Protected Areas Flashcards
5 reasons that make protected areas important for ecotourism?
NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS
- Depending of their designation, most protected areas are more or less oriented towards the protection of relatively undisturbed natural environments and biodiversity.
HIGH PUBLIC PROFILE
- These refer to protected areas that have attained a high enough profile to be considered a primary or iconic tourist attraction in their country or region.
STRUCTURAL SUITABILITY TO ECOTOURISM
- This means essentially that the aims of both the park and ecotourism organization are comparable. The aim of both is to conserve the area, to provide for education about it and ensure sustainable recreational use. For example hunting, fishing, and motorized off road vehicles are usually excluded.
INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES
- Since public protected areas, are also public spaces intended to provide recreational and educational opportunities, they therefore receive varying levels of investment in infrastructure and services. These typically include walking trails, toilet facilities, and campgrounds, along with interpretation centres and restaurants if require
CONVERGENCE BETWEEN PROTECTED AND NATURAL LANDSCAPES
- The destination of many of the Earth’s natural areas has led to the construction of the remaining natural environments in protected areas and an increase in the value and use of these areas. E.g. only about half of the worlds original forests remain and most of this destruction has occurred during the 20th century.
