Local attitudes towards conservation and tourism around Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Abstract

Ensuring local support for protected areas is increasingly viewed as an important element of biodiversity conservation. This is often predicated on the provision of benefits from protected areas, and a common means of providing such benefits is tourism development. However, the relationship between receipt of tourism benefits and support for conservation has not been explored. This study examined local attitudes towards protected area tourism and the effects of tourism benefits on local support for Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Komodo National Park is a flagship for tourism in a region where protected areas are becoming increasingly visited and where local support for conservation has not been investigated. Results of a questionnaire survey revealed positive attitudes towards tourism and high support for conservation (93.7%), as well as a recognition that tourism is dependent upon the existence of the park. Positive attitudes towards tourism were positively related to the receipt of economic benefits, and to support for conservation. However, a positive relationship between receipt of tourism benefits and support for conservation was not identified, suggesting that benefits from protected area conservation make no difference to local support for conservation. Local people recognized distributional inequalities in tourism benefits, and the most common complaints were of local inflation and tourist dress code. To fully identify the impacts of protected area tourism, long-term studies of local attitudes alongside traditional economic and ecological assessments are recommended.Environmental Conservation 28 (2): 160-166

Conserving Wildlife in African Landscapes Kenya’s Ewaso Ecosystem

“…If the planned tourism schemes come to fruition, community members' attitudes toward predators should improve. However, previous work has shown that when people do not receive expected benefits, their attitudes may ultimately become worse (Western, 1994;Walpole and Goodwin, 2001;Walpole and Thouless, 2005). Although we found that community members' tolerance for wild dogs was greater if some of their household income came from tourism, we found no increased tolerance for predators if benefits were shared among the community as a whole (e.g., schools built).…”

“…Although we found that community members' tolerance for wild dogs was greater if some of their household income came from tourism, we found no increased tolerance for predators if benefits were shared among the community as a whole (e.g., schools built). This finding is in keeping with the increasing realization that if benefitsharing schemes are to succeed, benefits must reach individuals (Walpole and Goodwin, 2001;Walpole and Thouless, 2005).…”

Tourism impact on coastal environment

“…This is due to inadequate local residents' environmental knowledge to realize the impacts of tourism [30, p.58]. Although the environmental impacts of tourism development might have been justified by employment and individual economic gains [29,30,36], but these benefits can only continue if the quality of the environment is not threatened. Local people should learn to use their assets but not to use them up.…”

Changes in Local People’s Perceptions of the Sumava National Park in the Czech Republic over a Ten Year Period (1998–2008)

“…Negative attitudes are frequently associated with situations where the perceived costs to individuals and communities outweigh the perceived benefits [20][21][22]. One of the most frequently discussed factors influencing local people's acceptance of protected areas is place attachment (reviewed e.g., in [23]).…”