Ecotourism has the potential to support wildlife conservation and local economies in the prairie region of the United States. The World Wildlife Fund is leading an effort to establish ecotourism in the Northern Great Plains based on successful conservation models in Namibia, Africa that have increased wildlife and economic benefits. Land managers and policy makers from the Great Plains will learn from the Namibian experiences to apply those principles to the development of ecotourism in the prairie landscape.

1. Sustainable Use of Tropical
Ecosystems: Ecotourism
Dr. Mark McGinley
Honors College and Department of
Biological Sciences
Texas Tech University

2. Tourism
• Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure
or business purposes.
• The World Tourism
Organization defines tourists as people "traveling
to and staying in places outside their usual
environment for not more than one consecutive
year for leisure, business and other purposes".
• Wikipedia

3. Tourism
• In 2010, there were over 940 million
international tourist arrivals worldwide,
representing a growth of 6.6% when
compared to 2009.
• International tourism receipts grew to US$
919 billion

4. Caribbean Cruises

5. Cancun, Mexico

6. Tourism in Jamaica
• Tourism is the
second largest
earner of foreign
exchange
• Important source of
employment

7. All-Inclusive Resorts

8. Natural Attractions in Jamaica

9. Cultural Attractions

10. Tourism in SE Asia
• Cambodia
– Indirect effects of tourism accounts for 10.2 % of
GDP and 8.5% of employment

11. Tourism in SE Asia
• Thailand
– Indirect effects of
tourism accounts for 8.5
% of GDP and 6.2 % of
employment
– http://unstats.un.org/un
sd/tradeserv/Workshops
/Vientiane/4%20-
%20ESCAP%20-
%20Importance%20of%2
0tourism%20in%20Sout
h-East%20Asia.pdf

12. Tourism in SE Asia
• 24,714,32 international
arrivals in Malaysia in
2011
– About half are from
Singapore and Indonesia
• Accounted for the
receipt of 58.3 billion
MR (about $19 billion)
• http://www.tourism.gov.
my/facts_figures/

13. Ecotourism
• Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to
natural areas that conserves the environment
and improves the well-being of local people."
(The International Ecotourism Society, 1990)
• http://www.ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourism

14. Principles of Ecotourism
• Ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities,
and sustainable travel. This means that those who
implement and participate in ecotourism activities
should follow the following ecotourism principles:
• Minimize impact.
• Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
• Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
• Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
• Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local
people.
• Raise sensitivity to host countries' political,
environmental, and social climate.

15. Ecotourism
• Conservation
–Offering market-linked long-term
solutions, ecotourism provides
effective economic incentives for
conserving and enhancing bio-cultural
diversity and helps protect the natural
and cultural heritage of our beautiful
planet

16. Ecotourism
• Communities
–By increasing local capacity building
and employment opportunities,
ecotourism is an effective vehicle for
empowering local communities around
the world to fight against poverty and
to achieve sustainable development.

17. Ecotourism
• Interpretation
–With an emphasis on enriching
personal experiences and
environmental awareness through
interpretation, ecotourism promotes
greater understanding and
appreciation for nature, local society,
and culture.

18. Tropical Ecotourism
Done Right
?

19. El Monte Sustainable Lodge
Mindo, Ecuador
• http://www.ecuadorcloudforest.com/index.html

20. El Monte Sustainable Lodge

21. El Monte Sustainable Lodge

22. Birding
Mindo is consistently in the top three most
diverse Christmas Bird Counts in the world.

23. Other Activities

24. Sustainable Aspects
• Growing organic fruits and vegetables or buying them
locally certainly helps. This reduces dependency on
petroleum used for transport and pesticides and lessens
the amount of carbon emissions.
• Our garden is all hand worked, which not only gives Jhon
and Nacho a job but also eliminates the need for noisy,
polluting, resource burning tractors or tillers, not to
mention giving us all a chance for a great workout! Also, all
kitchen wastes are composted and recycled back into the
garden.
• Having a spring that gravity feeds water down to the lodge
and cabanas is not only convenient but also eliminates the
necessity for a pump, not too mention providing clean,
fresh, cool water.

25. Sustainable Aspects
• We have also allowed most of El Monte’s Reserve to
regrow sucking in a countless amount of CO2 while
releasing O2. El Monte’s spin-off, the Mindo Biological
Station (MBS), protects over 6,000 hectares of Primary
Cloud Forest that holds a tremendous amount of CO2
and is part of the 19,200 hectare Mindo-Nambillo
Protected Forest.
• Lighting for the main house comes from 2 solar panels
(which we are also able to use to charge camera
batteries and laptops), kerosene lanterns and candles.
A micro hydro electrical system provides lights for the
cabañas. Alternative energy is here!

26. Wakatobi Resort, Sulawesi Indonesia

28. Wakatobi Resort

29. Questions Every Dive Operator should
Ask
• "Is my operation improving the natural
environment?
• Does the local community benefit directly and
indirectly?"

