Community Integrated Ecotourism in the Peruvian Amazon: The Nexus of Conservation and Development

Transcription

1 Salone KapurOMSHRISAIRAM Prof. Durham AnthSci 11SC 10/15/07 Community Integrated Ecotourism in the Peruvian Amazon: The Nexus of Conservation and Development Introduction Less than a month ago on September 25, 2007, a legal amendment aiming to reduce the Bahuaja - Sonene National Park by 209,000 hectares and open it to oil and gas exploration, among other activities, was proposed to the Ministers Council of Peru. The area at risk has been declared by The National Geographic Society as one of the world s seven iconic natural sanctuaries - an uninhabited and pristine tract of rainforest in the Candamo and Tambopata basins. Home to a record number of plant and animal species, the Bahuaja - Sonene National Park is located to the south and west of the Madre de Dios region of Peru, a popular ecotourism destination. Thousands of ecotourists travel to Madre de Dios each year to visit the incredible display of hundreds of parrots and macaws at the clay licks. This is also one of the last strong holds of the world s largest otter - the Giant otter and jaguars. Revenue from ecotourism has become the primary source of income for those in the Madre de Dios region. However, the proposed 19.22% reduction of Bahuaja-Sonene National Park in the heart of the rainforest will profoundly affect the ecosystems and biodiversity of the forest, and in turn, devastate the

2 ecotourism industry. Lying at the intersection of two major problems plaguing Amazonia the loss of cultural diversity and the loss of biodiversity ecotourism promises better economic welfare for local peoples and reduced pressure on natural resources. However, in addition to providing incentives for conservation, ecotourism provides perspective, empowers confidence and authority of the local communities over their land. Community-integrated ecotourism boasts the possibility of solutions to both cultural and biological problems in the Peruvian Amazon on a local level; however, it remains a temporary truce in the conflict between conservation and development. It is imperative that the bottom up approach seen in the ecolodges of Amazonia is matched by top-down initiatives by state and national governments to protect park boundaries and use consistent land use policies in order for ecotourism to truly emerge as a viable and sustainable nexus between conservation and development in the Peruvian Amazon. Ecotourism and Community Integrated Ecotourism In recent years, there has been an increasing fascination with the natural world. The staggering increase of people visiting natural areas to experience the world s abundant faunal and floral diversity has given birth to a new industry ecotourism. The International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as the responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. As such, ecotourism activities seek to minimize their cultural and environmental impact while building awareness and respect of these crucial aspects of the areas they visit. Additionally, it provides a direct financial benefit for conservation and for the local people. Within the short amount of time since its conception, ecotourism has made considerable strides and captured an

3 enormous market. In 1993, sales of international-ecotourism packages in the USA alone reached approximately $ 1.4 thousand million, and in 1994, the market reached $1.5 thousand million, and has been growing since then at an annual rate of 8% to 10%. This, in turn, has changed tourist attitudes towards tourism. Today, 50-60% of tourists are interested in their destinations social, cultural and environmental issues and more than 75% of travelers consider it important that their trips not damage local ecosystems. As increasing numbers of travelers visit biodiversity- rich countries, tourism in biodiversity hotspots has increased by more than 100% between 1990 and 2000 (Whelen). Conservationists and development specialists see ecotourism as having immense potential to help protect the rainforests and traditional cultures while also meeting the economic needs of the local community. According to Neotropical Wildlife Use, unless wildlife has some use to people, then wildlife will not be valued by people. If wildlife has no value, then wildlife and its habitat will be destroyed to make way for other land uses (Stronza). Giving locals a direct financial incentive to conserving nature, ecotourism promises the best of both worlds creating more jobs and higher incomes for local communities while causing relatively little harm to the environment, especially when compared to slash-and-burn agriculture, hunting, logging, cattle ranching and mining. While many scholars are skeptical of tourism and ecotourism practices, condemning them as commoditizing culture and a natural way of life, others assert that this tourist gaze on culture can in fact help protect or even revive traditional practices and beliefs that would otherwise be lost, encouraging local hosts to develop new and empowering forms of expression and self-representation These unique and empowering forms of self expression have given rise to an emerging trend that is creating a buzz with conservationists and development specialists alike - community

