Ecotourism Resources Management

#### **Chapter 8**

## Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development

*Jubril Akanni Soaga*

#### **Abstract**

This chapter examines ecotourism as responsible travel to natural areas. Climate change issue or more succinctly global warming has brought ecotourism to the front burner of conservation in twenty-first century. It involves economic development and conservation to ensure sustainable development. Natural resources are the focal point in ecotourism with the broad division into renewable and non-renewable natural resources. The non-renewable resources are the physical attractions which are abiotic that are formed through geological processes, and renewable resources are biotic that are capable of regeneration through reproduction. These resources are also referred to as environmental resources. The interaction among biodiversity ensures a good sightseeing for tourists which encourages visitors to make payment for conservation because of utility derived. Thus, ecotourism has two arms in conservation, the willingness to pay (WTP) on the part of tourists and the willingness to accept if the locals must surrender their rights and privileges over land areas accommodating biodiversity and their habitats. Therefore, the instrument mostly used in evaluating ecotourism is contingent valuation though with some reservations. Ecotourism thus manages people, resources and protects the environment to reduce the effect of climate change and promote sustainable development.

**Keywords:** travel, natural resources, climate change, biodiversity, contingent valuation

#### **1. Introduction**

Ecological tourism or simply referred to as ecotourism mostly among renewable resources experts and scientists is increasingly attracting global attention in the twenty-first century because of climate change phenomenon and conservation issues. Ecotourism is an age-long practice across the world but never considered as a conservation measure because of abundant natural resources and low population in early civilisation. People have related with nature in a positive way by allowing natural phenomena to dictate the rhythms of nature and thus promote conservation through cultural practices unconsciously. Therefore, sustainability at the early stages of man civilisation was a natural arrangement without any concern, care or caution for the environment. However, man's greed for uncontrollable request for natural resources brought the concern for sustainable development. Thus, ecotourism as a tool for sustainable growth involves managing people, natural resources – renewable and non-renewable and the environment to ensure sustainable development. Ecotourism

in twenty-first century is protecting man and at the same time generating income and employment with substantial contribution to the GDP of most countries as well as promoting conservation through habitat restoration and protection. The summary of it all is that the environment is maintained by reducing the effect of climate change.

#### **2. Ecotourism**

Ecotourism is nature tourism and can also be referred to as alternative tourism or bio-tourism. Ecotourism depends on available natural physical attractions, namely hills, waterfalls, springs, caves, lakes and mountains across the length and breadth of any country. The fascinating features and beautiful scenes provide interesting sites for leisure, adventure and other tourism-related activities. Ecotourism therefore combines two things to make it more attractive today, conservation and welfare of residents. The natural physical attractions mostly exist in local communities either as a geo-heritage or natural features supporting and promoting settlement of locals. Ecotourism can therefore be defined along the school of thought of 'The international Ecotourism Centre' as responsible travel to natural areas that protect the environment and sustain the welfare of indigenous communities or rural population with interpretation and education.

**Figure 1** illustrates ecotourism and derivable benefits by man and the environment. Conservation is ensured through market-linked approach as well as the protection of the natural and cultural heritage of the earth. Also, local communities' well-being is boosted through employment, capacity development and poverty reduction. The market-linked approach and welfare of the people create adequate environmental awareness to achieve sustainable development. Ecotourism ensures that the carrying capacity of the environment is not exceeded in any location based on the principles of ecotourism by limiting the population to a site at a given time to reduce impact and protect the environment. The advantage of ecotourism outweighs

**Figure 1.** *Ecotourism benefits.*

#### *Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108264*

any known or unknown negative impact. Consequently, in 2002, United Nations celebrated the 'International Year of Ecotourism'. The meeting brought ecotourism to the front burner of tourism with global acceptance of the concept and meaning of ecotourism. It was a watershed event. Since then, ecotourism became one of the largest global economic activities of paying for nature conservation and reducing the pressure of land conversion that has naturally fascinating features for agriculture and infrastructural provision under the context of development [1].

