Great Lakes
Article:
World
Wetlands Day 2003 - No wetlands, no water!
The Ramsar Bureau
posted 01/25/2003
A
Background Paper
Theme
1
Freshwater
-- Is There Enough?
Available
freshwater per capita is decreasing. In the 20th century,
while the world's population tripled, freshwater withdrawals
increased over six times, reflecting massive urbanisation,
growing dependence on irrigated agriculture and rising
standards of living.
Is
there still enough for our needs? On a global scale, yes
- we currently use 20% of the water in the world's rivers
(not counting flood waters). But the situation varies
significantly: in some arid regions, as much as 95% of
the available water is already being used.
2.3
billion people currently live around rivers where there
are frequent water shortages, and 1.7 billion of these
people live in areas where water is scarce, undermining
the capacity for local food production and economic development.
There is clearly not enough water in the right places.
In addition, at least 1.1 billion people do not have access
to safe drinking water and 3 million die each year, many
of them children, from illnesses caused by contaminated
water. So water quality is an equally challenging issue.
How
do wetlands figure in all this? Capturing and holding
rainfall and snowmelt, retaining sediments, and purifying
water, wetlands play a vital role in the water cycle.
Yet in the 20th century we destroyed 50% of the world's
remaining wetlands, and we've physically modified others
with dams and canals which have significantly fragmented
and altered water flow in 60% of the world's largest rivers
- often compromising the many valuable ecosystem functions
upon which we depend.
In
addition, our impressive increased food production in
the past 50 years has often been at considerable cost
to the health of wetlands and freshwater supply. Not only
have we destroyed wetlands to make way for agriculture
and placed increasing demands on freshwater - agriculture
now claims 70% of global freshwater withdrawals - we have
put further pressure on the remaining wetlands through
the high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, pesticides and
sediment loads in surface and groundwaters from agricultural
activities. While agriculture is the key source of pollutants
in the developed world, human waste takes centre stage
in many developing countries, where 90-95% of sewage is
dumped, untreated, into water systems. The net result
is a serious reduction in both freshwater quantity and
quality.
This
situation will not improve with a projected 1.7 billion
additional people on the planet in the next 20 years,
most of whom will live in developing countries. Producing
more grain, more livestock, more fish, with an already
limited water supply, will be a challenge.
It
is generally agreed today that the answer to providing
more food from agriculture lies not in expanding agricultural
areas that will require yet more water but in becoming
more efficient with what we have - producing more "crop
per drop" of water. Technological advances, such
as double cropping, and improved plant breeding, irrigation
efficiency and rainwater harvesting techniques, among
others, all offer some hope of increased production in
agricultural systems.
Fish
provide 28% and 21% of animal protein in Asia and Africa,
respectively. Globally, fish requirements for direct human
consumption will double in the next ten years - yet we
are already over-fishing most of our marine stocks, and
future yields are unlikely to increase significantly.
Inland fisheries are supplying an increasing amount of
this fish - today they provide 12% of fish directly consumed
by humans, and this proportion is rising - but there are
clear signs of widespread unsustainable exploitation here,
too. Over 90% of the marine fish catch is dependent on
coastal waters for breeding and nursery areas, and the
health of these wetland ecosystems is directly dependent
upon what we do to our inland wetlands: too little water
and too many pollutants in freshwater wetlands eventually
degrade coastal wetlands as well. Indeed 80% of marine
pollution originates from land-based sources. And although
aquaculture in coastal and inland wetlands is increasing
and replacing some of the losses from natural sources,
without dramatic improvements in current practices, this
may bring further degradation of wetland habitats through
addition of pollutants, excess nutrients, etc.
Are
there solutions? They lie in integrated water resource
management strategies at the river basin level with full
stakeholders' participation. Solutions must also pay due
regard to the use of improved technologies for more efficient
use of water in agriculture, industry and home use, and
to paying for the true value of water infrastructure and
ecosystem protection, with the appropriate safety nets
for the poor. But the world faces a triple challenge:
achieving food security, water security, and ecosystem
security. The Ramsar Convention believes that the source
of freshwater, our wetland ecosystems, should be the starting
point of all integrated water management strategies.
