Perceived Impacts of Ecotourism on Environmental Learning and Conservation: Turtle Watching as a Case Study

Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism, we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental learning and in sustaining conservation of nature. Mon Repos Conservation Park (an important marine turtle rookery involved in ecotourism) in Queensland, Australia, was selected for this study and visitors were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The reported on-site experiences of respondents are analysed to identify important factors that alter their stated conservation attitudes and behaviours. The impact of these factors (such as the amount of environmental education that respondents claimed they obtained, sighting of sea turtles, nationality) is quantified using regression analyses. There has been little previous quantification of such influences. The study reveals that a considerable amount of environmental knowledge is gained by visitors to Mon Repos. The ecotourism experience, involving environmental education and seeing of turtles, was found to have positive and statistically significant impacts on the visitors' stated desire and intended behaviour to protect sea turtles. The study reveals the importance of learning and the interaction of tourists with wildlife as a contributor to their pro-conservation sentiments and actions. It shows how ecotourism can support nature conservation. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Do Open-Cycle Hatcheries Relying on Tourism Conserve Sea Turtles? Sri Lankan Developments and Economic–Ecological Considerations

By combining economic analysis of markets with ecological parameters, this article considers the role that tourism-based sea turtle hatcheries (of an open-cycle type) can play in conserving populations of sea turtles. Background is provided on the nature and development of such hatcheries in Sri Lanka. The modeling facilitates the assessment of the impacts of turtle hatcheries on the conservation of sea turtles and enables the economic and ecological consequences of tourism, based on such hatcheries, to be better appreciated. The results demonstrate that sea turtle hatcheries serving tourists can make a positive contribution to sea turtle conservation, but that their conservation effectiveness depends on the way they are managed. Possible negative effects are also identified. Economic market models are combined with turtle population survival relationships to predict the conservation impact of turtle hatcheries and their consequence for the total economic value obtained from sea turtle populations.     

The environmental impact of water markets: an Australian case-study

Water markets are developing as part of a Council of Australian Governments initiative to promote an efficient use of Australia's water resources. The consequences of these policies on river health is yet to be fully understood, but recognised as having significant interrelationships which need to be explored. This paper examines the consequences of introducing trade and allocating water for environmental use in the Border Rivers region of Queensland. The results of this study suggest that: (1) trade in water entitlements is likely to increase the differential between extractive demand and historical flow regimes as extractive water-use concentrates on the most profitable crops, and (2) water markets are likely to limit the effectiveness of water policies aimed at restoring natural flow regimes. As a result, trade-offs between environmental needs and income from extractive use will need to be determined. This work is important and timely in water-policy development demonstrating the linkages and trade-offs between ecological and economic objectives.     

Conservation networks,integrated and sustainable land use in a tropical frontier — the Cape York Peninsula region,Australia

Summary After discussing methods for and the difficulties of determining optimal land use, particularly in relation to conservation and sustainability issues, prospects for establishing conservation networks so as to preserve the wildemess characteristics of the Cape York Peninsula area are considered. According to a number of international studies, nature conservation in this region should be given a high priority. While Cape York is sparsely settled, it is not, however, a complete wilderness. Mining, cattle ranching, forestry, fishing, tourism and land use by Aborigines, frequently conflict with nature conservation in this region. But most of the land currently belongs to the Crown (State), even though Crown title is now subject to counter-claims by Aborigines following the Mabo case which is outlined, and most is held as leasehold by its users. In theory, leasehold from the Crown should give considerable scope for altering land use in the region, and instituting a system of conservation networks in the area based on core protected areas, such as those suggested by the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. Nevertheless, strategic land use planning for Cape York Peninsula is difficult because knowledge about the stock of natural resources and current land uses in the region is very imperfect, and conflicts between interest groups at the regional, State and national level are unlikely to allow for easy harmonious resolutions of land use disputes.But an encouraging sign in favour of nature conservation as a land use in Cape York Peninsula is its low economic opportunity cost, except where it comes into conflict with mining. Net returns from extensive pastoralism appear to be negative and economic returns from forestry are low. Tourism could be compatible with conservation. Potential conflicts with mining could be taken into account in the early planning stages of conservation networks by gazetting very large nature reserves and at a later time allowing some portions to be assigned for mining. The royalties from such mining might be used as transfer payments to benefit further conservation efforts in the region.Dr Andreas E. Hohl is a staff member and Professor Clem A. Tisdell is a Department Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Queensland.     

Protected areas, agricultural pests and economic damage: conflicts with elephants and pests in Yunnan, China

Protected areas are often the source of agricultural pests and Xishuangbanna State Nature Reserve in Yunnan is no exception. The main pest associated with the reserve is the Asian elephant Elephas maximus which causes damage outside the reserve to agriculture and also within the reserve. These elephants are an important attraction for tourists visiting Xishuangbanna. Xishuangbanna prefecture contains the only remaining wild elephants in China. The present direct economic value of tourism within the reserve is much less than the loss resulting from the economic damage caused by the elephants and other species protected by it. Whether the net economic value of protecting this species in Xishuangbanna is positive depends on other factors or future tourism prospects. Methods of controlling pests from the reserve are discussed, as is the scheme for compensating agriculturalists for the damage caused by these pests. The problem of achieving an equitable solution to the pest problem is given considerable attention. The economics of reconciling the conflicting interests of those who either regard a species as a pest or as an asset are considered.     