4 integrated ecotourism. Defined by World Wildlife Fund International as a form of ecotourism where the local community has substantial control over, and involvement in, its development and management, and a major proportion of the benefits remain with the community, it is slated to improve community economic status, include participatory decision making, provide an alternate economy to more destructive practices, build knowledge, awareness and understanding of people outside communities and result in exchange of knowledge between tourists and the community. As ecotourists visit the Amazon to experience the thrill of seeing Amazonian wildlife and observing local people s culture and identity firsthand in one s home, the market is brought directly to these local communities. Since ecotourism involves the maintenance of a tradition rather than a move away from it, it allows local communities different ways of participating in the market economy without disrupting normal livelihoods or social relations. By giving jobs, opportunities and greater incomes to community members, ecotourism that is integrated in the community is often alleviates poverty and gives a direct financial and occupational incentive to considering alternative and sustainable interactions with their natural environment. However, ecotourism may be important more for what it does to people s values than for what it does to their pockets. Community integrated ecotourism brings the market home, which in turn makes a commodity out of a region s culture and nature. In doing so, ecotourism s collective gaze of a culture and society places a mirror to the people, inevitably leading to selfreflection, and a re-cognition of one s condition. Therefore, although community integrated ecotourism gives both financial benefits for the local community for conserving their natural environment and way of life, it is so special because its ability to transform people in positive ways by increasing their power, confidence, and environmental awareness. More than just giving them employment or making them wealthier, community-based ecotourism gives the community

5 a sense of place and self and empowers them to feel true ownership over the land their land. Case Study: Posada Amazonas The immense potential of community-integrated ecotourism is seen in the eco-lodge Posada Amazonas located within the Native Community of Infierno in the Tambopata region of the Peruvian Amazon. Situated in Madre de Dios within the buffer zone of the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, Posada Amazonas serves as a joint venture experiment in community integrated ecotourism between Rainforest Expeditions, a private Peruvian company headquartered in Lima, and the Native Community of Infierno (NCI), a mixed ethnic community made of up of the native Ese eja, ribereños (colonists), and mestizos, who are of mixed indigenous and Andean descent. Madre de Dios, and the Tambopata region in particular, have long been known to tropical biologists as a region high in species diversity, containing some of the world s highest recorded diversities of plants, insects, birds and mammals, as well as some of the world s largest expanses of pristine tropical forest, including Manu National Park. In fact, Tambopata is the site of Terry Erwin s famous research that involved fumigating a tree and analyzing the insect species that fell to the forest floor. After a careful count, Erwin topped the previous estimate of a few million insect species to million (Stronza 29). Yet, these high levels of species diversity and potential for wildlife viewing for even those with ill-trained eyes were could only partially

6 be attributed to making this region of the Peruvian Amazon idyllic an ecotourism venture. The local NCI s involvement in planning and managing The Tambopata Candamo Reserved Zone displays their long history of popular participation in community matters making them ideal candidates for highly participatory community integrated ecotourism. The idea for the construction of an eco-lodge on NCI land was a very mutual decision between community members and Rainforest Expeditions so much so that till today both partners credit the other with the conception of the eco-lodge. After creating The Tambopata Research Center (TRC) with immediate success, Rainforest Expeditions saw that the success of TRC could be limited by its distance to from the nearest port, Puerto Maldonado, from which boat travel is estimated to take 12 hours (and sometimes, much longer). Looking for a mid-way stop between Puerto and TRC, as well an ecotourist location for those who wish only to spend two-three days in the forest, Rainforest Expeditions identified the NCI land. As the only native land with an official land title along the Tambopata River in an area dominated by colonist communities, the location proved to be ideal. Additionally, the NCI were already open to the idea of an ecotourism venture on their land for, as they were located in the buffer zone of the Bahuaja - Sonene National Park, they felt that their development and extraction capabilities severely hindered. Also, having already established its own 2,000 hectare protected area prior to discussions about a lodge, the community evinced their concern for environmental conservation. However, their contact with Rainforest Expeditions in 1996 was not the Community s first contact with ecotourism. The community s first brush with tourism came in the early 1980s when the first lodge in the area, Explorer s Inn, requested the community to agree not to hunt