Maintaining the health of wetlands to secure our sources
of freshwater and much of our food is one of the fundamental
keys to a sustainable planet.
[Read
more about ecosystem security, an area frequently overlooked
by water managers, in theme 2.]
FOCUS
ON . . .
The
challenge of shared river basins and other transboundary
wetlands
Shared
river basins present water-management challenges in all
parts of the world. An estimated 261 rivers in the world
cross international borders; some of them cross multiple
borders. In a recent study of Ramsar sites, 176 sites
were located on transboundary wetlands, presenting management
challenges to their sovereign states. Here are two contrasting
examples of the problems and solutions:
The
Mekong is the source of many environmental benefits
to the 65 million people living in its basin. The river
crosses the borders of Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar,
Thailand, and Viet Nam, making management of its waters
an on-going challenge. The Mekong River Basin Commission
(MRC) must balance the need for several dams along the
river's length and its tributaries to supply electricity
and agricultural water, with the many needs of people
downstream who are directly dependent on the river for
subsistence. Rice and fish are the basis of food security
in the basin. Annual fish catches, estimated at 1.75 million
tons, supplemented by significant aquaculture activities,
provide a major source of protein and basic livelihood
for people in the basin. Fish catches in the lower basin
supply 40-60% of the animal protein consumed by the people
and any serious changes in river flow through diversions
or reductions in the silt load could wreak havoc upon
the fishing as well as the agriculture in the delta, spelling
disaster for the 30% of households living below the poverty
line. The challenges are immense - not least because the
MRC still does not include ALL basin countries - but so
too are the social, environmental and economic costs of
failure.
The
Morava-Dyje floodplain, crossing the borders of
Austria and the Czech and Slovak Republics, is one of
the last regions in Europe where traditional land use
has ensured flood control, secured a rich biodiversity,
and produced meadows that act as huge nutrient sinks,
removing high nitrogen levels from the water. Four NGOs
have worked independently on these wetlands for many years
in their own regions. But more recently they have worked
collaboratively, restoring degraded habitats, using the
natural resources of the land sustainably in traditional
and extensive (non-intensive) farming practices, as well
as informing and sensitising local people. Their successful
efforts culminated in the signature, by the Ministries
for the Environment of the three countries, of a Memorandum
of Understanding to implement the Ramsar Convention in
this transboundary area. The three countries will hold
annual meetings to coordinate their efforts to achieve
trilateral status for the existing Ramsar sites along
the border area of the Morava and Dyje floodplains and
to develop their management procedures according to Ramsar's
Guidelines for management planning for Ramsar sites
and other wetlands. This initiative now has the active
support of local, national and regional authorities. For
their successful collaborative work on this floodplain,
the NGOs were winners of a Ramsar Wetland Conservation
Award for 2002.
The
Ramsar Bureau is helping and encouraging many countries
in dealing with similar shared basin/transboundary Ramsar
site issues in, for example, Lake Chad and the Niger River.
The Bureau is also a partner in the EU Water Initiative
launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development
in August 2002, which includes a component on Integrated
Water Resources Management (IWRM) with a focus on transboundary
river basins.
Local
involvement
At
the Laguna de la Cocha Ramsar site in Colombia, local
communities have become significant players in developing
a wetland management plan for the site. Working with the
World Wide Fund for Nature, Colombia, the communities
from the Quillacinga ethnic group attended workshops that
led to a greater understanding of the richness, social
and economic value - and vulnerability - of their local
ecosystems. The management plan they have established
encourages sustainable management of the area's natural
resources and results in higher income levels for local
farmers through more effective and diversified agricultural
practices as well as the development of ecotourism.