The definition of ecotourism identifies three main characteristics.


The nature-based physically fascinating features are mostly geographical heritage existing in nature in various locations. These features promote settlement, and consequently communities mostly spring up around the features. The reason is not far-fetched, living is made easy and convenient especially around waterfalls and rivers. However, other features such as rocks offer protection to adverse environmental conditions and war for the early settlers of the communities. It is therefore common to note that most of these features are named after the early settlers or circumstances surrounding the community migration to the location. For example, in Canada, the famous Stanley Park in British Columbia was named after a Governor-General as far back as 1886, and the Park exists on 405 hectares of indigenous land of Salish First nation. Also, in Nigeria, 'Erin-Ijesha', that is, 'Elephant of Ijesha' in Osun State was so named by the people in line with the narrative of the early settlers as far back as 1140 A.D. as 'Olumirin' meaning 'another deity' because of the appearance of mysterious figure. The naming pattern applies to all other locations of ecotourism.

Environmental education came with physical features through the relationship between man and nature. The natural features convey messages. These messages were documented, and they became the aspect of environmental education so cherished today. A good example of this is the 'Erin-Ijesha' waterfalls that the people believed could purify their souls because it was a sacred altar, thus, indicating the therapeutic significance of nature. Sustainability was also borne out of the relationship of man with nature. The locals in various geographical areas where the natural features exist were conscious of the fact that the resources must be maintained in perpetuity for the communities to continue to exist in those locations. Any alternatives to these resources could not sustain the existence of the locals. This is commonly observed in some locations where historical evidence shows that previous settlements had existed, but due to the mismanagement of the natural resources, the communities or settlements had collapsed leaving footprints of human existence in such locations. This is mostly revealed through archaeological findings where footprints of previous settlers existed.

#### **3. Resources**

The term 'resource' was used to describe the nature-based physically fascinating features under the classification of natural resources. Resources have been used to

#### **Figure 2.**

*Classification of natural resources.*

show that they are natural endowment given or created by God in different locations. Some locations are more endowed than others – location-specific, while value addition in terms of amenities has made less endowed areas to become more prominent and attractive and therefore attract more tourists than highly endowed locations. This is the situation between developing countries in Africa and Asia with other Western countries such as Europe and North America. This chapter will not cover the comparative advantage of the regions in terms of nature endowment as this is also a broad area for further discussion.

Natural resources are 'gift of nature'. They are living and non-living endowment of the earth. They are therefore exploited by man as resources because they are known and accessible and can be used under foreseeable technological and economic conditions. The living aspect of the resources is the biotic components that describe the biodiversity in terms of plants and animals in ecotourism. However, the non-living endowment is the physical features and beautiful scenes of nature.

**Figure 2** shows the broad division of resources into renewable and non-renewable categories. There is distinction between the biotic and abiotic components of the natural resources. The renewable resources are capable of regeneration or biologically reproduce off-springs through the process of reproduction. Consequently, 'biotourism' originated from the biologically renewable resources of ecotourism simply referring to biological tourism. Flow resources sustain life such as air, water and solar mostly through photosynthesis, water cycle and carbon sink. The non-renewable resources are the physical features of hills, rocks, mountains that have come into existence through various natural processes such as rock metamorphosis, volcanic eruptions and perhaps landslides. Therefore, man has not contributed anything or did not shape any structure in the formation of these resources. Thus, it is imperative that the resources must be used sustainably as the reproductive cycle and geological processes take time to complete. Though reproduction may take a short period of time, the geological aspect takes a longer time to complete. Therefore, the characteristics of these resources are significant in their management.

I will briefly describe the characteristics for better understanding of these resources:


resources to regenerate naturally – biological resources may take a short period, but it takes longer time for geological resources.

9.Part of the environment – Natural resources are part of the environment. In a geographical location, any removal of a particular species will always create imbalance within the ecosystem. This may lead to ugly landscape that may not be attractive to man. Any areas of mining for any resource's deposits will clearly give a good picture.

