Spatial and economic assessment of butterfly-based handicrafts as a tourism service provided by rural populations

Abstract

Butterfly-based handicraft activities are usually performed around or within natural reserves. Using these insects in a sustainable way by rural communities should address multiple factors, goals and conservation constraints. This study ranks tourist zones in Veracruz, México, to create and market butterfly-based handicrafts by applying a multicriteria analysis. We differentiated top zones where a segment of the rural population could benefit from this activity. Roads, butterfly diversity, and tourists emerge as key elements while protected areas and transport costs were considered as constraints. The economic value of the butterfly-based handicraft market was estimated as well.

The Present and Future of Insect Biodiversity Conservation in the Neotropics: Policy Gaps and Recommendations

“…These include conventional services such as pollination (Klein et al 2007;Gallai et al 2009;Klatt et al 2014) and dung degradation which maintains soil fertility and controls pests (Nichols et al 2008). Furthermore, insects provide a range of unconventional ecosystem services (Morimoto 2020), including plastic degradation (Bombelli et al 2017 Grupo Agua, Salud y Ambiente, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia contributions to human culture and tourism (Duffus et al 2021 andJacinto-Padilla et al 2021). These insect ecosystem services are critical for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and long-term global sustainability (Dangles and Casas 2019).…”