sustainable eco tourism in suriname

7/29/2019 Sustainable Eco tourism in Suriname

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1 Ecotourism and Sustainable Development in Suriname

1.IntroductionEcotourism is about travelling responsibly into nature, conserving the environment and

improving the well-being of local people. In other words, Ecotourism is about uniting

conservations, communities, and sustainable travelling. In this essay I will look at the meaning of

Ecotourism, its history, the impact of ecotourism on the environment, the local people, and thesustainable development in Suriname.


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2.DefinitionEcotourism can be defined as responsible travelling to natural areas that conserves the

environment and improves the well-being of local people. This form of tourism involves visiting

fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often

small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism. Those who participate and practise this

theory should follow the ecotourism principles, such as, minimizing impact, sustaining the

environment and respecting cultural differences, providing positive experiences for visitors and

hosts, providing direct financial benefits for conservation, and empowerment for local people

and raising sensitivity to host countries, political, environmental, and social climate.i

Ecotourism offers a long-term market solution and provides an effective economic incentives for

conserving and enhancing bio-cultural diversity and helps protect the natural and cultural

heritage of our beautiful planet. It also offers employment opportunities, and empowers local

communities around the world to fight against poverty, sustained development and promotes

greater understanding, appreciation and attraction for nature (flora and fauna), local community

and respect for different cultures (culture heritage) and human rights.ii


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33..HHiissttoorryyEcotourism has been around for a short time. The real history behind ecotourism started in Africa

when people could go on eco-adventure tours based on hunting the wildlife. Ecotourisms main

purpose was to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly

benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster

respect for different cultures and human rights. Ecotourism was widely compared too and often

misinterpreted as any form of tourism that involves nature especially with the termjungle

tourism. It was Claus-Dieter Hetzer, an academic and adventurer from Berkley CA, who first

started with the ecotours in early 1970s and Hector Ceballos-Lascurain, Director General of

Standards and Technology of SEDUE (The Mexican Ministry of Urban Development and

Ecology) and founding president of PRONATURA (an influential Mexican conservationist

NGO), in 1983, who campagned for the conservation of the wetlands in the northern Yucatn as

breeding and feeding habitats of the American Flamingo.iii

With the hunting of wildlife, came the negative part of ecotourism. The negative part was that a

lot of animal species became distinct, such as birds, fishes, mammels, and amphibians. The

protecting of animals came about in 1903. In this year President Theodore Roosevalt create thefirst National wildlife refuge in Florida, to protect wood storks, brown pelicans, and other

endangered water birds. From this came the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1916 and the

Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966, 1969, 1973 an 1978.iv

During the years that

follow, several animals went on the endangered list, such as thepolar bear and leatherback

turtle. This protecting of animal species in their natural habitat, lead to the definition of

ecotourism. Ecotourism became famous with the rise of education on the environment.

Ecotourism and the environment became not only important to the governments, travelers and

businesses, but also to the local communities.

According to the majority, ecotourism has been the fastest growing sub-sectors in the tourism

industry since mid 1980s. The growth came from the change in tourist perceptions, increasedenvironmental awareness, the benefits of conservations and protecting the planet, and an urge to

explore natural environment. With the continueing of the Ecotourism activity however, there are

continuous arguments about biodiversity preservation, local and social benefits, and

environmental impact. This is why there are several definitions for ecotourism by

environmentalists, special interest groups, and the government. The groups focuses on different

things, such as nature and product. Some groups use different terms for ecotourism, as green

tourism, bio-tourism, and nature tourism. There are many more terms used, but they are not the

same as ecotourism. The using of the different terms and definitions have cause a great deal of

confusion among tourist and academics. There is also a dispute among the groups because of the

green washing, which is practising ecotourism that is not sustainable, nature based, and

environmentally acceptable. Eventhough the concept is distructive, economically exploitative,culturally insensitive, and misleading, groups that practise this concept obtain tremendous

profits, because it associates with ecotourism.v It has only been recenty that this green

washing has been brought to the center of attention. It has become and issue in presidential

elections and in industries.

