scholarly journals Tourism in Protected Areas and Appraisal of Ecotourism in Nepalese Policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 40-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandramani Aryal ◽  
Bina Ghimire ◽  
Narayan Niraula

Ecotourism is a form of nature-based tourism. It is recognized as the sustainable alternative to the mass tourism and is executed to contribute to the protection and enhancement of various component of the environment. As environmental and cultural diversity are considered as the greatest assets to ecotourism, Nepal with high cultural and environmental diversity is prime destinations for ecotourism and other forms of nature-based tourism. Ecotourism contributes to the conservation of biodiversity as a primary source of internal funding in the protected areas. Researches on the aspects of ecotourism in Nepal were focused towards potentiality evaluation, impact assessment and the impact of climate change including others. Despite the significance of ecotourism in the Nepalese economy, research on governance aspects of ecotourism is limited. This article aims to analyze the role of government in ecotourism development in Nepal through policy-based approach. Beside this, data of visitation in the protected areas was evaluated. Tourist number in the protected area was observed to increase in a gradual fashion in response to the growing number of tourists visiting Nepal. Tourism policies of government primarily focus to increase the number of tourists in the country and fail to recognize tourism carrying capacity and environmental implication. Different tourism and other sectoral policies attempt to cover the issues of ecotourism, but, ecotourism specific policy is yet to be drafted. In addition to this, the tourism aspect is addressed by the species conservation action plan for species-level conservation within the country. In all, nine action plans reviewed, the provisions relating to tourism were found to be too general, most of them acknowledging ecotourism as a source of conservation funding but failed to define species-specific policy. A similar trend can be observed in the protected area management plan excluding the Chitwan and Banke National Park. Further study on the implementation status and formulation of new policy to address the holistic issues of ecotourism is an urgent requirement.

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 846-854
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ribeiro Morais ◽  
◽  
Mariana Nascimento Siqueira ◽  
Roniel Freitas-Oliveira ◽  
Daniel Brito ◽  
...  

Protected areas are the most frequently used tool for the mitigation of threats to biodiversity. However, without effective management, the creation of new protected areas may be ineffective. In Brazil, protected areas must have both a governing body (consultative or deliberative council) and an official management plan. Here, we analyzed general trends and patterns in the approval of the management plans for Brazilian federal protected areas. We considered all federal protected areas, and compiled data on (i) the year the area was created, (ii) the type of protected area (integral protection vs. sustainable use), (iii) year its management plan was approved, (iv) year in which the management plan was revised after its approval, (v) total area (in hectares), and (vi) the biome in which the area is located. We stablished three groups of protected area: 1) Group A: protected areas created prior to 1979, 2) Group B: protected areas created between 1979 and 1999, and 3) Group C: protected areas created between 2000 to the present time. Finally, we tested whether time for the approval of the management plan suffered a simultaneous effect of the type of biome and type of categories of protected area (strictly protected vs. sustainable use areas). We found 211 (63.17% of the 334) protected areas with management plan. On average, the time taken for the creation and approval of a management plan far exceeds the deadlines (5 yrs.) defined under current Brazilian law. All Brazilian biomes are poorly covered by protected areas with effective management plans, with the highest and lowest value observed in the Pantanal (100%) and Caatinga (46.42%), respectively. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of many federal protected areas in Brazil can be reduced considerably by the lack of a management plan, with deleterious consequences for the country’s principal conservation strategies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1681) ◽  
pp. 20140274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa M. Adams ◽  
Samantha A. Setterfield ◽  
Michael M. Douglas ◽  
Mark J. Kennard ◽  
Keith Ferdinands