Agricultural
practices
While
intensifying agricultural practices and introducing greater
efficiency in water use will provide more food in the
decades to come, there are good reasons, in some cases,
both in developing and developed countries, for moving
away from intensive agricultural systems.
Just
over 4% of Switzerland's population is engaged
in agriculture, yet they manage almost 40% of the land
area and supply two thirds of the food requirements of
the country's 7 million people. In 1996, the Swiss people
declared themselves in favour of a multifunctional agriculture
that would help them move towards a sustainable Switzerland.
Farming subsidies, now tied to ecological criteria, are
encouraging an increasing number of farmers to switch
to low intensity, organically-managed farms. With the
elimination of mineral fertilisers and synthetic pesticides,
water quality is not compromised as it is with more intensive
systems. Consumers are already showing a preference for
organically grown foods and many organic farmers in Switzerland
encourage the introduction of an effective certification
system to assist consumers, which, in turn, would encourage
more farmers to move towards sustainability.
Using
economic valuation techniques to compare the benefits
in the Hadejia-Jama'are wetlands in northern Nigeria
of using water for an irrigation project, rather than
for maintaining the floodplain for traditional exploitation
activities, came out clearly in favour of the floodplain.
The water was valued at US$ 43 per 1,000 cubic metres
when it maintained the floodplain, supporting tens of
thousands of people through fishing, agriculture, fodder
production, and fuelwood. This dropped to US$ 0.04 for
water diverted from the floodplain to irrigate agriculture.
Using such valuation techniques to properly assess the
value of the goods and services from wetland ecosystems
can lead to more effective decision-making on how we use
our freshwater.
Irrigated
agriculture covers only 17% of crop land but produces
40% of the world's crops; it has been an essential component
of increased food production in recent decades. But it
is generally water-inefficient, with huge losses through
evaporation and significant problems of soil salinisation,
as well as over-pumping of groundwater, in China, Iran,
Mexico, the Middle East, North Africa, Saudi Arabia and
the USA.
Irrigation
can certainly become more efficient. Using drip irrigation
techniques, for example, can cut water use by 30-70% and
increase yields by 20-90%. Researching drip irrigation
techniques over the past 20 years has allowed Israel to
double its food production without using more water. In
Spain, the introduction of metering with an appropriate
pricing system, along with a switch to drip irrigation,
led to a considerable drop in the volume of water abstracted
for agriculture from one aquifer. It has been found too
that farmers themselves will improve their farming practices
when low, subsidised prices for irrigated water are removed
and replaced with realistic prices.
Efforts
from the private sector
Industry
claims 20% of global withdrawals - could companies become
more efficient in using water resources? Can the private
sector help in other ways? A Danish electrical company
and an Australian wine maker show the way.
A
manufacturing facility of Danfoss, a manufacturer
of pumps, valves and motors on an island in the Baltic
Sea, was routinely withdrawing 2 million cubic metres
of water from the sole aquifer supplying the needs of
the company as well as the island's population of 50,000.
Following the discovery that the aquifer was being overdrawn
and saltwater intrusion becoming a real possibility, the
company initiated a series of water-saving programmes
and revised its waste-water treatment system. This eventually
reduced the consumption to 0.4 million cubic metres, an
80% reduction in abstraction, improving freshwater reserves
in the aquifer and removing the threat of saltwater intrusion.
A
winner of one of the 2002 Ramsar Awards, the Australian
wine company Banrock Station has undertaken ten
years of effective rehabilitation and management practices,
including energy and water efficient systems maintaining
the vineyards, at their own complex of wetlands in the
floodplain of the River Murray, in cooperation with an
NGO, Wetland Care Australia. They offer an innovative
marketing approach whereby a percentage of the revenue
generated by sales in the countries where the wine is
offered for sale is allocated to wetland conservation
projects and activities in those countries. The company
has announced that the cash prize from the Ramsar Award
will be devoted to an ecotourism project in the Lake Nakuru
Ramsar site in Kenya (further details on page 13; see
also their Web site at http://www.banrockstation.com.au/).
