This has been performed in Raja Ampat, which has been relatively successful.

Eco-tourism comprises of both nature based and sustainable tourism

What is Raja Ampat
Raja Ampat (which when translated in English refers to: ‘The Four Kings’). In a comprehensive scientific survey of the area in 2001, reports show that it was home to nearly 1,000 tropical fish species—many of the species had previously been undiscovered.
The Raja Ampat archipelago which is in northwest corner of Indonesia’s West Papua province, also situated in the coral triangle, containing over more than 1,500 islands (O’Neill et al., 2020). In fact, located at the intersection of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, Raja Ampat has been commonly referred to as a ‘species factory’.

The scenic view of Raja Ampat

Reason for the rich biodiversity

Largely due to powerful deep-sea currents, it helps to funnel nutrients into Raja Ampat’s delicate fringing coral reefs. These nutrients help create an oligotrophic state in the ocean, encouraging the birth of mangrove flats, and sea grass bed—supporting the food chain to house these spectacular diversities of marine life (O’Neill et al., 2020).

Dynamite fishing and its impacts
As most fisherman who live on the island have to depend on the sea for resources, they have turned to cost effective and destructive ways to ensure that they are able to get their daily catch form the sea. As these fishermen often operate in small vessels, the use of dynamite (light and portable) has therefore been used (Lamers et al., 2019). The blast generates shock waves, which are amplified by the water (as a medium), killing nearby fishes in the vicinity (O’Neill et al., 2020). In addition, the shock waves also impact nearby coral habitats causing coral destruction. The blast is often non-discriminatory, leaving schools of fishes dead in its wake.

Blast fishing and its explosive impacts

Shark fin harvesting
In addition, a main source of income for fisherman is the harvesting of shark fins from the sharks. This lucrative business often results in many sharks carcass floating in the water. These sharks eventually drown and die as they are unable to swim in the water, resulting in a slew of carcass on the shore of beaches. As the carcass undergoes further decomposition, it becomes a site for harmful bacteria such as Cryptosporidium (Lamers et al., 2019).
These bugs can enter pollute water sources, causing diarrhea for those who are unfortunate enough to drink it.

Carcass of Dead sharks found along the shore of Raja Ampat

Fisherman harvesting shark fin

Benefits of protecting the environment
In response to the range of threats of dynamite blast fishing and shark fining, one such report has taken innovative steps to tackle the situation. The Misool Eco Resort began by persuading the locals in the merits of a ‘no take zone’ around their island to preserve its pristine environment (Lamers et al., 2019). The very first “No-Take Zone encompassed 425 sq km of reef surrounding the resort island in Southeast Misool. Five years later, community leaders having witness its benefits requested Misool to help create a second conservation area (O’Neill et al., 2020). The benefits could have arguably been based on the economics of conversation as compared to extraction. This highlights how there is an overall net gain in income from protecting the environment (eg: attracting wealthy tourist due to pristine environment) as compared to the revenue earn from exploiting the environment (eg: selling the shark fin in the market)

Misool Rangers on patrol

Inside the No-Take Zone, all fishing and shark fining are strictly prohibited, enforced by a 15 person Misool Ranger Patrol. These rangers play an integral role in enforcing the rules (Lamers et al., 2019).

Paradoxical role of Tourism
In the previous post, we have talked about the negative impacts of Scuba diving. However, tourism is the problem and the solution. When utilized properly, this lucrative form of tourism has the trans-formative power needed to protect the environment. The Dive tourism generates revenue needed to finance the operation cost incurred from protecting the environment. This sustainable model creates a positive feedback loop whereby there would be more high-end tourist attracted, resulting in even more revenue generated to protect the environment. As a result of this protection zone, surveys have shown that illegal fishing activity has been reduced by 86% within the zones, resulting in fish biomass increasing by over 250% in the last 6 year (O’Neill et al., 2020). The development of the luxury Eco Missol resort depends heavily on the protection of the environment. Unlike the exploitative forms of conventional mass tourism, eco-tourism can perhaps be a solution to tackle environmental pollution without compromising revenue.

Conclusion
To conclude, with the demand for travel & Tourism growing at a breakneck pace, how do we ensure that this growth does not priorities short-term gains over the longer-term health of local environments and communities. In this post, we learn how tourism can be sustainable, bringing about tangible improvements to both the environmental and cultural communities in which it operates. Perhaps, the next time you decide to take a dive into the deep blue waters at Raja Ampat, you might be at ease knowing that your money (and efforts) goes along way in creating a “sustainable world.”

The video can be found below:

References:
Atmodjo, E., Lamers, M., & Mol, A. P. J. (2019). Governing dynamics in marine conservation tourism in raja ampat, indonesia. Tourism Planning & Development, , 1-19. doi:10.1080/21568316.2019.1686652

RAJA AMPAT MARINE PARK, INDONESIA: The Heart of the Coral Triangle — Conservation Atlas. (2020). Retrieved 2 September 2020, from https://www.conservationatlas.org/blog/raja-ampat-marine-park-indonesia-the-heart-of-the-coral-triangle2018

O’Neill, S., McLeish, E., Tuppen, H., Tuppen, H., Tuppen, H., O’Neill, S., & O’Neill, S. (2020). Eco Resort Misool wins Tourism for Tomorrow Environment Award | Green Hotelier. Retrieved 2 September 2020, from https://www.greenhotelier.org/our-themes/community-communication-engagement/eco-resort-misool-wins-tourism-for-tomorrow-environment-award/