1.Front section - IUCN

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Friends for Life: New partners in support of protected areas
Appreciating how different groups of people value
nature is essential to making decisions about
appropriate park-based tourism and visitor
management.
Visitor use must be compatible with the overriding
mission of a protected area. It occurs within a
dynamic social, cultural, legal, institutional and
geographic context. Compatibility among users is
important to the financial success and effective
management of a protected area. Incompatible user
groups can lead to conflict, loss of support and wasted
investment (FPATF, 2000). Overuse and misuse can
lead to destruction of the asset. Tourism, recreation
and visitation to protected areas must be designed to
respect the ecological and social carrying capacity of
any site, and with respect for the rights of others
especially local people.
How tourism contributes to
protected areas
Providing financial support for protected
areas
An exemplar of private sector contribution is SabiSabi
Private Game Reserve situated in the Mpumalanga
province of South Africa, bordering the Kruger
National Park. It is a 5000ha property that has been
operating for 25 years. It has three separate lodges
with a total of 46 luxury units, based on a model of
high yield, low volume tourism.
SabiSabi espouses a philosophy that the only way for
conservation to survive in Africa is by justifying itself
economically. It epitomises the link between tourism,
conservation and community, each supporting the
other. The conservation is the tourism product, and the
tourism provides the funds for the conservation work on
the property. Together they support the local
community. Through employment of 190 locals they
provide economic benefit to over 1200 people.
SabiSabi is one of four properties in South Africa to
receive the IUCN South Africa Fair Trade in Tourism
South Africa trademark. It has earned this through
working conditions, employment principles and
conservation outcomes (Shorten, Harper and Loon,
2003).
A second example demonstrates how user fees and
levies on the private sector help finance public
conserved areas. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority (GBRMPA) requires commercial tour
operators to pay an Environmental Management
Charge (EMC). For most types of operations in
2002/2003 this was $A4.50 per day for each tourist
carried. The total income generated was $A6.7
million, approximately 20% of the entire budget of the
GBRMPA. The EMC is also applied to mariculture,
vessel chartering, vending operations and sewage
discharge, though insignificant in comparison (0.3%
of the budget). Other charges apply to the tourism
industry, including permit application assessment
fees. The EMC is a highly successful and equitable
component of financing the GBRMP (Skeat and
Skeat, 2003).
Supporting sustainable use of natural
and cultural heritage
Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa)
demonstrates private sector tourism supporting
conservation and impoverished neighbouring
communities. They integrate the needs of local people
with their overall conservation and development
objectives through very successful high yield tourism.
This approach for the past 13 years has resulted in the
development of 36 luxury camps and lodges in six
African countries. Informed by their guiding
principles of ‘Care of the Land, Care of the Wildlife,
Care of the People,’ CC Africa’s conservation model
attracts discerning global travellers whose leisure
expenditure funds the development of conservation,
land-restoration and community empowerment.
Examples of the benefits to the natural environment
include funding the conservation of 340,000ha of
African wildlife land. CC Africa currently spends
$US3m annually directly on conservation, community
empowerment, and national park gate fees and
wilderness traversing rights. Their contribution towards
the future prosperity and conservation of Africa through
alliances and joint ventures is incalculable. At several of
their properties they have transformed former hunting
grounds employing a few people into sustainable
ecotourism models providing employment for
hundreds of people.
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