Urban
water use
Domestic
uses claim 10% of all water withdrawals. Can urban water
users become less wasteful? There are many innovative
techniques for improving the efficiency of water usage.
Here is one such example.
The
USA's Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts have improved
the quality of water available but resulted in a higher,
more realistic price of water. It's clear from at least
one survey that some sectors of the population DO change
their water consumption patterns when faced with the real
cost of their freshwater: a water metering device installed
in apartment blocks in the USA means that residents can
be charged individually for precisely the amount of water
they use. Surveys have shown that people consume 18-39%
less water when they know they are paying for the volume
of water they use each month. With less than 40% of the
apartment blocks presently able to meter the water consumption
in individual apartments, approximately 9.5 million cubic
metres of water could be saved each day, saving owners
and residents US$4.6 billion annually, if all of the USA's
25 million apartment blocks could be metered in this way.
Theme
2
Water
for Ecosystems?
Allocating
freshwater to satisfy the needs of the three principal
sectoral users - agriculture, industry and domestic uses
- is an on-going challenge for water managers in most
countries.
Wetland
ecosystems have the dual capacity of being "water
providers" AND "water users". So why do
they rarely appear as part of the allocation equation?
Wetlands are critical components of the water cycle that
delivers our freshwater, but they also require a certain
amount of water if they are to maintain their structure
and functions and continue to deliver the quantity and
quality of water upon which we depend.
A
gradual shift in recent water management philosophy and
practices is broadening the recognition that the water
requirements of wetland ecosystems must be fully taken
into account in any effective water management regime.
Water managers should be assessing, in the first instance,
the minimum water requirements to maintain the ecological
functions of wetland ecosystems. What's left after this
minimum has been assured can then be safely put to use
for the sectoral users without any danger of compromising
the natural resource base so vital for sustainable development.
Assessing
the water needs for maintaining wetland ecosystems is
a relatively new area of focus in wetland management,
but there are tested tools and methodologies, both scientific
and social, for such assessments, appropriate for different
types of aquatic ecosystems. The methods range from quick,
simple assessments to longer-term studies that may take
one to two years to complete. The best techniques pay
attention to the multiplicity of ecosystem functions,
rather than focusing simply on water for birds or water
for fish, so that water is allocated to maintain, for
example, the physical structure of a river and floodplain,
fish and bird diversity, water quality, recreational use,
maintenance of fisheries that support rural livelihoods,
etc. Individually, some of these functions have very significant
economic and social implications, so maintaining certain
flows at certain times of the year, to sustain fish populations
or maintain a floodplain, for example, may be a critical
matter for many rural communities, especially those in
developing countries.
Efficient
water allocation at the basin level requires not only
such assessments as a starting point, but also the development
of appropriate national policies, legal instruments and
a decision-making framework to promote the allocation
of water to wetlands with full involvement of all stakeholders
in the process.
FOCUS
ON . . .
The
Ramsar Convention's management tools
The
Convention's Guidelines for integrating wetland conservation
and wise use into river basin management not only
recognise the need for integrated water resource management
at the river basin level, they also identify the need
to consider appropriate allocation of water to wetlands
as an essential management procedure for ensuring that
wetlands continue to function effectively. The guidelines
highlight the need for developing river basin management
authorities that include representatives of all stakeholders
- water regulatory bodies, scientific institutions, local
communities, farmers, NGOs and others - as well as the
need to develop the appropriate policies and legislation
for such management. They also emphasise the need to assess
both current and potential future water supply and demand
in order to meet both ecosystem and human requirements.
South
Africa's National Water Act
Recognition
of the central role of ecosystems in water supply is reflected
in South Africa's National Water Act (1998). A water-short
country, South Africa has employed enlightened water policies
in recent years using a decentralised approach to water
management, encouraging the participation of local communities
in decision-making, and introducing effective water pricing
practices. What sets it apart from previous water policies
- and the water policies of many other countries - is
the guiding principle that the country must maintain the
natural ecosystems that underpin its water resources.