7 around the ox-bow lake and the 5,500 hectare reserve around the lodge in return for medicine, a 16hp motor, a chain-saw and regular payments from the entrance fees to the lake. The relationship deteriorated when the lodge failed to make the promised payments, but Explorer s Inn remains in operation till this day. Therefore, in their negotiations with NCI, Rainforest Expeditions met with over one hundred members of the community to overcome their initial distrust of their motives stemming from their negative experience with Explorer s Inn. In the end, the two parties established a joint-venture partnership called the Ke eway Association in According to the twenty year agreement, profits (net income less capital expenditures) are split 60% to the community, and 40% to the company, management decisions are shared equally between the Community and Rainforest Expeditions and Rainforest Expeditions was granted exclusivity in that no member of the community can strike a deal with a competitor company to build a second lodge, nor can any individual independently create an additional ecotourism project within communal territory. The partnership used a loan from the Peru-Canada Fund in 1998 to build the lodge and, as a result, the lodge and its infrastructure are wholly owned by the Community. Since its creation in 1996, Posada Amazonas has seen tremendous success. According to Antje, a guide at Posada Amazonas, the eco-lodge runs at an average of 80% capacity year round with approximately tourists flying into Puerto Maldonado. In fact, the flow of tourists is such a reliable, audible, and visible fact of life in Infierno that people can tell the time of day just by checking which boat is heading up or down river (Stronza 79).The community receives $40,000 - $60,000 a year in liquid profit, in addition to annual

8 asset reinvestments of $20,000 -$60,000 a year. Salaries inject a further $40,000 - $60,000 a year to the [NCI] plus $40-$60 per month in tips received by each staff member. The lodge spends about $15,000 a year hiring people for day-to-day jobs. Five community guides are making about $10,000 a year each, including tips (Heher). Flow of Funds from APA to CNI Source Total Payroll Personnel 99,028 73,802 55,000 45, ,942 Reinvested Profits 183,236 30,616 47,000 6, ,352 Material and Supplies Purchases 210,000 5, ,000 Net Liquid Profit (60% Share) 15,439 47,786 28,000 70, ,225 Ad-hoc additional personnel 23,862 8,221 15,000 12,688 59,771 Bar Profit 18,844 9,097 14,046 14,500 56,487 Handicraft Sales 15,228 8,000 6,000 6,000 35,228 Community Guides - - 6,000 17,044 23,044 Ethnobotanical Tour - 2,391 9,709 9,918 22,018 Agricultural Purchases 10,000 1,743 2,000 4,546 18,289 Training ,955 1,955 Total $ 575,637 $ 186,656 $ 182,755 $ 188,263 $ 1,133,311 Taken from Heher Lodge staff, all from the community, work a maximum of two years at the lodge and the average tenure is a year and a half. This limit was set by the NCI in order to give everyone in the community the opportunity to work at the lodge. Additionally, the Comité de Control limits how many members from each community family are working at the lodge at any one time. Since the lodge s opening, staff members have been drawn from 20 of the 80 families in the community (Jorge, Guide). Furthermore, in addition to providing jobs and salaries, the NCI derives income from tourists through a variety of fees: entrance to the community s ethno-botanical garden ($3 per visitor), harpy eagle viewing ($1 per person to the guardian of the protected eagle nest), and port charge ($.50 per passenger). Some income is also earned through sales of handicrafts ($8000 a year in total). Moreover, about 3% of Posada s total food purchasing is sourced from the NCI

9 (about $5,000 a year). The artisan, ecotourism, port and garden committees operate these various income generating activities and each contributes 5% of their profits to the general community fund (Heher). The eco-lodge has greatly improved life in the NCI. Lodge income enabled the establishment of a local secondary school has enabled more children to continue their education. Previously, the only local school for older children was in Puerto Maldonado and teenagers had to live in Puerto Maldonado if they wanted to continue their schooling - an expense few families could afford. The school is funded by the Community, which allocates 20% of its share of profits to education and shares the remainder profits equally between the Ese eja and mestizos families who had participated in the faenas to build the lodge (Arturo, Guide). The income and entrepreneurial spirit that community members have gained from their work in Posada Amazonas has started community dialogue about how it can sell services to the other lodges in the area. In addition to the three enterprises that have been established as ancillaries to the lodge (handicrafts, the community port and the ethno-botanical garden), the community is currently in the first stages of trying to establish a small business development center, a fish-farm and an organic corn farm. The latter three are particularly important in that they seek to lessen the community s dependency on income from the lodge, providing a buffer against a downturn in the tourism market.

10 The view of ecotourism as a lucrative development opportunity, the community has renewed outlook of the benefits of conservation. In an article about Posada Amazonas published in a Peruvian magazine, Mary Margaret Crapper (1998) offered this observation: As more native communities [like Infierno] start to reap direct economic benefits as owners and partners of tourism services, locals will have more of an incentive, and a challenge, to protect what the tourists come to see. This has proved true time and time again as development discussions inevitably circle back to the ecological effects of their actions on the wilderness ecotourists come to see. In talking to a tourist group, a guide at the lodge said I just hope the lodge will offer enough income and jobs to convince people to stop hunting and farming. Already, they ve shown a lot of interest in protecting the Harpy eagles and the river otters, and I think it s because they know tourists like you will pay to see them (Stronza 3). In this way, community members and committees are charged with the potential of ecotourism and work to protect the natural wildlife and biodiversity in order to protect their prospects as an ecotourism venture. However, beyond economic and conservation benefits, Posada Amazonas has transformed the NCI. The community of Infierno has undergone a fundamental change in perception of themselves and their environment. Over the past ten years, there has been a decreasing reliance on subsistence activities and a renewed value on wildlife. Instead of engaging in environmentally harmful activities such as slash and burn agriculture, logging and mining, the community has started to view ecotourism as a viable development possibility.

