Positive Effects of Wildlife Tourism on Wildlife Flashcards
Has there been a lot of research on positive effects of wildlife tourism on wildlife?
hmmm nope
What are the four main positive effects from wildlife tourism that has been looked at?
- financial contributions
- non-financial (practical) contributions
- Socio-economic incentives
- education
Financial Contribution:
- User fees? (types?)
- entrance fees
- licence fees
- user fees
- taxes
- merchandise revenue
Financial Contribution:
- User fees?
L> Whale operators pay a total of ___ which goes to monitor and research whale sharks in Australia.
- $ 37,000
Financial Contribution:
- generally revenues are/are not sufficient to offset operating costs?
are not
L> therefore, does not usually constitute a positive effect on wildlife tourism but rather a means to reduce negative effects.
Financial Contribution:
- studies indicate that people are willing to pay more/less to support parks and wildlife?
more
Financial Contribution:
- do some operators donate a portion or all of their profits into conservation?
yep
L> ex: Pacific Whale Foundation
Financial Contribution:
- Pacific Whale Foundation
L> Social Structure of false killer whales in maui county waters based on photo identification data. Goals?
- to photo identify as many false killer whales using the maui county four island area as possible in order to understand group cohesion and stability, age structure, reproductive rates and association patterns.
Financial Contribution:
- Pacific Whale Foundation
L> Researcher on board humpback whale program.
- surprise encounters?
- surprise encounters i.e. where boats unexpectedly encounter whales, have been on the rise in maui waters possibly bc the number of whales coming back to winter here has been increasing. Our goal is to understand if there are specific factors that influence the probability of an encounter occurring above and beyond the increasing number of whales.
Practical Contributions:
- This is when what contributes to what?
- Management, monitoring or research that contributes to conservation
Practical Contributions:
- Who carries out this contribution to conservation?
- tourists or operators
Practical Contributions:
- Earthwatch?
- their mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education in order to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.
L> ex: southern California ….looking at whales and dolphins….examine human impacts, such as shipping lanes and pollution are affecting marine mammal populations along the coast.
Practical Contributions:
- Large wildlife tourism enterprises make significant what?
- contributions to wildlife research
L> Some are even involved in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation
L> and deterrents
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- For what purpose?
- conservation
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- If what are met will these provide conservation ?
- Increase S-E compared with alternative land uses or wildlife management practices
- Financial viability
- People must adopt practices
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value?
L> how do they achieve this?
- demonstrate economic rational
- at what level depends on who needs to be convinced
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value?
L> Protected areas do what indirectly ?
- Protected areas indirectly bring major economic benefits to local communities
L> Wet tropics world heritage site: $426 million
L. Great Barrier Reef: 5 billion (more than commercial fishing)
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Wet Tropics :
- Nature based tourism has the potential to provide what? BUT what is essential?
- local communities with economic and social benefits, as well as benefit the wider Australian economy.
- However, cooperation between the tourism industry, management agencies and the community is essential for the long term success of nature based tourism.
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Wet Tropics :
- It has Australia’s greatest what?
- diversity of animals and plants within an area of just 0.26% of the continent.
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Wet Tropics :
- Are many of the animals found here specific to the area?
- Yes. Many plant and animal species of the WT are found nowhere else in the world.
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Wet Tropics :
- It has the oldest what?
- oldest continuously surviving tropical rain forests on earth!
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Wet Tropics :
- The strategy they have in place encourages what?
- cooperative partnership between the tours industry, land managers, indigenous people, conservation groups and the community.
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Wet Tropics :
- What are some of the tourism issues discussed in the Nature Based Tourism strategy ? (8)
- Rainforest Aboriginal Tourism
- research needs
- marketing the WHA(world heritage area)
- marketing tourism in the wet tropics
- permit assessment and allocation of commercial activity permits
- Accreditation and training
- cost recovery and user pays
- maintaining tourism infrastructure
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Great Barrier Reef:
- They use the best available scientific information to do what? What does that include?
- guide them, and engage with experts and the community
- This includes four Reef Advisory Committees and 11 Local Marine Advisory Committees
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- The 2004 zoning of the Great Barrier Reef- Global standard for marine conservation. How is it a standard?
- best practice design and implementation
- Rigorous and accountable principles of conservation science
- large area
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- 5 years on what?
- review and synthesis of outcomes of having the reserves
- 21 leading scientists from Great Barrier reef
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
-Outcomes: More what was found in protected areas?
- more bigger fish in protected areas
- clear, widespread evidence for long term benefits
- requires good compliance and enforcement ( it only takes a little bit of illegal fishing to reduce the benefits a lot)
- possible widespread depletion, by 1984 (inshore) of the fish populations across the reef…occurring as early as 1984
- in regards to targeted fish via fishing
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- why is it good that bigger fish are appearing?
- they give birth to more fish
L> they have more fish larvae
L> this is important because it shows that marine reserves are having a benefit within an isolated area but those benefits go into other areas because of transportation of those fish larvae from one reef to another making the reserve system to act as a reserve network which is more resilient to changes and disturbances or threats than individual reserves.
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- are larvae only transporting to other reserves?
- no they are being transported to the entire ecosystem
- ** good for fisheries and environment!
- more importantly to the reefs that are still being fished
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- Indirect effects?
- crown of thorns starfish reduced and coral increased
L> fewer outbreaks of starfish on the reefs that protected from fishing!
L> more coral during outbreak times - corals are the building block of the coral ecosystem but also the foundation of the GBR
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
-Economics of the reserve network?
