Are there limits to growth of tourism on the Caribbean islands? Case-study Aruba

Jurgens, Sharona S.; Mijts, Eric; Van Rompaey, Anton

doi:10.3389/frsut.2024.1292383

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 46 publications

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“…Despite what we observe in the field, the social impact of tourism on weaker sections of society and their alienation from tourism development are seriously underrepresented in the tourism literature. Increasing tourism activities and urbanization aggravate this trend, leading to irrevocable ecological imbalances and frequent overlooking of the role of indigenous peoples in protecting biodiversity and ecosystems (Jurgens et al, 2024;Levis et al, 2024). This approach is counterproductive to sustainable development, as conservation is more effective when indigenous peoples and local communities are involved (Dawson et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The socio-ecological impacts of tourism development in the Western Ghats: the case of Wayanad, India

Varghese,

Natori

2024

Front. Sustain. Tour.

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Globally, tourism is advocated as a development tool with the potential to uplift socioeconomic conditions for marginalized populations and contribute to biodiversity conservation. The expectation is that the tourism model of development can bring about positive social changes in diverse communities by broadening livelihood opportunities and concurrently preserving crucial ecosystems, which are regarded as valuable assets in the tourism sector. We investigated Wayanad in the Western Ghats of India, challenging the notion of “tourism for development.” We examined the socio-ecological features of the region, the evolution of tourism and sustainable tourism, and the implications across various sectors. The research employed an empirical approach grounded in the critical examination of socio-ecological systems for tourism governance and sustainability. The data were obtained through in-depth interviews conducted in Wayanad and a review of the relevant literature. The results reveal that despite the prevalent and persuasive arguments favoring tourism, there are extensive multi-sectoral implications in tourism development that negatively affect both the environment and people at large. These impacts include the erosion of agrobiodiversity-linked traditional Adivasi lifestyles, the displacement of local communities, the encroachment of tourism projects into forests and increased human–animal conflicts, the absence of social security measures for marginalized communities, a decline in traditional livelihood options, and an overreliance on the tourism industry and the private sector. These discernible impacts have pushed the fragile region further into a socio-ecological imbalance. Tourism development in ecologically delicate areas should take into account socio-ecological impacts because a region's culture and nature are key components of its attractiveness as a tourist destination. Large-scale landscape planning should involve the perspectives of various stakeholders, including both direct and indirect participants who could be influenced by tourism. The marginalization of Adivasi communities that maintain the region's ecological integrity is unproductive for both the economic and regional development interests of tourism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The socio-ecological impacts of tourism development in the Western Ghats: the case of Wayanad, India

Varghese,

Natori

2024

Front. Sustain. Tour.

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Are Neutrality Targets Alone Sufficient for Protecting Nature? Learning From Land Cover Change and Land Degradation Neutrality Targets in Mauritius

Koenig,

Deenapanray,

Weber

et al. 2024

Land Degrad Dev

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Land degradation contributes to loss of land productivity, climate change, and biodiversity loss worldwide, making the monitoring of land cover change a fundamental component of sustainable land use planning. To facilitate this task, international research organizations publish increasingly high‐quality global land cover data, yet those are still proving too imprecise at the scale of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Mauritius. Though rapidly developing, Mauritius does not have a locally produced land cover map which is consistently updated and made available to the public in the scope of participatory planning processes. This study sought to bridge this gap by revising a 2010 land cover map of Mauritius island and producing a new map for 2020, which can serve as a basis for future updates through a consistent methodology that combines photointerpretation and semi‐automated classification from various datasets. These maps enabled the observation of key changes in the island's landscape, which are consistent with socio‐economic events, namely the decline of agricultural coverage (12.7%) due to the phasing out of preferential trade agreements for sugar, and the expansion of real estate (14.3% increase in built area) following new investment promotion policies. Considering the small size and high population density of the island, as is the case for SIDS, these developments and the Land Degradation Neutrality Targets of Mauritius bring the feasibility of area‐based land degradation neutrality into question and call for the analysis of land and ecosystem conditions through additional indicators.

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Are there limits to growth of tourism on the Caribbean islands? Case-study Aruba

Cited by 2 publications

References 46 publications

The socio-ecological impacts of tourism development in the Western Ghats: the case of Wayanad, India

The socio-ecological impacts of tourism development in the Western Ghats: the case of Wayanad, India

Are Neutrality Targets Alone Sufficient for Protecting Nature? Learning From Land Cover Change and Land Degradation Neutrality Targets in Mauritius

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