Ecotourism is promoted as an approach to both conservation and development, creating opportunities for communities to manage natural resources in a sustainable way. But there are many approaches to ecotourism, in both the public and private sectors. What impacts do different ecotourism initiatives have?

Ecotourism aims to provide economic benefits to local people that complement, rather than take over, their traditional practices and occupations. This does not always happen, however. In some places, local people are excluded from areas for conservation purposes and their livelihoods are destroyed.

Research from the University of Sussex, UK, and the University of Georgetown, Guyana, compares three ecotourism enterprises in North Rupununi, Guyana. This is a large area of rainforest and home to several Amerindian groups, amongst the poorest people in the country.

The Iwokrama Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development is a large scale enterprise that has government and international support. It offers ecotourism attractions alongside sustainable forest management activities. Local people are indirectly represented in the management of the centre through the local Amerindian representative body, which has a say in management decisions.

The small-scale, community-run Surama project offers some of the same ecotourism activities as the Iwokrama centre, but attracts fewer visitors. The aim is for self-sufficiency that complements the existing livelihoods of community members. Local people rotate between ecotourism activities, so that the benefits are shared evenly.

The Rock View Lodge is a thriving private enterprise in a small reserve area owned by a company, offering visits to wilderness and wildlife areas. Here, there is a hierarchical decision-making framework and local people are hired as cooks, labourers, maids and cleaners.

The research shows:

• Of the households interviewed, 43 percent rate ecotourism as their most important source of income; 15 percent rate it as the least important.
• Iwokrama benefits local people by training them in new skills, and communities benefit from the social infrastructure of the centre.
• In Surama, the development of community organisations represents a significant benefit.
• Rock View Lodge offers nearly twice as much employment to local people as either Iwokrama or Surama, but most of these jobs are casual, so it provides fewer benefits than the other enterprises.

While all the enterprises offer some income benefits, it is the framework of the Surama project that offers the most sustainable future for local people. The researchers conclude:

• For continued success, the Surama project needs external agencies to link into its activities in different ways.
• Rather than focus on community-based resource management, ecotourism policies in the region should consider partnership structures. This will allow different agencies to support communities when they lack financial resources or particular skills.

Source(s):
'Ecotourism and Institutional Structures: the Case of North Rupununi, Guyana', Journal of Ecotourism 6 (3), by D C Funnell and P E Bynoe, 2007

Funded by: The field aspect of the research was as part of a Dphil thesis by Paulette Bynoe. Her funding was from the University of Guyana and the European Union.

id21 Research Highlight: 5 April 2008

Further Information:
Don Funnell
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9SJ
UK

Tel: +44 1273 877491
Fax: +44 1273 678335
Contact the contributor: d.c.funnell@sussex.ac.uk

University of Sussex, UK

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