- Reef contributes
L> 5.5 billion dollars a year (mostly tourism but also fishing)
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- What does it cost to protect the reef?
- Great Barrier Reef marine Park
Park Authority: entire package
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> The Great Barrier Reef: A globally significant demonstration of the benefits of Marine Reserve Networks: (Video)
- Summary of the GBR marine reserve network
- significant ecosystem benefits
- probable fisheries benefits
- cost effective
- 1 part of package of complementary management
Providing Socio-economic incentives:
- Increasing S-E value
L> Other examples?
- Zimbabwe earns over 70 million from hunting
- Rwanda earns over 10 million from gorillas (more than cattle)
- In the US, more than 60 million adults participate in non-consumptive use of wildlife - exceeds 30 billion dollars.
Establishment of Protected Areas:
- Is the public more often ready to support preservation of an area to protect a species than for ecosystem in general?
Yes, the public is more often ready to support preservation of an area to protect a species than for ecosystem in general.
Establishment of Protected Areas:
- The publics view has motivated what?
- many governments to protect land
L> Kenya, Australia, US, Canada (not so much right now)
Using Private Land:
- Land owner operates _____ or receives a fee for what?
- themselves
- a fee for allowing land use
Using Private Land:
- South African and Nambia?
L> _% say if they did not have tourism. they would continue to graze cattle.
L> Tourism has allowed what?
- 48%
- allowed reintroduction of many species such as cheetah, lion etc
Using Private Land:
- Does it have to lead to total change?
no
Using Private Land:
- Some maintain ______ stocking rates of livestock to ensure they maintain good wildlife populations.
- lower than average
Using Private Land:
- Many have stopped what?
- shooting native animals as they perceive them as a net financial benefit
Changes to Wildlife Management Practices:
- Promoting wildlife tourism has been what?
- a major and deliberate conservation strategy to combat poaching or persecution of wildlife as pests
Changes to Wildlife Management Practices:
- Africa: “Wildlife __, Wildlife__”
L> three examples in other areas?
- pays
- stays
- Mountain gorillas are a classic example(Rwanda), wolves in Yellowstone, and kangaroos in Australia
Yellowstone Wolves:
- what are they trying to do?
- rebalance the ecosystem
Yellowstone Wolves:
- University of Manitoba, wolves are worth _ every year. (over _ tourists)
- 35 million dollars
- 4 million
Yellowstone Wolves:
- are the ranchers happy?
- nope
L> many suffer losses of 1700-60,000 a year….keep in mind insurance usually covers this…
Changes to Wildlife Management Practices:
- Once established, economic incentive to maintain what?
- the population of animals on which tourism is based
Changes to Wildlife Management Practices:
- Once established, economic incentive to maintain the population of animals on which tourism is based. However, it may be detrimental to?
- other elements in ecosystem
- Artificial feeding
- habitat alteration
Local Support for Conservation:
- If locals receive economic benefits they?
- are more likely to support the existence of areas for conservation
- support allocation of resources
- support policies in place
- refrain from activities that may hamper the conservation
Local Support for Conservation:
- Examples:
L> Madagascar?
- local people support ban o hunting for funds
Local Support for Conservation:
- Examples:
L> Tanzania?
- financial and employment benefits
Local Support for Conservation:
- Examples:
L> Rwanda ?
- negative attitudes are reversed with funds
Local Support for Conservation:
- Examples:
L> Zimbabwe?
- CAMPFIRE Program!
Local Support for Conservation:
- Important: Effects may not always be?
- positive
L> Local farmers are more negative due to impacts of pest animals and commercial fishing lost by marine parks
L> has not always led to increased interest in conservation by local people
Yellowstone:
- What are the benefits of reintroducing wolves?
- introducing predators
- reduces herbivore population
- increases vegetation
Yellowstone:
- issues with reintroduction of wolves?
- Ranchers are losing livestock
- property damage
- dangerous to the ranchers family
- ranchers use lethal deterrents
Education of Visitors:
- Education of wildlife tourists can occur through changes in attitudes and or increased knowledge that may promote what?
- More responsible behaviour
- involvement in conservation/research
- increase in political pressure
- more satisfied customers= successful business
Education of Visitors:
- Zoos and wildlife parks are one of the few sub sectors of wildlife tourism that have?
- formalized role with regards to education
Education of Visitors:
- Zoos and wildlife parks are one of the few sub sectors of wildlife tourism that have formalized role with regards to education. How?
- supporting conservation of endangered species and their natural ecosystems
- offering support and facilities to increase scientific knowledge to benefit conservation
- promoting an increase in public and political awareness
Education of Visitors:
- Some evidence that interoperation can result in more?Example?
positive attitudes towards wildlife
L> two Australian studies
L> sea turtles at Mon Repos
L> Phillip Island Penguin Reserve
Conclusion:
- Net effects of wildlife tourism on wildlife depend on?
the balance of positive and negative effects
Conclusion:
- Is it possible to quantify positive effects?Negative effects?
- not yet
L> and negative effects are also difficult and may only occur at localized scales
Conclusion:
- Opinons about the net effects tend to?
- vary with the persons perspectives
Conclusion:
- Australian Study?
- Benefits wildlife through a number of mechanisms
- imposes net costs (impacts) to tourism sites
- costs above are partially offset or even outweighed by creation of protected areas
- small scale shifts toward conservation orientated land use
- contribution to conservation
- education can have a major effect
- costs and benefits vary according to a number of factors
- small net positive effect
- substantial opportunity to enhance benefits