#### **4. Biodiversity**

Biodiversity is the most important component of the biotic aspect of natural resources. Previous studies have described biodiversity as the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur [2, 3]. Current estimates of global biodiversity have been estimated to range from 10 to 100 million species of plants and animals including fungi and microorganisms. However, in ecotourism plants and animals are the most important biotic component of biodiversity. Thus, biodiversity occurs at three levels – genes, species and ecosystems. Therefore, biodiversity supports human life and the systems that support it. Clearly, the value of biodiversity to humanity is to protect and ensure that sundry services of provisioning are discharged. Man depends on biodiversity for food, fibres, medicines and drugs as well as raw materials for manufacturing technologies and purposes. The crucial aspect of biodiversity in ecosystem stability is to protect humanity through services.

The three levels of ecosystem occurrence will be briefly explained.

Genes – The genes as the name implies provide genetic information contained in individual plants and animals. The genetic make-up of various plants and animals and the regeneration potential of the species capable of surviving in varying ecological conditions.

Species – The populations of plants and animals within which genes flow occur in natural conditions. Species allow normal individuals to breed within the population among members of opposite sex for population increase.

Ecosystems – These refer to habitats, biotic communities and various ecological processes to protect and sustain the populations and the genes in the environment. Therefore, ecosystem stability through ecological processes is very important for biodiversity to be value-laden. Ecosystem stability and resilience promote heterogeneity among species.

The three levels of occurrence are interwoven and cannot be separated to fully understand the concept of biodiversity in life sustaining processes. However, recent climatic trends in terms of climate change have brought biodiversity conservation to the front burner in twenty-first century to protect the environment and save humanity from destruction. Therefore, biological diversity in various ecosystems across the world is important to man and the environment. A relationship exists between man the environment. This relationship must be sustained on the positive side for man to co-exist with the environment. However, development activities in terms of agricultural revolution for food and infrastructural provision for modern life have tilted the relationship in the negative direction and alter the balance between man and the environment. It has been noted that 40% of world economy is based on biological products and processes, but this is not sufficient as man wants more because of

#### *Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108264*

expanding population and rising cities. The excesses of man on the environment are now generating issues of climate change with the survival of man, biodiversity and environment threatened with destruction. The GDP – Gross Domestic Product of any country may not reflect the value of biodiversity because it is difficult to calculate, yet it contributes to the GDP.

Looking critically at biodiversity from plants and animals' perspective within the scope of this chapter, the plants can be described in terms of vegetation pattern such as grassland, shrub and forest with all other biomes subsumed in the three broad vegetation types. Plants life forms (vegetation) depend on climatic factors of temperature and moisture of a region. On the other hand, animals can be broadly divided

**Figure 3.** *Biodiversity in a forest ecosystem – adapted from Pixabay.*

**Figure 4.** *Human activities, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss in forest ecosystem – adapted from Pixabay.*

into fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, as well as invertebrates and other categories subsumed within the broad classes. Insects are also not left out with broad classes. These descriptions reveal the diversity of plants and animals which is very significant in ecotourism. When tourists make responsible travel to various destinations, it is the diversity of plants and animals and interactions among them and the environment that the tourists are trying to catch a glimpse of nature's endowment to humanity. Ecotourism is sightseeing of the beauty, diversity and interaction of

#### **Figure 5.**

*Infrastructure for expanding population destroying biodiversity, habitats and promoting climate change – adapted from Pixabay.*

**Figure 6.** *Biodiversity interaction.*

#### *Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108264*

biodiversity. **Figure 3** shows the forest ecosystem with diversity of animals revealing the richness of forest ecosystem in terms of biodiversity.

**Figure 4** shows human activities within the ecosystem with the destruction of habitats to provide shelter for man and consequently, loss of biodiversity. Also, there is emission of carbon dioxide through fossil fuels use and waste disposal into the environment.