30. Wakatobi Dive Resort Actions
• implements strict rules to minimize divers impact (all
guests sign a dive conduct agreement), non-compliance
leads to exclusion from diving without refund
• installs and maintains moorings for dive operations
• conducts reef monitoring and cleaning when needed, all
dive guides are fully committed to contribute towards
conservation
• gives complete dive briefings by top notch senior dive
instructors (with at least 2,000 dives) to enhance pleasure,
increase knowledge, protect the marine environment
• sponsors regular marine biology and ecology presentations
in addition to discussing the resort conservation programs

31. Wakatobi Dive Resort Actions
• offers village tours to further cultural understanding
• cleans a 1 km stretch of beach every day
• reduces, separates and recycles waste as much as possible
• treats waste water in biological ways (microbiological
decomposition under ideal conditions at 28 C/leach
fields/other treatments to avoid nutrients entering the sea)
• uses local traditional skills to build and maintain the
resort, sells local products
• provides full-time employment to a workforce of about
100 locals (with equivalent salaries for men and woman)

32. Other Things They Do
• sponsoring electricity for the 500-person village on our resort island
(including 2 km power line to the village, transformers, electrical
installations in every house, providing 24 hrs maintenance team) in
exchange for the villagers honoring a 3 km reef sanctuary on their
traditional fishing grounds
• sponsoring waste management in the surrounding villages on the
neighboring island
• sponsoring public moorings and harbor facilities to reduce anchor
damage
• sponsoring public projects for all 17 villages in our subdistrict
(Collaborative Community-based Reef Management Program)
• sponsoring schools with education materials
• recognizing that the poorest need the most support to refrain from
traditional but destructive practices such as reef gleaning.
– For this reason, we employ up to 50 widows to produce natural roof tiles
(made by sago palm leaves) for the resort buildings and we sponsor
scholarships for orphans

33. Other Things They Do
• sponsoring public sport events
• sponsoring public awareness meetings about
conservation issues and employing staff to
socialize conservation programs in all villages
• sponsoring a small credit scheme for small
businesses to increase compliance
• sponsoring patrols in the vicinity performed by
representatives of the local communities
• sponsoring reef patrols in the Wakatobi region
conducted by police, military, and rangers

34. Collaborative Reef Conservation
Program
• The Collaborative Reef Conservation
Program was designed to motivate the people
living within the Wakatobi region to realize the
intrinsic value of the reefs and to inspire the
villages to take an active role in protecting the
marine ecosystem.

35. Collaborative Reef Conservation
Program
• The program achieves this by providing an
economic alternative to fishing and creates
real incentives that help protect and manage
the reefs. Cooperation between local
fishermen and visiting divers is promoted by
generating an income from tourism that is
channeled directly back into the community.

38. Wakatobi
• http://www.wakatobi.com/video/multimedia2
.html

39. Sukau Rainforest Lodge
Kinabatangan River, Sabah Malaysia
• All our efforts to upgrade our lodge and ensure
the best experience has not been at the expense
of the local community and environment.
• Since 1995, various community and environment
projects were carried out under our non profit
division, Sukau Ecotourism Research and
Development Centre (SERDC) and later
under Borneo Ecotourism Solutions and
Technologies (BEST) since 2006 .
• http://www.sukau.com/

40. Sukau Rainforest Lodge
• These include weed clearing, supply of over 50 water tanks
for the local community, wildlife rehabilitation, tree
planting project(KWICORP) and medical projects among
others.
• To carry out these projects, we have since 2001 set aside
US$1 for every international adult guest who stays at our
lodge while our sister company, Borneo Eco Tours also
contributed RM8.00 per tourist who stayed with us
amounting to a total of RM50,000.00 per annum.
• Most recently in 2009, we started collecting the Voluntary
Conservation Levy (VCL) of RM 20 per guest for the WWF,
to enhance conservative on the Kinabatangan.

41. Sukau Rainforest Lodge

42. Sukau Rainforest Lodge
• http://www.sukau.com/video.corner.php

43. Kinabatangan River
• # of “eco-lodges” is increasing rapidly
– Are they all offering quality “ecotourism”
experiences or are they trying to make a quick
buck?
• Is this rapid increase in ecotourism good for
the area??

