Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere - WBGU

188 E Diversity of landscapes and ecosystems
Box E 3.7-2
Obergurgl: Why one of the world’s first
ecosystem management projects failed
One of the first projects within the context of the Austrian
MAB programme (Section I 3.3.2) was the ‘Obergurgl project’
in the upper Ötz Valley, which started during the years
of the International Biological Programme and was officially
called into being as a MAB project in 1971 (Price,
1995). This project had the objective of researching, in an
integrated and interdisciplinary approach, the ecological
and socio-economic consequences of the change of a previously
agricultural alpine village into a tourism centre and to
shape a sustainable future for the region together with the
population (Moser and Moser, 1986). In particular, the
impact of tourism on the vegetation, soils and pasturage was
to be examined.Another central issue was the perception of
‘environmental quality’ by the locals and tourists. As a priority
objective, the land use by tourism was to be designed
in such a way that traditional land use forms and biological
diversity were conserved while a sustainable economic
upturn was supported. The analysis showed two economic
alternatives for this region: mass tourism with high
turnover, large-scale job creation, but major risks for the
environment (high profit with foreseeable negative consequences
for the environment) or exclusive, expensive individual
tourism on the basis of division of labour and income
between farmers and hoteliers with foreseeable environmental
sustainability. Controlled by a comprehensive socioeconomic
model, the compensation payments between the
hotel owners and the farmers, who maintained the conventional
alpine pasture landscape, were to be regulated, for
example. Even details like the waiting times at ski lifts,
which on the one hand were to deal with the tourists quickly
and, on the other hand, offer the opportunity for communications
between the people waiting, were taken into
account in the model.
The project started with euphoria and a division of roles
and income among the locals that was planned down to the
very last detail. The hotel owners saw rising incomes, the
farmers a sustainable support for their otherwise not very
profitable activity. However, in spite of the euphoric start,
the project was prematurely abandoned in 1979. Superficially
this was because of the withdrawal of funding from
the Austrian MAB Committee. But the reason was internal
disagreements between hoteliers, farmers and environmentalists.
This was about the avalanche protection on the eastern
slope at the southern edge of the village, where the owners
of large hotels planned extensions that would otherwise
have been at risk from avalanches. But the avalanche protection
was just an excuse to build a road on the alpine pastureland
region above the slope at risk of avalanche and to
build a lift system there in a region that was reserved for the
protection of the native flora and fauna in the land use
model. In addition, there were arguments between the hotel
owners and the farmers concerning appropriate compensation
payments to the farmers who were supposed to design
the alpine landscape for exclusive tourism. The hoteliers
wanted ever bigger hotels but were ever less willing to honour
the services of the farmers and to take the environment
into account. The decision to secure the slope at the upper
edge of the village against avalanches, to build the road on
the upper alpine pasture and to build another ski lift in the
nature reserve led to removal of the MAB status. The initiator
of the MAB project emigrated to Canada (due to bitterness
about the failure of ‘his’ project), accepted a chair at
the University of Alberta in Edmonton and today, as an
emeritus, he runs a farm in the Canadian Rockies.
In spite of the obvious failure of a plan originally started
with great commitment and with the consensus of all the
groups involved, the Obergurgl project provided a number
of important results: it was a pioneering achievement to formulate
an integrated and comprehensive ecological and
socio-economic model. This was only possible with close
contact between scientists, locals and decision-makers
(Prince, 1995). Many of the results laid down in the comprehensive
final report (Patzelt, 1987) later found their way
into the concepts of the Swiss and German MAB programmes.
But the most important experience remains the
fact that ultimately the efforts by individuals to make a
profit can, after all, ruin sustainable planning if internal
regulation is disenfranchised because the avalanche protection
was authorized and financed by external sources.
CBD in 1998 could not agree to enter into an international
exchange of information and experience
about issues relating to tourism and biodiversity
(Steck et al, 1998). Nevertheless, the subject of sustainable
tourism remains on the agenda in international
environmental and development policy.
The aim is for a legally binding regulation on the
basis of existing ‘soft’ obligations, such as the UNEP
code of conduct for sustainable tourism and the
adoption of a measure-oriented international programme
of action within the context of the 7th Session
of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD-7) in 1999. Additional regulations within
the context of existing agreements are conceivable
for this. The subject of ‘Sustainable Tourism and Biodiversity’
is to be dealt with at the 5th COP of the
CBD in the year 2000. The aim is for a mandate to
draw up tourism guidelines. In the long term, these
guidelines should allow the negotiation of an additional
agreement (protocol) to the CBD.The Federal
Agency for Nature Conservation has already submitted
a draft for such a ‘Tourism Protocol’ (BfN,
1997b).
E 3.7.4
Recommendations
Guidelines for sustainable tourism: examine
options for over-arching regulation
The initiative for a supplemental arrangement to
anchor tourism guidelines within the CBD is, in the
Council’s view, a step in the right direction since a
‘Tourism Protocol’ does not currently seem internationally
enforceable. The directive approach, more
flexible as a result of its non-binding nature, is more