Protected areas remain a cornerstone for global conservation. However, their effectiveness at halting biodiversity decline is not fully understood. Studies of protected area benefits have largely focused on measuring their impact on halting deforestation and have neglected to measure the impacts of protected areas on other threats. Evaluations that measure the impact of protected area management require more complex evaluation designs and datasets. This is the case across realms (terrestrial, freshwater, marine), but measuring the impact of protected area management in freshwater systems may be even more difficult owing to the high level of connectivity and potential for threat propagation within systems (e.g. downstream flow of pollution). We review the potential barriers to conducting impact evaluation for protected area management in freshwater systems. We contrast the barriers identified for freshwater systems to terrestrial systems and discuss potential measurable outcomes and confounders associated with protected area management across the two realms. We identify key research gaps in conducting impact evaluation in freshwater systems that relate to three of their major characteristics: variability, connectivity and time lags in outcomes. Lastly, we use Kakadu National Park world heritage area, the largest national park in Australia, as a case study to illustrate the challenges of measuring impacts of protected area management programmes for environmental outcomes in freshwater systems.


Bothalia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magda Goosen ◽  
Andrew C. Blackmore

Background: Although formal protected areas in South Africa date back to the turn of the 19th century, requirements for protected area management plans only became mandatory a century later. Prior to the promulgation of the World Heritage Convention Act 49 in 1999, and subsequently the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 57 in 2003, requirements for management plans were voluntary, and guidance to the plan’s content was fragmented across an array of international, national and provincial policy instruments.Objectives: As there has been little academic debate on the relevance and content of protected area management plans, an improved understanding of these plans, and the role they play in biodiversity conservation, is required.Method: This article explores the evolution of the management plan, revisiting its historical and current legal context at international and national scales.Results: Despite being the principal legislative framework for management plans, the World Heritage Convention Act and the National Environmental Management Protected Area Act did not consolidate the plethora of management plan requirements, and hence did not bring clarity when these conflicted or were ambiguous.Conclusion: Legal provisions for management plans are highly fragmented. This risks plans not being complete, falling short of the requirement to ensure that protected areas fulfil the purpose for which they were established. A consolidation of relevant provisions, as well as emerging best practices is recommended. This may require the revision of South Africa’s environmental law, to provide greater clarity on the contemporary understanding of the contribution of protected areas to conservation and the well-being of people (viz. the ‘purpose’).


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Blackmore

ABSTRACT The Hibiscus Coast Municipality assumed it had the authority to issue or amend bylaws to formalise an existing nudist friendly beach within the Mpenjati Nature Reserve. Following a complaint, the Public Protector concluded the same when she investigated the legality of the Municipality's actions. Two immediate questions arise. The first, whether the Municipality and the Public Protector were correct in their view that the Municipality has the authority over the beach irrespective of the presence of a protected area, and the second, whether nudism is a legal activity therein. Both the Municipality and the Public Protector overlooked the relevance of the nudist friendly beach being located within a protected area and the power of the management authority to determine the nature of the tourism that takes place therein. Nudism within a protected area appears not to be in conflict with the Sexual Offences Act 23 of 1969 and hence may be a legitimate activity within such area. The National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003 and the Regulations thereunder appear not to contain provisions that prohibit nudism or other niche nature based tourism activities. Provided that the activity conforms to the purpose of the Act and proteced area management plan and zonation and does not pose a significant physical risk to the integrity of the protected area, the conservation agency may be hard-pressed to refuse a request for a niche nature based tourism activity, such as nudism, to be included in the zonation - should one be received.1 Key words: Municipality, National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, nature based tourism, nudist friendly beach, protected area, Public Protector, Sexual Offences Act, zonation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1712) ◽  
pp. 1633-1638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas N. Joppa ◽  
Alexander Pfaff