44. Red Ape Trail
Sabah, Malaysia
• Trek through one of the world's most diverse
ecosystems; virgin rain forest and home to some of the
most endangered species, including the orangutan.
• We shall visit the authentic longhouses of our local
Iban guides who will pass on their knowledge of
wildlife spotting, and provide an insight into how
modern Iban communities interact with the forest and
its animal life.
• Unlike other trails in Borneo we do not expect to
encounter many other people, which certainly helps
when searching for wild orangutans

45. Red Ape Trail

46. Red Ape Trail
• CNN article March 23, 2012 “Orangutans stressed by
eco-tourists”
• “Researchers from the University of Indiana and eco-
tourism group Red Ape Encounters spent 14 years
studying two apes in Sabah, Malaysia, which were used
to seeing humans. By testing the animals' feces they
found that the orangutans' stress levels were higher
than normal the day after coming into contact with
humans”
• http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-
23/asia/world_asia_eco-stressed-orangutan_1_eco-
tourism-gorillas-orangutans?_s=PM:ASIA

47. Great Ape Tourism
• “Muehlenbein is keen to point out that there was
no indication from the study of any long term
changes in behavior of the orangutans, as Red
Ape Encounters limits the number of people on
their tours to seven and the visits to one hour.
• Yet pathological effects like impaired cognition,
growth and reproduction could be a consequence
of less sensitive wildlife tours, believes
Muehlenbein.”

48. Great Ape Tourism
• Best Practice Guidelines for Great Ape Tourism
– IUCN
– http://www.primate-
sg.org/PDF/BP.tourism.english.pdf

49. Lembeh Straits

50. Lembeh Resort
http://www.lembehresort.com/

51. Ambon Scorpionfish

52. Spiny Devilfish

53. Pegasus Sea Moth

54. Flambouyant Cuttlefish

55. Mimic Octopus

56. Ecotourism
• TOURS & ACTIVTIES
– Pintu Kota Village Tour
– Tangkoko Nature Reserve
– Minahasa Highland Tour
– Mahawu Volcano Trek
– Bitung Traditional Markets
– Cooking Class
• ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMS
– House Reef Volunteers
– Reef Education

57. Tangkoko Nature Reserve

58. Crested Black Macaques

59. Tarsier spectrum
World’s smallest primate

60. Ecotourism in Lembeh Straits?
• Over 10 separate dive operators in Lembeh
Straits and only 30 distinct dive sites
• Lots of divers
• Irresponsible tour operators and divers
(mostly photographers) can be harassing the
animals
– They say that Lemben Straits “is not as good as it
used to be”

61. Ecotourism?
Langkawi- The Jewel of Kedah

62. Boat Tour

63. Langkawi Eagles

64. Mangroves and Mudflats

65. Swimming Macaques

66. Bat Caves

67. Bat Caves

68. Fish Farm

69. Pulau Payar

70. Pulau Payar

71. Pulau Payar

72. Ecotourism in the Prairie?
• Texas is ranked as the 10th best state for ecotourism in the US
(Alaska is #1)
– Surprised? I was too, but just because everything is bigger and better in
Texas, doesn’t mean it can’t be eco-friendlytoo. In fact, Texas is home
to a number of eco-tour companies, like Eastex Canoe Trails, and
plenty of ranches and resorts, like Canyon of the Eagles in Burnet.
Even George Bush’s ranch is off-grid and eco-friendly – who’d have
thought?!
– Texas is also the best state for bird-watching, and some of the best
bird-watching in the state can be found in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley. The World Birding Center offers nine unique locations for bird-
watching in this special place where two major flyways from Mexico
converge on their way north.
• http://www.mynatour.org/destination/top-10-ecotourism-states-
usa

73. Ecotourism in the Prairie?
• However, none of the 7 ecotourism resorts in
Texas are located on in the prairie region of the
state
• http://www.resortsandlodges.com/resort-
type/ecotourism-resorts/usa/texas/index.html

74. Ecotourism in the Prairie

75. Trip to America’s Heartland
Tallgrass Prairie
• Spring is a delightful time to experience the tallgrass prairie
wildflower and wetland wonders hidden deep in the heart
of Kansas. We begin our journey in Wichita and head
directly to Great Bend, where we will explore Cheyenne
Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. The
combination of these two magnificent wetland areas is
recognized as one of “The Eight Wonders of Kansas”
because of their vital and international importance as a
migratory stop for North American shorebirds and
waterfowl!
• http://www.naturalistjourneys.com/jcalendar/journal_KS2
010.htm

76. Chico Basin Ranch, Colorado
http://www.chicobasinranch.com/index.cfm?id=67
c8f9db-d1c8-4c6b-8562e3094336bbd0&home.html
Watch the short intro video here

77. WWF Conservation Economics
Program
• WWF’s Conservation Economics Program is leading efforts to
establish ecotourism in the Northern Great Plains to support
wildlife conservation and invigorate local economies. A major
component of the program is to have land managers, tribal leaders
and policy makers from the Northern Great Plains learn from
Namibian conservation models. Namibia, a country in Southern
Africa, provides one of the most successful models globally both in
terms of increasing wildlife numbers and bringing economic
benefits to communities and land managers.
• The goal of the ecotourism program is to apply knowledge and
techniques from successful models in Namibia to the Northern
Great Plains.
• http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/ngp/projects.ht
ml