Efforts have been made to teach the community about the environment by educating

them. Education was given in the form of commercials, demonstrations and classrooms lectures.


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While protecting the environment that has been longstanding, institutionalizing the information

and teaching it to the public has only been going on for the past five to ten years. Since the

increase in information about how people are negatively impacting the planet, there has been a

huge influence applied to the travel industry. The urge to explore ones natural environment maydepend on the individuals social identity, education, and income, but with more people

demanding green hotels, restaurants and transportation, ecotourism is becoming more popular.


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4.Impact of EcotourismThe positive impact of ecotourism

- Jobs for local people- Income for the local economy- Helps preserve rural services like buses, boats and village shops.- Increased demand for local food and crafts- Tourists mainly wants to experience the wildlife.- Promotes cultural awareness and can help preserve local culture and traditions.- Natural features that attract tourists can be protected using income from tourism.- Native communities are learning the tourism business.- Communities have more control of the message getting out.

The negative impact of ecotourism

- Damage to the landscape: litter, erosion, fires, vandalism (environmental hazards).- Traffic congestion and pollution.- Physical displacement of the local community.- Shops asked prices based on tourists- Demand for holiday homes makes housing too expensive for local people.- Violation of fundamental rights- Jobs are mainly seasonal, low paid with long hours.- Travel agents, airline companies and hoteliers benefits more than local companies when

holidays are booked to destinations.

- Ecotourism channels resources away from other projects that could contribute moresustainable and realistic solutions to pressing social and environmental problems.

- Destroy local culture and traditions.Ecotourism is supposed to be about low-impact practise, educational, ecologically and cultural

sensitive travel that benefits the local communities and host countries. Looking at the travels that

are supposed to represent ecotourism it is noticable that most of them do not meet these

standards. While several studies are being done on ways to improve the ecotourism structure,

some ecotourism corporations argue that these examples provide reasons for stopping it

altogether. Ecotourism may provide solutions to the economic problems, but it causes lots of

other problems such as contamination of the rivers by dumping sewage, pollution and littering.

The community is effected more by the negative impact, because as mention above the effected

areas are the environment, population, cultures and traditions. More should be done to educatethe government, local community, and tourists about the importance of the preservation of flora,

fauna and our culture. Education improves their awareness, and sensitize them to environmental

issue. Tour guides and travel agents to the delicate places are a direct medium to communicate

awareness of the importance of preservation. With the confidence of ecotourist and personal

knowledge of the environment, they can actively discuss conservation issues. Personnel should

be trained before and on the job of whats important about preservating our environment.

Although ecotourists claim to be educationally sophisticated and environmentally concerned,


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they rarely understand the ecological consequences of their visits and how their day-to-day

activities append physical impacts on the environment.

As most ecotourist corporations belong to multinationals, these corporations are mostly out for

profit from ecotourism. Profits ends up in the pockets of investers instead of reinvested into the

local economy of environmental protection. They practise tourism on a large scale that causes

excessive environmental degradation, loss of tradional culture and way of life and exploitation of

labor. The lack of economic opportunities for local people may encourage the development of

destructive markets in wildlife souvenirs, such as sale on endangered species and poaching from

the environment.

The shortage of sustainability focus the need for small scale, slow growth, and locally based

ecotourism. The local community should have a greater interest invested in the well being of

their surroundings, and therefore be accountable to environmental protection than multinational

corporations. The loss of the resources, such as culture and traditions and endangering the

environment are more important than the benefits of establishing large scale ecotourism. Several

organizations now exist to protect and preverse these resources. The 2002 summit held in

Quebec, Canada, led to the 2008 global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, which is a collaborativeeffort between the UN Foundation and other advocacy groups. Effective sustainability planning,

maximum social and economic benefits for local communities, minimum negative impacts on

the cultural heritage, and minimum negative impacts on the environment are the standards for the

global Sustainable Tourism Criteria.

