Derik Li

The whole concept of ecotourism revolves around the need to remain friendly to your environment and even travel to far-off destinations should not do the kind of damage that it is doing such as producing greenhouse gases that is a result of air travel, especially when it is to remote and untouched parts of the world. Thus, in spite of our best efforts and lofty ideals there is a certain amount of ecotourism damage taking place and such damage has been the subject of debate at the Global Ecotourism Conference in Oslo in 2007.

Make Plans To Guide The Future Of Ecotourism

There is need to make suitable plans that will help guide the future of ecotourism, and when successful, will ensure that nature’s biodiversity is protected and conserved failing which it can lead to the undoing of all of the benefits of ecotourism.

To undo and even prevent ecotourism damage, there are even airlines that have been formed such as Nature Air that is based in Costa Rica which claims to be a zero net emitter of carbon dioxide thanks to investments that it made in reforestation projects that are going a long way in keeping the air clean.

Even though ecotourism is gaining in popularity; so much so, that it is growing at three times the rate of traditional tourism, there are yet concerns that this very growing popularity and consequent increased air traffic will be the cause of ecotourism damage through the emission of greenhouse gases.

Such ecotourism damage can lead to harming the national parks, as also the tiny and exciting islands that are attracting eco-tourists who are very enamored by the unspoiled nature of these places. Thus, the conference held in Oslo came up with a statement that stated that there was a need for responsible travel so that the environment is conserved and the welfare of local people kept uppermost in mind.

Furthermore, it is easy to see that the long distances one travels by air to reach these ecotourism destinations may in it be the cause of ecotourism damage albeit indirectly. The flip side is that if such ecotourism were to be denied, it would harm the economic well-being of such ecotourism hotspots and make the poor countries even poorer for lack of tourism.

So, it is easy to see that ecotourism can lead to its own undoing and that there is certainly a lot more that is needed to be done to ensure that we can come up with adequate solutions that will help negate the ecotourism damage that is at the present time taking place thanks to the increasing popularity of ecotourism itself.