1.Front section - IUCN

Building support for protected areas through tourism 11
Minnamurra Rainforest Centre Budderoo National Park, NSW Australia. A raised boardwalk takes around 100,000 visitors per year through the
canopy of the remnant rainforest while protecting the forest floor.
© NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Working to support local and indigenous
community development, poverty
alleviation, and co-management of
protected areas
The rights of indigenous peoples to access protected
areas and the values they contain are complex, and at
times, controversial (Scherl, this volume). Issues of
traditional use of biological resources, land rights, and
ownership, particularly for colonized peoples who
have been dislocated, dominate much of the policy
discourse in this arena.
The issues of indigenous people are often oversimplified
and romanticized. The debates over
appropriate use of protected areas and models of
management have been linked to efforts to restore and
address the land rights of indigenous peoples. A range
of cultural and ethical issues surround the
identification, evaluation and management of cultural
landscapes, particularly those associated with the
history of indigenous people and the associated issues
of territory, dislocation, secret knowledge, lost
language, and sacredness. Co-management of
protected areas and the use of locally managed
tourism to generate income for both the local
community and the conservation work has been
successful in a number of countries.
Protected area-based tourism is not without
problems for traditional owners, especially if they are
excluded or displaced. For example, Machu Picchu, a
World Heritage Site, has outstanding cultural and
agrarian values as a 500 year old Inca city. It is one of
the most important tourist destinations in Latin
America. For the poor people of this land, it is sacred,
yet the system which declared it ‘protected’, removed
them and then encouraged hundreds of thousands of
visitors, generating vast income while the asset was
degraded, both spiritually and ecologically, and they
experienced loss of basic necessities of food and water
(Andrade, 2000).
Contributing to civil society, engendering
respect for others and for our natural
and cultural heritage
The construction of nature varies in time across
cultural, political and social beliefs and economic
status. This influences the values placed on nature and
what is regarded as priority for protection and what is
acceptable use (Bushell, 1999; Staiff et al., 2002).
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