It explicitly recognises the need to protect "the
quantity, quality, and reliability of water required to
maintain the ecological functions on which humans depend".
To this end, the National Water Act requires that the
amount of water required to sustain its freshwater ecosystems
is maintained as an environmental "reserve".
The
EU Water Framework Directive
The
primary target of the European Union's Water Framework
Directive is to achieve "good water status"
for all surface and groundwaters within the European Union
(EU), now comprising 15 sovereign states. The Directive's
managerial approach is one of integrated water management
at the river basin level, bringing about an overall coordination
of water policy at the EU level. Effective water pricing
and public participation are also fundamental elements
of the Directive.
The
Directive provides EU countries with a common set of objectives,
principles, definitions and basic measures. Specific actions
required are the responsibility, of course, of the appropriate
authorities at Member State level (whether national, regional,
local and/or basin), and the precise measures taken within
any river basin will vary depending on natural, socio-economic
and cultural factors.
Theme
3
Wetlands,
Water and Poverty Eradication
1.3
billion people currently live in extreme poverty on $1
a day or less, and a further 1.6 billion on less than
$2 a day. Understandably, poverty eradication was at the
top of the agenda for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg in 2002, with a broad recognition
by the international community that the ultimate goal
is achieving sustainable development that allows ALL people
to meet their needs without harming the environment.
Over
800 million of those living in extreme poverty reside
in rural areas, and the majority of them are in South
Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the rural poor who
are directly dependent upon natural ecosystems, such as
wetlands, for their survival, and while there is certainly
poverty in urban areas, it is the rural poor who are the
most vulnerable when ecosystems become degraded. Indeed
many now identify environmental degradation as a primary
root cause of poverty and not simply a consequence
of poverty.
Rural
poverty is often rooted in a lack of access to, and control
of, natural resources. 52% of the rural poor have landholdings
too small to provide an adequate income and 25% are landless.
A particular problem to be addressed relates to women:
more than half the world's food is raised by women, and
in rural areas of Africa, the Neotropics, and Asia this
figure is closer to 80%, yet women often have no access
to land ownership. Rural people have frequently shown
themselves, however, to be able stewards of their natural
environment under the right conditions, and there are
many examples where security of tenure and control over
natural resources have resulted in dramatic improvements
in the health of ecosystems and a reduction in rural poverty.
Water
and wetlands play a vital role for the rural poor in terms
of health, livelihood and economic growth. Local communities,
local and national governments as well as the international
community, can provide a variety of solutions to relieve
the poor of the burden of poverty and move towards sustainable
lifestyles.
FOCUS
ON . . .
Trade
in wetland products
Globalisation
of trade in agricultural products, fisheries and other
natural resources has often prevented rural communities
from developing trading initiatives to market wetland
products - a great disadvantage for the rural poor in
developing countries.
Promoting
sustainable trade in wetland products is a way to alleviate
poverty and conserve wetlands, and this is an initiative
currently under development within the Ramsar Bureau.
The Bureau is supporting Bolsa Amazonia in a project,
funded by the European Union and implemented by the Brazilian
NGO POEMA, which is successfully promoting the sustainable
trade of more than 55 products from the Amazon forest,
including the export of Brazil nuts, vegetable oils and
resins, fruit pulps and natural dyes to Europe, Australia
and the USA. The direct beneficiaries are the people living
in and around the rainforest, including small producers
engaged in the sustainable use of biodiversity, as well
as rural cooperatives and micro enterprises.
Bolsa
Amazonia has successfully developed new products and technologies
for processing abundant local natural resources such as
coconut fibres, which are now being processed in four
rural factories managed by local communities to make truck
seats for the Daimler-Chrysler company in Brazil.