**Figure 5** shows road construction through the forest for expanding population to allow easy access and movement within a location. Such road construction promotes biodiversity loss through disturbance, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. This is very common in growing communities and cities and locations that are gradually becoming metropolitan. Again, the vegetation of the constructed sites will always be permanently destroyed, and such situation reduces the ability of the forest to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus leading to excessive carbon dioxide that promotes global warming (**Figure 6**).

#### **5. Ecotourism and in-situ conservation**

Ecotourism promotes in-situ conservation and allows plant and animal species to exist in natural geographical location. This contrasts with zoo where animals are caged for sightseeing/game, and the animals remain in captivity throughout their lifetime and therefore perform poorly in the cage, this is ex-situ conservation. In-situ conservation allows plants and animals to exist in favourable geographical vegetation zones without any alteration or modification to the natural habitats. Consequently, the natural protocol regulates plant and animal species population through the food chain in the ecosystem – over-population of a particular species is controlled within the food chain, and under-population is also corrected within the food chain. This allows energy flow within the ecosystem in a natural pattern. Therefore, natural protocol checks either over-population or under-population. The various categories of animals and plants exist naturally within the in-situ population range of an ecosystem. Thus, the natural order ensures there are herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritus feeders and the microorganisms to balance the natural equation of co-existence among the species. This enables animals to perform optimally in such a situation. This situation is mostly common in national parks, sanctuaries, sacred grooves (mostly protected by the locals through indigenous knowledge and cultural believes), biosphere reserves and others. Countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are good locations where in-situ conservation can be observed. Thus, tourists from different regions will have to make responsible travel to these locations to observe species in their natural range with interactions among the various groups. Thus, plant species of the same genus may exist along a vegetation zone in conformity with the dictates of nature or co-exist with other plant species if they are able to survive competition from the simple principle of succession.

The ex-situ conservation is not acceptable in ecotourism as plants and animals population are affected through transportation, captivity, poor feeding and bad management. However, botanical garden in ex-situ conservation can be a mixture of both in-situ and ex-situ if it is established through enrichment planting.

**Figure 7** shows the diversity of animals and the interaction between the animals and the environment. This is what mostly interests tourists in any responsible travel to derive satisfaction from nature's endowment.

**Figure 7.** *Animal diversity showing nature's endowment in ecosystem – adapted from biodiversity heritage library.*

### **6. Contingent valuation**

Contingent valuation method (CVM) is a means of estimating the value of unpriced goods and services. This is very important in ecotourism. Nature's endowment is mostly goods and services without existing market price. CVM is a stated preference approach with two arms involving respondents' responses for their willingness to pay (or willingness to accept compensation) for a hypothetical change in the level of provisioning of a non-market good. CVM has a wide range of applications especially to changes involving non-use values as well as future changes. Contingent valuation method was introduced in 1947 by von Ciriacy-Wantrup [4], a German academic, but the practical application in ecotourism was done by Davis in 1963 when the principles were applied to value the benefits attached to outdoor recreation. Further application of CVM was observed in water and air quality, species preservation, forest protection, biodiversity conservation, natural resources damage, cultural heritage, waste management and sanitation improvement, just to mention a few of areas of application. Consequently, CVM has been widely applied in ecotourism since 1963. Despite the acceptance and application in ecotourism, CVM has a major shortcoming in terms of results validity due to responses associated with human behaviour. Further information on the criticism of CVM can be found in Diamond and Hausman [5] publication. However, CVM remains the most adequate tool for measuring satisfaction in outdoor recreation through maximum WTP and minimum WTA for hypothetical change in the level of provisioning for non-market-based goods and services to sustain natural resources.

