Visitors at Gamboa Nature Reserve in central Panama
So by focusing on community-based ecotourism projects, in which the citizens could see a direct benefit to conservation in their daily lives, the idea of protecting, rather than exploiting ecosystems took hold. It didn’t happen overnight, but Costa Rica has become the model for how to successfully invest in sustainability.
In Panama, last year’s successful protests seem to suggest that not only the will, but also momentum, exists for ecotourism to succeed and the Panamanians are ready to look towards a greener future.
Of course there are some lessons to be learned to ensure that ecotourism doesn’t harm the very ecosystems it strives to protect. For example, Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica is a victim of its own popularity. With its reputation for biodiversity, and its proximity to San Jose, the park draws in huge crowds, leading to added stress on the environment. This includes not only higher foot traffic, but also the infrastructure necessary outside the park boundaries to support increased demands.
Wildlife, which is not just confined to the national parks, depends on biological corridors to ensure healthy populations, so development can affect genetic diversity within these animal populations. Having a well-planned infrastructure in place to support a burgeoning ecotourism industry is extremely important. The Central African country of Gabon put aside 10% percent of its land in the creation of 13 national parks in 2002 for the purpose of creating a viable ecotourism industry.
This was a reasonable objective, since Gabon is home to unique and charismatic species such as mandrills, forest elephants, and western lowland gorillas, to name a few. Calling itself, “The Last Eden,” the country’s goal was to become the Costa Rica of Africa. However, in 2024 with a lack of accessible roads and trained tour guides (not to mention a coup d’état that occurred last year), Gabon has yet to see a return on their environmental investment.
Of course for a country to successfully pull off an ecotourism-driven economy, it is important to have a stable government. Here Panama has a lot to be optimistic about. The power of protest is a sign of a healthy democracy. Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and international donors, who support large environmental and conservation projects, are more likely to invest their capital in places where they know their money won’t go directly into the pockets of corrupt government officials and executives of large corporations who controlled the banana republics of Central America a century ago.
From a human-rights standpoint alone, the fact that Panama was able to use grass-roots energy to put an end to an environmental catastrophe, is a testament to growing optimism for democracy in the region and is an example for other Central American countries to follow (this can also be seen in Guatemala’s protests, ensuring that duly-elected President Bernardo Arévalo assumed office in January).
Central American studies scholar Jorge Cuéllar stated in an interview with the North American Congress of Latin America (NACLA) that Panama has shown other developing countries, not just in the Americas, but also in Africa and Asia, that the people have the power to stand up against foreign interests and actions that degrade the country’s natural resources.
So in demonstrating that citizens can affect policy through mobilization, Panama just might inspire a revolution. Ideally, the revolution will be green.
Article written by Ryan Meczkowski Founder & Naturalist Guide CR Naturalist Experiences
Source link : https://ticotimes.net/2024/01/28/panamas-path-to-sustainable-tourism
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Publish date : 2024-01-28 03:00:00
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