The
Bureau is also taking the lead in the creation of a new
sustainable trade facilitation scheme in Indonesia (perhaps
to be called Bolsa Nusantara), and the UK Department for
International Development (DFID - Indonesia Forestry Multistakeholder
Programme) has expressed its commitment to funding this
initiative. The Bureau has also begun work in the Okavango
Ramsar site (Botswana) and has signed a Memorandum of
Cooperation with the Secretariat of the UN Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in relation with its
BIOTRADE Initiative. Preliminary discussions are taking
place with the Cuban authorities to establish links between
Bolsa Amazonia and the sustainable trade of wetland products
in Cuba. Finally the Bureau is also discussing the possibility
of using funds from a debt-for-nature swap between Peru
and Germany, through the Peruvian Environmental Fund PROFONANPE,
to set up such a programme in Peru.
South
Africa, unemployment and invasive species
A
remarkable programme in South Africa is restoring wetlands,
bringing employment to local people, and ridding the country
of some unwanted inhabitants - invasive species. Alien
plant species in South Africa, imported for aesthetic
and economic reasons, have wreaked havoc on the country's
ecosystems, obstructing rivers, exacerbating the risks
of wildfires and floods, and reducing the country's biodiversity
by eliminating local species. They have also reduced the
available water in this water-stressed country, consuming
3.3 billion cubic metres of water each year that would
otherwise flow into rivers - an amount close to that used
by people and industries in South Africa's major urban
and industrial centres. A partial solution to this problem
is the Working for Water programme launched in 1995 by
the South African government. It offers employment to
up to 42,000 people, more than 50% of them women, and
has cleared in excess of 450,000 ha of infested land.
The programme concentrates on alien species that grow
only in mountainous areas because of their high water
demand, and because it is these very areas that provide
49% of the total annual freshwater runoff for the country.
Clearing
a dense stand of pines and wattles from 500m of riverbank
in one area resulted in a 120% increase in stream flow.
More modest increases of 44% have been recorded in other
areas - vital water for a country that relies on 1.3Mha
of irrigated land to produce 25% of the nation's agricultural
output. An added bonus is that the cleared wood is turned
into saleable products such as fuelwood, furniture and
toys. Overall, the project is restoring an ecosystem,
increasing water supply, and alleviating poverty.
Managing
for food production, rural people AND the environment
A
study in Thailand has demonstrated that growing two rice
crops per year produced additional rice for export but
required dam-building and irrigation systems as well as
fertilisers and pesticides. In contrast, traditional wet
season, rain-fed rice production produced less rice but
allowed farmers to harvest fish, shrimp and crabs and
exploit wetland plant products such as bamboo shoots and
mushrooms. In the multi-production system, two-thirds
of the income came from direct harvesting in wetlands
and one third from rice cultivation. The average income
from this multi-production system was substantially higher
than the double-cropping system - US$ 2,500-2,950 as opposed
to US$ 865-1,296 per family per year - a significant difference
that could do much to relieve rural poverty, produce a
range of wetland products to sustain humans, and maintain
a healthier wetland ecosystem.
East
Calcutta Wetlands - employment, food production and water
purification
Recently
designated a Ramsar site, the East Calcutta Wetlands in
India represent a prime example of human-made wetlands
providing multiple benefits and reducing poverty. The
12,500 hectare wetland area purifies the domestic waste
of Calcutta, a city of 10 million inhabitants, and produces
11,000 tonnes of fish and 55,000 tonnes of vegetables
per year, as well as providing clean water for irrigating
paddy fields. In addition to the environmental and economic
benefits from this natural wastewater treatment system,
a major benefit in terms of poverty alleviation is the
direct employment of 50,000 people in "farming"
the wetlands and the indirect employment of a further
50,000. It's estimated the wetlands produce enough fish
and vegetables to feed 500,000 people each day.
SPECIAL
FOCUS ON . . .
Ecotourism
and sustainable livelihoods of local communities
Ecotourism
is a small sub-section of the tourism industry catering
for tourists who wish to visit natural areas to observe
wildlife, natural landscapes and traditional cultures.
Its potential as a tool for contributing to sustainable
livelihoods of local communities and for conservation
of natural environments was recognised internationally
when the UN declared 2002 as the International Year of
Ecotourism.
