Sustainable tourism, protected areas and livelihood needs of local communities in developing countries

SUMMARY During the last two decades, extensive networks of protected areas in many developing countries have stimulated growth in protected area-based tourism. As protected area tourism occurs in isolated and remote rural regions, it is often assumed that such regions will experience stimulation of economic activities induced by tourism from which local people will be able to derive tangible benefits. Evidence suggests that this is rarely the case. Indeed, in the majority of protected areas, benefits have hardly reached the local community which bears the heaviest burden of protected area management. When a protected area is established and opened for tourism, it is often outsiders who rush in to siphon-off a major portion of the tourism income generated locally. Nevertheless, there are some pioneering approaches such as CAMPFIRE (Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources) and ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Project) which have attempted to fulfil livelihood needs of local communities using benefits derived from wildlife or nature-based tourism. Both projects emphasize a people-centred, participatory democratic approach. Citing various examples from developing countries, this paper discusses the dependent nature of tourism in general, impact of protected area tourism on local livelihoods, and some constraints and opportunities for the long-term viability of protected areas.