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170 UNIT 5: THE SUSTAINABLE SITING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF TOURISM FACILITIES 5. WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE SITE? • Has it been used for industrial purposes? • Have water and soil contamination tests been carried out? • Are strong electromagnetic fields present? • Is the site clear of deposition from surrounding industrial sites? • Does the vegetation on the site show any signs of stress? • What is the potential for passive solar design and renewable energy? This is especially important if the site is far from the grid. 6. REUSE OF EXISTING STRUCTURES: • Can existing structures be reused or upgraded as part of the development? • If the structures are beyond repair, can some building materials be recovered and reused for the new development? 7. HOW WILL FUTURE LAND-USE PLANS FOR THE AREAS SURROUNDING THE SITE INFLUENCE THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT? • Are industrial and commercial developments planned for surrounding areas? Will this increase or decrease the value and aesthetics of the site? • Will these developments affect the site’s access to sunlight, water or power? • Might these developments cause air and water pollution, or increase noise levels or congestion? 2.2 Carrying Capacity Considerations In tourism, carrying capacity is the maximum number of visitors and supporting infrastructure, that can be maintained in a given site or destination before environment damage occurs. When the threshold is exceeded, the resources required and pollution generated by tourism begins to degrade the natural environment. Carrying capacity is important in site selection, because it encourages developers to consider S E C T I O N 2 • Capacity thresholds for buildings and visitor numbers right from the start; • A range of alternative sites; • The human and financial resources needed for environment impact mitigation before the final choice of site is made. Calculating Tourism Carrying Capacity Ecological sensitivity differs from ecosystem to ecosystem. Coastal areas and wetlands are, for example, more dynamic and fragile than prairies. Likewise, rocky cliffs are more resistant and less dynamic than mountain forests. Furthermore, tourism is a dynamic business and visitor numbers fluctuate greatly from season to season. Given these factors, the carrying capacity of a site will depend on:
UNIT 5: THE SUSTAINABLE SITING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF TOURISM FACILITIES 171 • Number of tourist arrivals; • Patterns of visitor arrivals and length of stay; • Tourist activities; • Number of local people living in the area; • Facility design; • Destination management strategies; • Characteristics and quality of the surrounding environment. While the concept of carrying capacity works well in theory, its practical application can be challenging. When determining the levels at which the threshold should be set, it is necessary to consider what level of activity can be considered too much, and what level of environment modification can be regarded as acceptable. Natural resource management researchers often use the ‘Limits of Acceptable Change’ principle, which attempts to set measurable limits to human-activityinduced changes in natural areas. This principle is widely used in the management of natural parks and protected areas. S E C T I O N 2 2.3 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) The next step is to study the potential impacts on the environment of the proposed development, and how they could be avoided or reduced. The method used for this is known as the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA). EIA is a procedure to forecast and assess the environment implications of proposed developments. It provides the opportunity for: • Identification and accounting for direct and indirect 1 environment impacts before a decision is made as to whether the proposed development is to proceed as planned; • Modification of development proposals in order to avoid and reduce the potential environment impacts. EIA is about identifying environment impact, that is the change in environment conditions that will be induced by the proposed development. This change is compared with the environment situation as it would be if the development did not occur. The natural environment is not static: there are different processes and rates of change in all ecosystems, and assumptions must be made as to the natural changes of the site. For example, in an EIA of a beach resort, it would be necessary to study the rate of natural change of the shoreline, the ecological succession of the coastal vegetation, patterns of erosion and deposit, etc. In contrast, in an EIA for a visitor centre on a rocky cliff, generally a far less dynamic ecosystem than a coastline, a description of the present state of the environment may be sufficient. 1 An EIA asseses both direct and indirect impacts of a proposed project. For example, when building a beach resort, the clearing of costal vegetation on the immediate hinterland can have direct impacts on the beach ecosystems. It can change the natural patterns of deposit and erosion, and increase the silting of shallow waters. This may in turn increase silting in nearby lagoons and estuaries that will reduce the growth of fish and shellfish. An indirect impact of the proposed development could therefore be the losses encountered by the local coastal fisheries industry. The EIA Process The main stages of the fully-fledged EIA process are: 1. Screening: Establishing the need for an EIA. 2. Scoping: Determining the scope of the EIA.
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sowing the seeds of change AN ENVIR
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ii Foreword It is with great pleasu
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iv About the Sponsors Le Ministère
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vi Bass Hotels & Resorts Bass Hotel
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viii Table of Contents USER’S GUI
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x Unit 4: Environment Management Sy
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003 UNIT 1 WHERE DO WE STAND? THE S
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SECTION 1: THE STATE OF THE ENVIRON
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UNIT 1: WHERE DO WE STAND? THE STAT
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TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND THE ENVIRO
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046 SECTION 4: THE NEED FOR ENVIRON
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055 UNIT 3 ENVIRONMENT LAW, VOLUNTA
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SECTION 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIR
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SECTION 2: VOLUNTARY INITIATIVES AN
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UNIT 3: ENVIRONMENT LAW, VOLUNTARY
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069 UNIT 4 ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT S
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SECTION 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIR
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SECTION 2: DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENT
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UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYST
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Page 236 and 237: 217 Introduction of Environment Imp
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Our natural ecologies today are in
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