Ecotourism
is "environmentally responsible travel and visitation
to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy
and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features
- both past and present) that promotes conservation, has
low negative visitor impacts, and provides for beneficially
active socio-economic involvement of local people"
(from IUCN- The World Conservation Union).
Receipts
from international tourism reached US$ 476 billion in
2000, involving over 698 million tourist arrivals (a 28-fold
increase since 1950). It's the main source of foreign
currency in 38% of all countries and one of the top five
export categories in 83% of all countries, providing jobs
for many millions of people. In some small island states
in the Caribbean and the Pacific tourism brings in over
40% of GDP. The industry is one of the fastest growing
globally, and ecotourism is the fastest growing sector
within the industry: spending is increasing by 20% per
year - almost 5 times the rate of the rest of the tourism
trade. It's also gaining recognition as an effective development
alternative: the Nature Conservancy in the USA has reported
that 36 of its 60 local NGO affiliates in Latin America
have requested assistance with ecotourism feasibility
studies.
Typically,
ecotourists come in small numbers, stay longer (thus generating
more income than other tourists), and have less impact
on the local community, its culture, and the environment.
Local communities may provide guided visits, accommodation,
food, vehicle rentals, taxis, recreation (such as boats,
horses, bikes), crafts, etc., resulting in valuable income.
Additionally, ecotourism encourages local communities
working with tourists to develop a sense of pride in their
environment ,thus encouraging responsible stewardship
of their resources, and it does a great deal to demonstrate
the economic value of natural ecosystems to national governments.
Developing
ecotourism in such a way that it benefits both the environment
and local communities is challenging. Typically, many
developing countries regard any kind of tourism as a foreign
exchange earner rather than as a tool to achieve broader
socio-economic objectives - such as supporting rural economies
and alleviating poverty. As much as 50% of tourism earnings
may "leak" out of developing countries through
foreign-owned businesses or payments for imported goods
and skilled labour, and what does remain often does not
benefit local communities.
With
no internationally accepted definition of ecotourism,
labelling an initiative as "ecotourism" can
be good for business but not necessarily for the environment
or local communities. The IUCN definition (see box) is
useful in this respect, clearly identifying the socio-economic
involvement of local communities. So too are guidelines
specifically focused on ecotourism rather than on the
broader issues associated with sustainable tourism, such
as the guidelines for community-based ecotourism published
in 2001 by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
An
on-going ecotourism project at the Parc National Banc
d'Arguin Ramsar site in Mauritania is a good example
of serious efforts to involve local people so that they
benefit economically. With a well-defined ecotourism strategy
founded upon a feasibility study, three important aims
at Banc d'Arguin have been to ensure (a) that the local
community are involved as local operators of ecotourist
facilities in partnership with travel agencies both national
and foreign, with funds made available to enable local
people in several villages to develop facilities, and
that they are also included in management decisions on
ecotourism within the park; (b) that ecotourists leave
with a good understanding of the wetland conservation
issues within the park, and more broadly within the country;
and (c) that visitors and operators of facilities follow
a code of conduct that takes account of local customs
and minimises their impact on the natural environment.
Lake
Nakuru National Park, a Ramsar site, is currently
developing a project along similar lines. Although a "mass
tourism" industry is well developed here, with the
park receiving an average of 140,000 visitors per year,
it brings with it constant threats to the wetland ecosystem
upon which it depends. The park authority's project aims
to diversify the tourism industry through the development
of ecotourism. Currently at the planning stage, the project
has two major aims: to bring socio-economic benefits to
local communities and actively involve them in conservation
within the park; and to introduce a form of tourism that
reduces the human impact on the wetland ecosystem.
The
Ramsar Bureau
Rue Mauverney 28
CH-1196 Gland
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 999 0170
Fax: +41 22 999 0169
E-mail: ramsar@ramsar.org
Web site: http://www.ramsar.org
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