Protected areas (PAs) dominate conservation efforts. They will probably play a role in future climate policies too, as global payments may reward local reductions of loss of natural land cover. We estimate the impact of PAs on natural land cover within each of 147 countries by comparing outcomes inside PAs with outcomes outside. We use ‘matching’ (or ‘apples to apples’) for land characteristics to control for the fact that PAs very often are non-randomly distributed across their national landscapes. Protection tends towards land that, if unprotected, is less likely than average to be cleared. For 75 per cent of countries, we find protection does reduce conversion of natural land cover. However, for approximately 80 per cent of countries, our global results also confirm (following smaller-scale studies) that controlling for land characteristics reduces estimated impact by half or more. This shows the importance of controlling for at least a few key land characteristics. Further, we show that impacts vary considerably within a country (i.e. across a landscape): protection achieves less on lands far from roads, far from cities and on steeper slopes. Thus, while planners are, of course, constrained by other conservation priorities and costs, they could target higher impacts to earn more global payments for reduced deforestation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Nascimento Gomes ◽  
Larissa Fornitano ◽  
Rômulo Theodoro Costa ◽  
Thaís Angeli ◽  
Kimberly Danielle Rodrigues de Morais ◽  
...  

Abstract The Bare-faced Curassow Crax fasciolata (Cracidae:Cracinae) is a vulnerable species that was classified as critically endangered by the São Paulo State -Brazil, in 2008. Specialists recommended "searches for areas where there may be a few remaining populations and protection of the last remaining semideciduous forest in the State". Protected areas were investigated in the Cerrado and semideciduous forest in São Paulo State by camera trapping to evaluate the presence of the Bare-faced Curassow. Eight protected areas in Cerrado biome were investigated, but the Bare-faced Curassows was recorded only at Furnas do Bom Jesus State Park (2,069 ha), São Paulo State despite the large sampling effort in larger protected areas such as the Santa Bárbara Ecological Station (2,712 ha) and Jataí Ecological Station (9,074 ha); the largest protected area of Cerrado biome in São Paulo State. This record of C. fasciolata is important for the Conservation Action Plan for the Cracid family and shows the importance of monitoring biodiversity and conserving even relatively small remnants of native vegetation for the conservation of this species.


Oryx ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Dupain ◽  
P. Guislain ◽  
G. M. Nguenang ◽  
K. De Vleeschouwer ◽  
L. Van Elsacker

Information on the densities of threatened species in non-protected areas is crucial for assessing the degree of isolation of adjacent protected areas and consequently their potential for preserving species from extinction. Relatively few studies, however, provide such information. We present the results of a survey of the densities of two great ape species, the gorilla Gorilla gorilla gorilla and chimpanzee Pan troglodytes troglodytes, in a non-protected area on the northern periphery of Dja Faunal Reserve, Cameroon. Densities of chimpanzees and gorillas were estimated to be 1.1 and 3.8 weaned individuals per km2, respectively. The results confirm that gorillas prefer building nests in vegetation types with limited visibility, and that within preferred vegetation types for nesting, gorillas select patches that are the most difficult to penetrate, resulting in less conspicuous nests. Although the opposite tendencies were exhibited by chimpanzees, no firm conclusions could be drawn from our data. Despite its non-protected status and past and ongoing logging activities in the area, the densities of gorillas and chimpanzees on the northern periphery of Dja Faunal Reserve are comparable to those found within the reserve itself, indicating the need for developing alternative conservation action to protect these important populations. The creation of a Communal Wildlife Zone in this area is legislatively possible, and could be an effective conservation tool because it has to originate from the local people.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Fukushima ◽  
Jorge Mendoza ◽  
Rick West ◽  
Stuart Longhorn ◽  
Emmanuel Rivera ◽  
...  