11 Involved in every level of operation of the lodge, community members have been trained to run, manage and operate a sustainable and economically viable venture one which will be wholly theirs in 2017 after their twenty year contract with Rainforest Expeditions comes to an end. As such, the community has been able to actively examine various issues in conservation and development and in doing so, have the potential to plan a sustainable future for them. Also, working in Posada and being called upon for their individual forest knowledge and expertise, their work and association with tourists have come to influence how they present themselves. Tourism s collective gaze on the NCI serves as a mirror placed to their society and way of life. This mirror enables the Community to control the preservation of their cultural and social heritage. In questioning and examining their individual and group identity they are able to preserve the aspects the like or oftentimes aspects they see themselves losing and thus be able to better plan a future for themselves. A central tenant of Amanda Stronza s thesis work Because it is ours centers on this very idea. In her time at Posada Amazonas she would ask [the staff], Why have you chosen to work at Posada Amazonas? or Why do you think tourists visit Posada Amazonas? or Why have you volunteered to be a part of the Ecotourism Committee, and like a mantra, men and women, Ese Eja and mestizos, young and old would begin, Porque es de nosotros... The answer must have been obvious because so many people seemed incredulous that I even needed to ask (Stronza 200). Posada Amazonas is an unusual experiment among ecotourism projects, and is special because it is locally owned and operated. With this comes an overwhelming sense of ownership and purpose, things I too found on our recent trip to Peru. It has transformed the Community to take the initiative to make their lodge different. To initiate what they want, follow-through, evaluate, make changes, and then re-

12 initiate that will make a long term positive difference for conservation and development in Infierno (Stronza 200). Need for Governmental and State Initiatives While Posada Amazonas is an inspirational and promising example of what communityintegrated ecotourism can accomplish for both the environment and the surrounding community, community-integrated ecotourism remains as temporary truce between conservation and development efforts in the Peruvian Amazon. Should such bottom-up endeavors not be reinforced by top-down measures to protect ecotourism s conservation efforts, ecotourism will cease to be seen as a viable solution and development alternative to wide scale environmental degradation in the Amazon. As one of Peru s major earners of foreign exchange, tourism exerts a growing and significant influence on national policy. Reflecting this influence, a bill was introduced in 1997 in the Peruvian Congress to upgrade the current Vice-Ministry of Tourism to the level of a full Ministry, putting tourism on equal footing with the Ministries of Agriculture and Mining. Significantly, the bill proposed to take INRENA, the agency charged with proposing and protecting natural areas, out of its problematic location within the Ministry of Agriculture and place it within the proposed Ministry of Tourism. This proposal exemplifies the most promising level at which tourism can promote conservation: the national level. While it is false to say that the goals of tourism and conservation never conflict, in the face of alternatives like farming, logging and oil drilling, tourism is a remarkably benign way to balance the sometimes contradictory goals of biological conservation and economic development. (Yu )

13 The Peruvian tourist industry is becoming aware that Peru has the potential to become one of the world s most important purveyors of ecotourism. However, only by stabilizing colonization and other forms of land use will the long-term reputation and viability of Tambopata be maintained. The tourist industry has already become involved in national-level conservation planning. A German-sponsored aid project called the Plan Director, surveyed Peru s existing parks and reserves system and outlined a comprehensive land-use policy which was presented to the Peruvian Congress in Two elements of the Plan Director included upgrading the ZRTC to a National Park and taking INRENA out of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1990, Peru established the 1.5 million ha Zona Reservada Tambopata-Candamo (ZRTC). Unlike the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, the Zona Reservada designation confers only limited protection and, thus, the ZRTC has been colonized, mainly along the river (Yu ). The tourist industry, which includes tour agencies, hotels, airlines, restaurants and entertainment, is the fastest-growing sector of Peru s economy and is now the third-largest generator of foreign exchange, after copper and fishmeal (Prom Peru). The industry s clout contributed significantly to Peru s decision to establish the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park in the centre of the ZRTC in August This occurred despite conflict with Mobil Oil s prospecting plans. However, still the establishment of the park does not represent a full victory for the ecotourism industry, given that the park s boundaries do not include any of the region s tourist lodges, and that the Park is considerably smaller than originally proposed but a considerable move in the right direction. Conclusion The recent bill proposed to reduce the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park by 19.22% and open it up to oil prospecting depicts how much the future and success of ecotourism depends on

