Guest guest Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 ***************************Advertisement*************************** eCentral - Your Entertainment Guide http://www.star-ecentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my) URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/2/17/features/7332153 & sec=f\ eatures ________________________ Tuesday February 17, 2004 Re-thinking eco-tourism By MICHAEL CHEANG IS eco-tourism doing more harm than good? That was the issue that was debated during a discussion among representatives of indigenous groups all over the world at the Community Kampong during COP-7. According to Anita Pleumarom from Third World Network’s Tourism Investigation and Monitoring team, current definitions of eco-tourism are not clear, and even the experts are debating on what it really means. “Eco-tourism now merely focuses on the environment part, and the bio-diversity, and does not take into account the indigenous peoples,” she said. “Many countries with high bio-diversity are either already pursuing industrial eco-tourism, or developing plans to do so, but that does not mean that indigenous people will also benefit from these activities.” One major concern among the indigenous tribes was that their rights were being violated by rich corporations out to make profits out of their lands in the name of eco-tourism. In some instances, such as in the case of sacred places, the locations are packaged as tourism spots, complete with directions and attractions, but there is no effort to ask the indigenous local people for permission to visit those sites. “The most dangerous thing in eco-tourism is the privatisation of more public lands. Once the private sector gets the land, they tend to claim more and more rights to it, and the local people get more and more marginalised,” said Pleumarom. “Most of the time, tourism in an area is the product of a corporate company, which does not include the local communities.” Therefore, local and indigenous communities should have the right to determine their own development and what they want for their people, and should have a say in whatever plans for tourism that the government or private sector may have for their lands, thus ensuring that their culture and way of living are not violated by outside influences or commercialisation. A good example of the local community taking a hand to ensure a better eco-tourism system was given by a delegate from Indonesia, who explained how their eco-tourism system sets rules that prevent tourists from bringing their respective cultures. Instead, tourists are required to follow the cultures of the local people, down to wearing the same clothes and eating the same food. In the light of the world-wide failure of corporatised eco-tourism, Pleumarom hoped that COP-7 would reconsider the proposed Guidelines on Bio-Diversity and Tourism Development and avoid promoting tourism as a bio-diversity friendly activity, which will result in nature becoming privatised and indigenous people's rights being violated. “If we look at the guidelines, its completely voluntary, which we think is not the right way. We need legal binding frameworks and it is very important to press for the enforcement of laws,” she said. Pleumarom was disappointed that after all these years of debates and efforts to create more awareness about the damage that eco-tourism may have on bio-diversity, eco-tourism was still highlighted during the convention’s opening speeches by UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer, as a wonderful means of conserving bio-diversity while improving the lives of indigenous peoples. “So far, eco-tourism has caused more harm than good to the overall bio-diversity and indigenous peoples,” she said. “But that speech by Toepfer showed that there is still a denial of any problems of eco-tourism within COP-7.” “Many people want to know why we are so critical of tourism. Isn’t it much better to use tourism for bio-diversity, protection and for local communities to benefit from it?” she said. “However, the threats of tourism towards bio-diversity and indigenous peoples have been constantly underestimated, and there is a kind of denial that tourism only has good effects. We need to debunk this myth, especially here, at COP-7.” <p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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