Willingness to pay (WTP) involves asking people maximum value they are willing to pay to obtain a good not currently possessed and, on the other hand, the locals are asked the minimum value they are willing to accept (WTA) compensation for conservation of natural resources in their domain. Perhaps, it is important to mention that the two arms of CVM- WTP and WTA are often used in eliciting monetary values, but WTP is widely used than WTA. In WTA, people tend to give monetary values that are outrageous and

#### *Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108264*

therefore making it difficult to arrive at a positive conclusion in resources conservation. On the other hand, WTP is associated with income of the people or respondents, and thus, people are restricted to provide information that can be supported by their income. Thus, WTP is more informative and positive for resource conservation since it depends on income. However, where local communities will surrender their privileges and rights on land for conservation in a geographical area, then WTA compensation for conservation will have to be used due to a change in land use to prevent converting natural habitats into others uses such as agriculture and infrastructural development.

Such conversion of land cover leads to vegetation loss, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity at three levels of existence of biodiversity. This indirectly leads to a reduction in carbon storage and contributes to greenhouse gases mostly carbon dioxide that threaten the life support base of man and the environment, a condition now known as climate change. Therefore, WTA in CVM is very important in eliciting monetary value from the locals as the consent of local communities in conservation as a way of participatory approach and thus prevents intra and inter-community future conflicts. In WTA, locals have the advantage of specifying what they are willing to accept to voluntarily give up what they currently possess. The stakeholders in ecotourism are the tourists and the community or locals where the resources are located. In this condition, the issue has to do with land use, the tourists must be prepared to pay certain amounts to sustain the resources and the locals also ready to allow the resources to continue to exist in the natural habitat without destroying the regeneration niche of biodiversity through converting the land to other uses by the acceptance of compensation.

Contingent valuation method (CVM) is a survey-based stated preference technique that elicits people's intended future behaviour in constructed markets. Respondents' behaviours were assumed to be under real market situation.

#### **6.1 CVM concepts**

Contingent valuation method relies on the significance of non-market-oriented natural resources to the society. The positive impact of the goods and services on human welfare measured in monetary terms is the focal point in CVM. From the economic point of view, utility is derived by the people expressed as satisfaction. As a result of utility derived from sightseeing, people are willing to pay certain value to express their satisfaction. This payment is mostly dependent on the income of the people. However, other socio-economic variables may affect the payment such as age, literacy level, family size, etc. This is better understood with Hicksian welfare measures and Marshallian consumer surplus.

#### **6.2 CVM Questionnaire**

Data collection method in CVM is a well-structured questionnaire. The document will contain questions that can elicit the necessary information from the people. However, caution must be exercised to prevent eliciting information that is biased through inappropriate questions which is the root cause of bias in contingent valuation. Therefore, it is important to let people have a better understanding of the situation to be able to provide relevant, reliable and positive information. The questionnaire will elicit individual preferences in monetary terms. Individual preferences in monetary terms will indicate the maximum willingness to pay (WTP) or minimum willingness to accept (WTA) for conservation of natural resources through positive changes in the future. The questionnaire is premised on the fact that the items under consideration are non-marketed goods and services, that is, there is no existing market for the products. Three major components of the questionnaire will be:


#### **6.3 Constructed market**

The elements of the constructed market are as follows:


#### **6.4 Payment**

The payment vehicle may be divided into two:


Further information on CVM can be obtained from textbooks on contingent valuation method.

### **7. Ecological implication and sustainability**

The ecological implication of ecotourism is rooted in the historical emergence of tourism. Ecotourism as an age-long activity predates modern tourism practice. In the solitary lifestyle of early settlers across the globe in various geographical locations, man depended on available and attractive physical features such as rocks and caves for protection from harsh weather conditions. At that time, man affected the environment,