14 the actions of the Peruvian National and State governments. This is not to say that there have not been successes along the way there certainly has been. Posada Amazonas has transformed and invigorated an entire community to conserve the rainforest. Its innovative community approach has served and continues to serve as a model and example for communities across the Amazon to strive towards. And it is not to say that all is lost with the current situation it is possible that the oil and gas companies may be capitalizing on the country's recent misfortunes caused by an earthquake to push through what would have been an unpopular proposal under normal circumstances. In fact, a high-ranking government official linked to protected areas has already resigned in protest. There are close to 4,000 signatures online protesting the passing of this bill and the international community is making its voice heard. And finally, it is not to say that ecotourism has not prevailed the in the past against large powers. It has. The creation of the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park was created despite conflict will Mobil and Exxon s oil prospecting plans and the construction of the Trans-Amazon Highway. However, in spite of great promise and success, the truth is that the actions of the national and state governments have created uncertainty in ecotourism s future. The lack of top-down reinforcement has created the necessity to fight the national government in order to protect the Amazon. In 1997, the NCI was the only community along the Tambopata that did not have official title to its concessions. The State s giving outright titles to the colonists and not the NCI represents the fluidity and corruption of governmental powers in order to buy political support. The evident economic and political fluidity of the Peruvian government can become an obstacle to long term conservation. The government ought to create land set aside, such as Reservas Turisticas, to assure that in the event of future policy changes with respect to titled land, or oil exploration, will not have an effect on the tourism industry and the conservation of land within these reserves. Therefore,

15 although community-based ecotourism has had an incredibly transformative effect in Tambopata, long-term conservation relies on the ability of the tourism industry to pressure the State to reinforce park boundaries and offer ecotourism incentives and support and enforce a consistent land-use policy. Bibliography Abram, Simone. Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places. NewYork, Boo, E. Ecotourism: the Potentials and Pitfalls. World Wildlife Fund: Washington, DC, Cater, E. & Lowman, G. (1994) Ecotourism: a Sustainable Option? Chichester, UK: John Wiley whiteand Sons: 218 pp. Crapper, Mary Margaret. From Hunters to Guides: How some native communities have profited whitefrom ecotourism. Contact Peru 3:20-21, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (2004). Trueque Amazónico: Lessons Learned in whitecommunity-based Ecotourism. Heher, Susan. Rainforest Expeditions and the Native of Community of Infierno: structuring an whiteecotourism partnership Cornell University. MacGregor, J. (1996) Developing a national sustainable tourism strategy: going beyond whiteecotourism to protect the planet s resources. In: The Ecotourism Equation: Measuring the whiteimpacts, ed.

16 Nycander, E. & Holle, K. (1996) Rainforest expeditions: combining tourism, education, and whiteresearch in Southeastern Amazonian Peru. In: The Ecotourism Equation: Measuring the whiteimpacts, eds. PromPerú (1996) El turismo es el sector mas dinámico de la economia Peruana. Report, whitecomisión de Promoción del Perú, PromPerú, Edificio Mitinei (piso 13), calle 1 s/n, Córpac, whitelima 27, Peru December 1996, 2 pp. Seiler-Baldinger, A Tourism in the Upper Amazon and its Effects on the Indigenous whitepopulation. Copenhagen, Sherman, Paul B. The Economics of Nature Tourism: Determining If it Pays. In Nature Tourism: whitemanaging for the Environment. Island Press: Washington, DC, Amanda Stronza, "'Because it is Ours': Community-Based Ecotourism in the Peruvian Amazon," whiteu of Florida, 2000 Terborgh, John. Requiem for Nature. Island Press: Washington, D.C., 1999 Whelan, T. (1991) Nature Tourism: Managing for the Environment. Washington, DC, USA: whiteisland Press: 223 pp. Weiner, E. (1991) Ecotourism: can it protect the planet? The New York Times: XX 15, 26 Yu, Douglas W., Thomas Hendrickson, and Ada Castillo. Ecotourism and conservation in whiteamazonian Peru: Short-term and long-term challenges. Environmental Conservation white24: , 1997.