Planning Ecotourism in Coastal Protected Areas; Projecting Temporal Management Scenarios

Abstract

Protected Areas (PAs) are critical instruments in preserving biodiversity and, because of their high-quality environmental conditions, they have always been attractive for ecotourism, the natural-based element of holiday activities that minimizes the “antagonistic” impacts of tourism on the environment. However, many PAs lack a specific management plan or do not include the future effects of tourism activities on the local human population. In this study, we propose a methodology for the projection of ecotourism impacts in the short-,mid-, and long-term scenarios in PAs. Based on the scenarios proposed by the panel of experts through the cause‒effect method, local communities described the core problems in a PA and proposed the solutions to develop ecotourism. We used 44 legislative, natural, and expert opinion attributes to prioritize future sustained activities under environmental policies. Our results suggest a background and show the best performance and efficacy of ecotourism activities. In addition, these methods aim to solve challenges faced by the local communities, encouraging the generation of scientific knowledge and conservation and natural resources management associated with biodiversity.

Estimation of Ecotourism Carrying Capacity for Sustainable Development of Protected Areas in Iran

“…Their results indicated that ecotourism activities, directly and indirectly, have brought destruction to the natural resources in PAs and can determine the degree of sustainability of sustainable ecotourism and the related activities in these areas. In addition, these findings have been confirmed in other studies in Iran [84], Italy [15], and Mexico [65], which have demonstrated habitat destruction and the development of ecotourism unsustainability. As this area requires appropriate planning and management, the continuation of these activities without the proper planning and managerial strategies will lead to the further destruction of ecosystems, the extinction of species, and unsustainability in Jajrud PA.…”

“…The Delphi method has been used to capture group knowledge that helps decisionmaking during surveys, data collection, and final consensus [63][64][65]. In this method, researchers create a theoretical consensus based on expert groups, where data and information are unavailable and expert opinions differ [65][66][67]. The Delphi technique requires the careful selection of experts, as it reflects the quality of the decision made by the group [68,69].…”

The potential of frogging as an ecotourism product for South African National Parks

“…Night walks, drives and frog identification were essential activities (Table 4). This research concurs with Menbere and Admassu (2020) and Sánchez-Prieto et al (2021), who identified nature walks, hiking and night drives as important ecotourism activities. These activities can easily be introduced into some of the parks mentioned here as a niche market, such as birding, where people travel thousands of miles to see certain species (U.S.…”

Health risk of consuming Sphoeroides spp. from the Navachiste Lagoon Complex due to its trace metals and organochlorine pesticides content

“…llet suggests that the concentration of these pollutants in the environment exceeds the biological capacities to be metabolically eliminated by this species [43]. The NAV is neighbored by the largest intensive agriculture area in Mexico, the Guasave Valley [15], which has been draining for decades its irrigation surpluses containing TM (mg kg -1 ) and OCP (µg kg -1 ) residues. These pollutant residues inputs have become deposited in the sediments of the lagoon, particularly in areas close to agricultural drains [44], where TM or OCP residues have been reported in sediments and edible tissues of inhabitant marine species [17,18,20,22,35,[45][46][47].…”

“…The higher concentration could be a response to lithogenic or anthropogenic sources [61]. In recent years, the number of boats has been increasing due to tourism and artisanal sheries in the NAV [15], the paints used to avoid fouling or the nodes of batteries could be the anthropogenic sources, or the e uents from the thermal power plant [49], like the Topolobampo power plant that operates under a combined cycle using natural gas or fuel-oil. The concentration of Zn varies according to the organs analyzed [42,62].…”