In most cases ecotourism does not empowers the local people who make it worth while,

instead it exploits and depletes. It has to be reoriented if it is to be useful to local communities

and to become sustainable. At the local level ecotourism has become a conflict over control over

land, resources, and tourism profits. Very few regulations or laws stand in place as boundaries

for the investors in ecotourism. These should be implemented to prohibit the promotion of

unsustainable ecotourism projects and material which project false images of destinations,demeaning local and indigenous cultures. Most of the time it is overlooked that ecotourism is a

highly consumer-centered activity, and that environmental conservation is a means to further

economic growth. With the Agenda 21 plan, actions are taken globally, nationally and locally by

organization that is part of the United Nations System to protect and preserve the environment.

The commission on Sustainable(CSD) was created in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-

up UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and development), which was created

in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The full implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for Further

Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Commitments to the Rio principles, were strongly

reaffirmed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg,

South Africa from 26 August to 4 September 2002.vi

There are 40 chapters in the Agenda 21, divided into four sections.

Section I: Social and Economic Dimensions. Deals with combating poverty, promoting health,

change population and sustainable settlement in decision making and changing consumption

patterns.


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Section II: Conservation and Management of Resouces for Development. This includes

protecting the atmosphere, combating deforestation, protecting fragile environments,

conservation of biological diversity, controling pollution, and management of biotechnology and

radioactive wastes.

Section III: Strengthening the role of Major Groups. Includes the role of youth, women, NGOs,

local authorities, businesses and workers and srengthening the role of indigenous peoples, their

community and farmers.

Section IV: Means of Implementation. Includes science, technology, transfer, education,

internation institutions, and financial mechanisms.

Agenda 21 for culture is the first document with worldwide mission that advocates establishing

the base of an undertaking by cities and local governments for cultural development.


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5. Sustainable EcotourismFor ecotourism to be sustainable, it must return as much back to the natural environment and to

the local people of the region, because with every visit by a ecotourist to a remote place

something is removed. A balance must be found limits and usage so that continuous changing,

monitoring sound planning ensure that ecotourism can be managed. As one ecotourism article

notes: take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, waste nothing but time.

Ecotourism should provide visitors with an enriching, educational experience in return for their

help in conserving and protecting our sensitive environment of the area, economically benefiting

local people and participating in sustaining the development of the region or country.vii

The product of ecotourism is the destination. For it to be sustainable it has to be as inviting to the

last visitor as it was to the first. Developing small-scale ecolodges helps to limit visitation to the

actual carry capacity of the region. Careful and thoughtful ecotourism encourages low to no

consumption of natural resources, emphasizes observation and educational modes of interacting

with local people, environment and wildlife. All effort must be made to conserve and protect the

region. The people of the region must be enhanced with the sustainable ecotourism. This is done

by their overall educational experience of ecotourism.

As mention before, for ecotourism to be sustainable, the ownership of small businesses should be

increased. This is beneficial for the economic benefits. These small businesses should represent

people who cares for the region and culture. Keeping this balance is one of the essential tasks of

sustainable, well-run ecotourism. But as seen in many areas and countries, the regulations of

ecotourism are poorly implemented or nonexistent. This poorly implementation can be seen by

catergorizing helicopter tours with camping, photography and wildlife observation. The lack of

sustainability highlights the need for small scale, slow growth, and locally based ecotourism.viii

Local authorities and other organization tries to make ecotourism sustainable by trying to

implement the following things:

- Show visitors how they can be responsible tourists with events, leaflets, informationcentres, guided walks and events, signs and websites.

- Support outdoor activities that do not damage the countryside or harm wildlife.- Encourage visitors to buy local products and food.- Ask local communities for their views and ideas by setting up forums, groups and

consultations.

- Reduce erosion caused by visitors, by creating and repairing footprints.- Use planning policies to control the spread of buildings in built-up areas development.- Encourage green energy-efficent buildings with planning policies and grant funding.- Encourage small-scale renewable energy schemes, like solar panels, with planning

policies and funding.