CITES is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Regarding spiders, all species listed in CITES are tarantulas. They are included in Appendix II, meaning that they are species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that they may become so unless trade is closely controlled. Many tarantulas are legally and illegally traded in the pet market and they are one of the most traded invertebrate groups. Originally, the CITES list published in 1995 included all the current species of the genus Brachypelma Simon, 1891 plus Aphonopelma pallidum (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897) and the so-called Aphonopelma albiceps (Pocock, 1903). After that, some taxonomic changes were done, as well as descriptions of new species in the genus Brachypelma. The objective of this paper is to assess the 21 taxonomically valid spider species listed on CITES according to the IUCN criteria, study the general patterns and trends and advise on possible future conservation actions critical for the survival of endangered species. Amongst all 21 species assessed, 16 had sufficient data on their distribution, ecology and threats to properly understand their current status and suggest possible conservation measures. A decline in the area of occupancy (AOO) and extent of occurrence (EOO) was inferred to almost all species, caused mostly by human activities (urbanisation, roads, agricultural and touristic activities), which often lead to the complete loss of subpopulations across their range. Hurricanes and frequent rising water, which are increasing in frequency due to climate change, can cause decline in habitat quality and consequent change in EOO and AOO of some species and should also be considered when planning conservation actions. Severe fragmentation was detected in 13 species and is therefore one of the most relevant threats to the most endangered Brachypelma species and should be made a priority aspect to deal with when proposing conservation actions for the group. Regarding the loss of individuals in wild populations, the main cause seems to be the overharvesting to meet the illegal trade. The most important conservation actions identified across species include preserving their natural habitat through protected areas, establishing management plans for both the species and their habitats and undertaking systematic monitoring to provide information about population recovery and species re-introduction programmes. In general, we propose to prioritise and support research on the population trends and distribution, as well as on the impact of land use and habitat degradation. Special attention regarding conservation actions and research plans has to be given to the central Pacific coastal area of Mexico, particularly around Guerrero State where five species of Brachypelma occur. Critically, for some of the most endangered species, such as B. baumgarteni and B. hamorii, there is no official protected area in their range of occurrence. It would therefore be highly recommended to establish at least one conservation unit which focuses on protecting each of these species in situ. In some cases, basic taxonomic research is needed before development of any appropriate conservation action can be proposed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Sherman ◽  
Marc Ancrenaz ◽  
Maria Voigt ◽  
Felicity Oram ◽  
Truly Santika ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sherman J, Ancrenaz M, Voigt M, Oram F, Santika T, Wich S, Meijaard E. 2020. Envisioning a future for Bornean orangutans: Conservation impacts of action plan implementation and recommendations for improved population outcomes. Biodiversitas 21: 465-477. Populations of the Critically Endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) are declining despite more than 10 years of conservation action plan implementation. Here we analyzed the impacts on species' population and habitat from orangutan conservation strategies implemented between 2007 and 2017. We also assessed data on investments into orangutan conservation, orangutan population trends and landcover change in orangutan range between 2007 and 2017. Diverse strategies addressed the range of threats to orangutans but were not implemented at scales that impacted species’ level populations and habitats. Since 2007 orangutan populations and forests across orangutan range have declined, with orangutan killing and deforestation as the major drivers of loss. Protected areas have increased since 2007, notably in Malaysian range states and in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. However, 80% or tens of thousands of orangutans live outside protected areas in Kalimantan alone. Our results underscore scientific findings that have demonstrated this species’ resiliency and modified previous understanding of their habitat use. Orangutans are regularly found using agriculture landscapes (acacia, oil palm, and timber plantations), and exploited forests. This plasticity must be considered to design more effective orangutan conservation strategies. We need to revise the notion of “orangutan habitat” to extend beyond forests alone, incorporating all landscapes where P. pygmaeus can be found. Orangutans cannot survive in exclusively monoculture production areas; they need some natural forest to fulfill their ecological requirements. However, individuals surviving in isolated forest patches or mosaic landscapes play an important role in sustaining the long-term viability of the local metapopulation through provision of crucial genetic, reproductive and socioecological connectivity. Our findings suggest removing these individuals through translocations weakens overall metapopulation health. All necessary efforts must be made to maintain individuals in isolated forest patches or mosaic landscapes in order to support healthy metapopulations. Improved orangutan population outcomes will require addressing habitat connectivity at the landscape level, incorporating both non-forested and anthropogenically modified areas, and developing efficient management strategies for human and orangutan co-existence within these multiple-use landscapes.


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