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The ecotourism-extraction nexus and its implications for the long-term sustainability of protected area: what is being sustained and who decides?
Citation
Hill, W and Byrne, JA and Pegas, FV, The ecotourism-extraction nexus and its implications for the long-term sustainability of protected area: what is being sustained and who decides?, Journal of Political Ecology, 23 pp. 308-327. ISSN 1073-0451 (2016) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 the authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/legalcode
Official URL: http://jpe.library.arizona.edu/volume_23/Hilletal....
Abstract
Some conservationists assert that multiple-use protected areas can accommodate competing claims for resource use, including extraction (e.g. mining and fisheries) and in-situ use (e.g. ecotourism). This is despite a growing number of studies showing how communities struggling with poverty, isolation, economic stagnation and environmental degradation experience limited benefits from ecotourism. This paper examines opposing claims over resource use (mining and ecotourism) in a World Heritage site in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. It explores the idea that institutional processes can dis-incentivize both income generation from ecotourism and conservation if inequitable access to resources is not remedied. The article illustrates how ecotourism's contribution to socioeconomic development of local communities can be circumscribed by: (1) the historical patterns of resource use; (2) misdirected interventions by state actors; (3) duplicitous actions of multinational corporations, and (4) opaque governance processes with limited accountability. Findings support arguments that the capacity of ecotourism to reduce inequitable access to resources is limited and highlight why ecotourism cannot substitute for genuine institutional reform in protected area designation and management
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | ecotourism, participation, El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, neoliberal conservation, sustainable development, equity |
| Research Division: | Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services |
| Research Group: | Tourism |
| Research Field: | Impacts of tourism |
| Objective Division: | Commercial Services and Tourism |
| Objective Group: | Environmentally sustainable commercial services and tourism |
| Objective Field: | Environmentally sustainable commercial services and tourism not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Byrne, JA (Professor Jason Byrne) |
| ID Code: | 123941 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Deposited By: | Geography and Spatial Science |
| Deposited On: | 2018-02-02 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-04-09 |
| Downloads: | 43 View Download Statistics |
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