Narrow Results

The present study examines the livelihood impact of ecotourism policy in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary (BKWS), Odisha, India. Results confirm that ecotourism has created several employment opportunities for the locals and the participants earn better compared to the non-participants. However, the locals suffer due to man-animal conflict and the non-participants suffer the most as farming is their major occupation. Crop damage and livestock depredation by wild animals cause a great economic loss to the villagers. The losses often result in aggravating poverty, food insecurity, additional expenses for investing on mitigating measures and consequently diminished state of socio-economic wellbeing. Thus proper measures can go a long way in founding a better relationship between the forest department and the villagers.

Nowadays, advance of new media has critical impact on internet-based consumption, especially on tourism industry. However, knowledge regarding ecotourism obtained through the new media is still lacking. At the same time, results of 5G mobile technology and other information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure transform associated new media are remain unknown. This study aims to address the relationship among ICTs, new media, associated stakeholders, and ecotourism. Based on literature review, we illustrate a framework to identify the relationship between these concepts, and hopefully provide more insights for future research and practice.

This chapter analyzes the entrepreneurial conception and evolution of the Wilderness Safaris (WS) ecotourism enterprise operating in eight African countries. It illuminates a series of factors that contribute to positive environmental impact as well as financial profitability and sustainability. WS has grown to be one of the largest and most successful ecotourism enterprises internationally.

The changing consumption patterns and sustainability considerations of tourists encouraged ecotourism across the globe. But without the appropriate management and planning systems, tourism in ecologically sensitive areas could threaten the harmony of ecosystems and local cultures. Tourism projects/models that stress local community ownership and control can maximize environmental and fiscal benefits and empower the community through tourism practices. Mawlynnong, nicknamed as “God’s Own Garden,” is a village in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya acclaimed as the “Cleanest village in Asia” by Discover India in 2003. This case study contributes to the understanding of community practices for the development of tourism within the social and cultural milieu. Participant observation, interviews and secondary sources are used for this study. The results show that cleanliness, aesthetic beauty, matrilineal societal system, empowered women and girls, education, heritage, local community-tourist engagement and basic infrastructure paved the way to a viable tourism development of the society. This sustainable model explores how a holistic and participatory process can bring substantial changes in local communities by creating livelihood, maintaining the natural environment, spreading the message of protection and conservation of the ecosystem, stabilizing local economies and increasing community control.

In a world that is experiencing its sixth mass extinction of species, ecotourism has been hailed as a potential saviour of nature. In order to fulfil such high expectations and create a symbiosis of business, community development and conservation, ecotourism:

• has to be established in regions that are ecologically especially valuable — a central data bank on species and their distribution may give recommendations for ecotourism development,

• can only thrive in relatively secure countries having a minimum provision of public goods — restrictions on national sovereignty in the case of failed states or military interventions against poachers and illegal loggers may be necessary,

• has to be attractive for paying customers — where the classical ecotourism product fails, supporting markets such as hunting or gambling tourism may have to be developed,

• has to be careful to preserve its resource base-ecological accounting, international monitoring and the setting of industry standards could be valuable instruments,

• has to be politically feasible and socially acceptable realpolitik and reformed aid may help to balance the interests of different stakeholders.

Despite all the difficulties in establishing the appropriate concepts and monitoring their implementation, ecotourism can play a central role in helping part of biodiversity through the survival bottleneck.

Data used in the paper were collected by field investigation and relative references in the district of scenic area in Baiyun Mountain. Selected six main scenic areas of Baiyun Mountain as the research object, then built the indicator system and establishes indexes standard to analyze each single index of environmental quality. The analyzed result shows that the air quality we monitor in Bai-yun Mountain scenic area is excellent. Water environment is influenced by the pollution of domestic sewage, some scenic areas' TP numerical value is too high. The voice environment can reach the evaluation standard at night. The whole concentration of the anion in these six scenic areas is higher than that in city center and belongs to moderate coordination. The microbial content is the high coordination. The vegetation coverage is too high to reach 95% at least. The kind of plants is very rich, it reaches the moderation coordination. It shows that the environmental quality indexes in most areas reflect the good environment of Bai-yun Mountain scenic area, except some indexes of water environment and sound environment. The analyzed result can provide the based data and decision support for the comprehensive and quantitative evaluation.