#### *Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108264*

and the environment affected man, but there was a balance and no threat to the environment or man. People were able to co-exist with nature. The preservation of these rocks, caves, hills, etc. as well as the biodiversity to generate utility or satisfaction to man is what ecotourism is bringing to the front burner to save the earth. Ecotourism is gradually providing the much-needed change to suppress a repeat of the nineteenth century industrial revolution of Great Britain. That period saw the beginning of the present global crisis of climate change. There was major economic break through but with catastrophic consequences for the environment – the earth was damaged, and it marked the beginning of emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Industries and human societies were built recklessly on biodiversity. It revealed the relationship between environment and economy. Wildlife and natural habitats or, more succinctly put, diversity of plants and animals at that time was considered irrelevant to economic growth and human development. However, the emerging discipline of ecological economics now provides methods of assessing the economic value of wildlife that was considered irrelevant during the industrial revolution. This is strengthening the case for conservation as the contribution of biodiversity and the existing physical features play significant role in GDP of most countries. Kirkby et al. [6] reported on annual revenue flow to developing countries from ecotourism to be as large as US\$ 210 x 1012, thus, indicating incentives against habitat loss and exploitation. In the social cost-benefit analysis of land for ecotourism in Tambopata region of Amazonian Peru, it was revealed that the net present value of ecotourism-controlled land given by the producer surplus (profits plus fixed costs of ecotourism lodges) was as large as US\$1158 ha-1 . Therefore, the significance of ecotourism in economic transformation of nations cannot be ignored. Further, man benefits from biodiversity from the diversity of organisms used for medicines, food, fibres and other products. Biodiversity has been an integral part of the human experience because it influences human well-being including access to flow resources and basic materials for a satisfactory life and security in the face of environmental challenges.

In view of the importance of ecotourism to man and the environment, the sustainability of the industry is very important. Both the society and the environment will benefit tremendously by keeping to the principles of sustainable development which is the development that satisfies the present situation without compromising the ability of future generation to satisfy their needs. With ecotourism the principle of sustainable development is put in practice. The United Nations agenda for sustainable development as contained in the 2030 agenda blueprint identified relevant points under the following:


#### **8. Conclusion**

This chapter has revealed that ecotourism is an age-long conservation tool contributing to economic development and protecting the environment. Ecotourism utilises natural resources both renewable and non-renewable to protect the environment and reduce the impact of climate change. Thus, ecotourism contributes to the GDP of most countries through ecological economics approach, but the percentage contribution is still difficult to measure. Ecotourism has shown the significance of wildlife and natural habitats in economic transformation, conservation and sustainability across the globe in the twenty-first century mostly in countries and regions endowed with natural resources. Total dependence on science for solution on conservation has failed man with the experience of the nineteenth century industrial revolution in Europe through reckless economic transformation of building industries and cities on biodiversity and natural habitats. Ecotourism manages man and resources and promotes positive relationship with the environment in perpetuity. Resources of lesser-known economic value in early development are now playing significant roles in sustaining the environment. The issue of climate change, expanding population and land carrying capacity is embedded in principles of ecotourism as contained in the United Nations blueprint of agenda 2030.

### **Conflict of interest**

The author declares no conflict.

### **Author details**

Jubril Akanni Soaga Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

\*Address all correspondence to: soagaakanni@gmail.com

© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108264*

#### **References**

[1] United Nations. Do you Know all 17 SDGs? Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development. New-York, United States: United Nations; 2015

[2] Odulate DO, Soaga JA, Onadeko SA, Akegbejo-Samson Y. Biodiversity and potential socio-economic importance of abandoned quarry sites in Abeokuta area, Ogun state, Nigeria. West African Journal of Applied Ecology. 2010;**7**:26-35

[3] BRAAF. In: Ola-Adams BA, editor. Biosphere Reserve for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development for Africa – A County Report for Biodiversity Inventory of Omo Forest Reserve, 1999. Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria: Gbemi Sodipe Press Ltd; 1999. p. 26

[4] Ciriacy-Wantrup S. Capital returns from soil conservation practices. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 1947;**29**(4):1181-1196

[5] Diamond PA, Hausman JA. Contingent valuation: Is some number better than no number? The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 1994;**8**(4):45-64. DOI: 10.1257/jep.8.4.45

[6] Kirkby CA, Guidance-Granados R, Day B, Turner K, Valarde-Andrade LM. The market triumph of ecotourism: An economic investigation of the private and social benefits of competing land uses in the Peruvian Amazon. PLoS One. 2010;**5**(9):E13015. DOI: 10.1371/Journals. pone.0013015

Section 6