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6. Sustainable Ecotourism in SurinameSuriname is a small country in the North of South-America. Suriname is rich with different

cultures. The different cultures came from the ancestors which were African, Asian, indigenous

and Europeans. Besides a rich and unique culture, Suriname is also rich with rainforest, rivers

and fauna, which, if handle correctly are very important in the development. All these attractions

offers Suriname significant opportunities to receive profit upon its competitive advantage over

other tropical tourism destinations. Suriname is unknown and unspoilt, hence, creating a good

base to attract visitors worldwide. With the growing interest and longing by visitors for exotic,

unknown, and unspoilt destinations and interest of the local people in the field of preservation of

the precious resources, Suriname may turn out to be a very important tourism destination in the

future. The joint venture of local people as well as visitors are ensuring the sustainability of the

natural assets.

Even though Suriname was the first country in South America to erect a tourism office in the

seventies in New York and also one of the first countries to carry out a successful rainforest

tourism, Suriname has no real tourism tradition. Suriname has been through a lot of political

instability in the past. After democracy was restored in the nineties, tourism was re-establishedwhen the ministry of Transport, Communications and Tourism was created. With this ministry

establish, measure were taken to re-establish tourism. One of these measures were to re-opened

the government owned company, the METS.

METS would support the initiatives of indigenous inhabitants and develop tourist activities.

Their is responsible for the agreement between owners of facilities, promotion of goods and

services from local people, providing education, public health, setting up facilities in traditional

style using local materials, and minimizing impact on nature and culture. METS try to stick to

their own definition of ecotourism, which states that ecotourism is responsible travel to natural

areas which conserves the environment and improves the wellfare of local people. With this in

mind, they try to limit the number of visitors to a resort to maximum fifteen people per tour.They try to make the ecotourism sustainable by informing the visitors in advance what to expect

from the indigenous villages and also by educating their employees. The golden rule must

always be remembered, which is respectyourself, respect others, respect your village, and

respect your country. Even with this in mind it is still difficult to keep a good balance between

tourism, conservation, and culture.ix

In the table below are a few examples of ecotourism resorts in Suriname, such as, Raleigh falls,

Blanche Marie falls, Awarradam, Kasikasima,Kabalebo, bird watching atWarappakreekand

observing the beautiful turles at Matapica. I have visited some of these resorts and some of them

I would like to visite. These are also examples of why the country is unique.

Awarradam
http://www.kabalebo.com/http://www.kabalebo.com/http://www.kabalebo.com/http://www.warappakreek.com/http://www.warappakreek.com/http://www.warappakreek.com/http://www.warappakreek.com/http://www.kabalebo.com/


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Raleigh falls with Volts Mountain


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Blanche Marie falls

Kasikasima

Kabalebo


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Warappakreek: bird watching

The blue frogs (Dendrobates azureus),

known asOkopipi, . Can only be found in

the valleys of the Four Brothers of Mamia, a

small mountain range on the Surinamese

border with Brazil.


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The Marine Leatherbacks

The northern coast of Suriname is one of the

best places in the world to view this beautiful

creature. This critically endangered reptile is

the only species left in its family ofDermochelyidae.

This is an animal that survived the demise of

the dinosaurs, but may not survive us.

The following organizations needs to work together to make ecotourism sustainable.

They are:

- STINASU: the foundation for nature conservation in Suriname.- METS: Company for the exploitation of tourism lodges- Inbound Tour Operators- Outbound Tour Operators- Local N.G.O.-

Local and National Government- Sponsoring Organizations- Resource Managers- Travel Agents- Ecotourist: Independ traveller and students


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Bibliography

http://www.ehow.com/info_7888781_sustainable-ecotourism-definition.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21

http://www.ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism

http://www.mapsofworld.com/surinam/tourism/ecotourism.html

http://www.surinamevacations.com/

http://environment.research.yale.edu/documents/downloads/0-9/99akum.pdf

Endnotes

ihttp://www.ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourismiihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism

iiihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism

iv

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/timeline.htmlvhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism

vihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21

viihttp://www.ehow.com/info_7888781_sustainable-ecotourism-definition.html

viiihttp://www.ehow.com/info_7888781_sustainable-ecotourism-definition.html

ixhttp://environment.research.yale.edu/documents/downloads/0-9/99akum.pdf
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