Global Trade in GM Food and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: Consequences for China

The UN Cartagena Protocol onBiosafety adopted in Montreal, 29 January, 2000and opened for signature in Nairobi, 15–26 May,2000 will exert a profound effect oninternational trade in genetically modifiedorganisms (GMOs) and their products. In thispaper, the potential effects of variousarticles of the Protocol on international tradein GMOs are analyzed. Based on the presentstatus of imports of GMOs and domestic researchand development of biotechnology in China,likely trends in imports of foreign GM food andrelated products after China accedes to WTO isexplored. Also, China's potentialcountermeasures to control and regulate importsof GMOs in line with implementation of theProtocol are discussed. China, in recent times,has increased its food and agricultural importssubstantially from USA and Canada. Chinaimported soybean 10.42 mill. tons in 2000 andabout 15 mill tons in 2001, of which majorityare from USA where GM soybean accounts for60%. The plantation of US Monsanto'stransgenic Bt cotton was increased to more than1 million ha in China in 2001. Though China haspaid great attention to develop biotechnology,it appears to have little scope to export GMOsand GM products. So China may consider a rangeof administrative measures to implement theCartagena Protocol and to regulate its importof GMOs and GM agricultural products.Consequently, the Regulation on Safety ofAgri-GMOs was issued on June, 2001 and followedthree detailed rules issued in Jan. of 2002,with a priority to limit foreign GMOs importingby safety certification and labeling system.These were outlined taking into accountpolicies adopted in Western countries such asgreen barriers to international trade.     

Changing abundance of elephants and willingness to pay for their conservation

This paper explores the way in which the stated willingness to pay for the conservation of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka varies with hypothetical variations in their abundance. To do that, it relies on results from a sample of residents of Colombo. The willingness to pay function is found to be unusual. It increases at an increasing rate for hypothetical reductions in the elephant population compared to its current level (a level that makes the Asian elephant endangered) and also increases at a decreasing rate for increases in this population from its current level. Rational explanations are given for this relationship. The relationship is, however, at odds with relationships suggested in some of the literature for total economic value as a function of the abundance of a wildlife species. It is suggested that willingness to pay for conservation of a species rationally includes a strategic element and may not always measure the total economic value of a species. Nevertheless, willingness to pay is still policy relevant in such cases.     

Reconciling economic development,nature conservation and local communities: strategies for biodiversity conservation in Xishuangbanna,China

Summary The State Council of China has adopted Agenda 21for China and biodiversity conservation is one plank of its agenda for China's sustainable development. This paper offers a brief discussion of China's White Paper on Agenda 21 and examines, as a case study, the problem of sustaining biological diversity in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan. This area is rated as one of megadiversity, and therefore, as one deserving a high priority for conservation purposes. After discussing the general socio-economic obstacles to biodiversity conservation in Xishuangbanna, the article outlines the types of strategies adopted in China for reducing pressures of local communities on biodiversity and nature conservation. China's preferred strategy for easing pressures on biodiversity conservation in nature reserves is to improve economic opportunities outside of the reserves and raise the income levels of people living in the neighbourhood of the reserves. This approach has been adopted in Xishuangbanna and there are plans to extend it. Community development projects such as agroforestry, joint ventures in tourism and so on are being encouraged. Mechanisms for selecting suitable community development projectse.g. using rapid rural appraisal (RRA), are considered. Without economic development at the local level, plans for biodiversity conservation are unlikely to succeed in China or for that matter elsewhere in the developing world.Dr Clem Tisdell is Professor and Head of Department of Economics at the University of Queensland. Zhu Xiang may be contacted at The World Bank Loan Project, Ministry of Forestry, Beijing 100714, PR of China. This paper represents a revised version of an article presented to the International Conference: China's Economy Towards 2000, held at La Trobe University, Melbourne, 14–15 February 1995.     

生物安全议定书对中国转基因作物产品进口贸易的影响及对策

2000年1月29日在蒙特利尔通过并于同年5月15日～26日在内罗毕开放签署的联合国<卡塔赫纳生物安全议定书>对转基因生物(GMOs)及其产品的国际贸易具有深远的影响.本文阐述了该议定书起草与谈判的背景;分析了议定书各条款对GMOs国际贸易的潜在影响;并在分析目前中国进口GM作物产品的现状和中国生物技术开发研究现状的基础上,探讨了中国加入WTO后国外生物技术和GMOs及其产品输入中国的趋势;同时提出中国履行<生物安全议定书>对控制和管理国外GMOs及其产品进口的策略.