Feasibility Study of Proposed Tourism Dev in Shewula, NE ...

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Chapter 1 - Introduction • Local participation contributes towards responsibility and accountability in developments. This allows the development perspective to become more holistic and aim for sustainability. This is well illustrated in the following set of principles developed for community-based tourism development. Principles of Community-Based Ecotourism Development 8 • Contribute towards the conservation of cultural and biological resources. • Contribute towards alternative sustainable livelihood strategies for communities. • Ensure a transparent planning process that will provide access to information for all interested and affected parties. • Ensure participatory planning that will take the needs of all stakeholders into account. • Ensure co-operative relations among stakeholders. • Ensure the optimal distribution of mutual benefits. Principles of Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) 9 • Adopt broad definition of the term 'environment', which includes biophysical, social, economic, historical, political and cultural aspects. • Planning must be conducted in an open and participatory manner. • Informed decision-making is essential for effective participatory planning. • Individuals must be held accountable for decisions and proper information dissemination. • Consultation with interested and affected parties is essential throughout the development process. • There must be due consideration of all alternatives. • Regard for the rights and obligations of individuals must be upheld. • Opportunities for public and specialist input must be provided for. These sets of principles are all founded within sustainability theory, and provide useful guidance in development. They also provide a practical framework, within which to develop mitigatory measures that will contribute towards the reduction of negative environmental impacts. Through current development practice, there exists a transfer of resources from natural and cultural resource losses to that of economical resource gain. Impacts on the biophysical environment have been well researched, and today many resources exist that can contribute towards mitigation of these biophysical impacts. Social sustainability, on the other hand, is a field that is attracting massive research attention. Concepts of social sustainability and cultural tourism are currently being researched in many parts of the world. Research results indicate that there is no unique approach or model that can be applied to avoid the negative impacts of tourism on the social environment. What has been made clear however, is that minimal understanding of the 'other party' exists between the tourist and local community member. Current research points in the direction of creating better understanding through improved interaction between these two vastly differing world-views. 10 8 Obtained from current research conducted by EcoAfrica Environmental Consultants. 9 Fuggle, R. 1992: 'Guideline document 1: The Integrated Environmental Management Procedure' in Integrated Environmental Management Guideline Series, Department of Environmental Affairs, Cape Town. 10 Obtained from current research conducted by EcoAfrica Environmental Consultants.
Chapter 1 - Introduction Local participation in development projects has been identified as a fundamental prerequisite for sustainability. If local communities do not take ownership of a project in the development stages, it is likely that interest will perish as soon as the development agency withdraws. It is with this in mind that Drake formulates four levels of local participation. Drake identifies the lowest level as information sharing, where information is given to the community. The next level, consultation, provides the community with the opportunity to comment on the development. Following this, decision-making allows local communities access to decision-making within the development process. The highest level, initiating action, allows the community to take on the responsibility of action and decision making. 11 Trends in community-based tourism development are showing that the highest form of participation, which Drake refers to as initiating, contributes most beneficially towards sustainable development. It is clear from current research that community-based tourism development needs to be approached in a precautionary manner, with role-players having open minds on how to forge relations and promote open and easy communication between individuals. This approach will contribute significantly towards an increase in understanding of the concept of development, and how it should be approached in the future. 1.4.1. Terms and definitions Since the field of community-based tourism development is current and dynamic, many paradigms are in the process of being challenged. This has resulted in much debate over the definition of fundamental terms and concepts. The following definitions are a synthesis, drawn from interaction with practitioners in the field and from current literature. Ecotourism 'Ecotourism' is a complex term, open to different interpretations and hence difficult to define. However, for the purposes of this feasibility study ecotourism '...means sustainable tourism development which recognises the interdependence between the environment and the economy. The aim of ecotourism development is to produce net benefits...while conserving the environmental and social resource base for future generations of both residents and tourists' 2 Sustainable The meaning of the term 'sustainable' is much debated. However, it is broadly accepted that 'sustainable' implies '...the wise use of natural resources over generations, and not for the good of a single lifetime' 3 For the purpose of this report, however, 'sustainable' implies the wise use of not only 'natural resources', but all environmental resources, including sociological, cultural and financial resources. 1 Drake, S. 1991: Nature Tourism - Managing for the Environment, Island Press, Washington, DC, p.132. 12 De Vletter, R. n.d: Africa in Microcosm : Towards the establishment of a transnational ecotourism zone: Swaziland - Mozambique, p. 10. 13 Yeld, J., op cit.
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3.5. RECOMMENDATIONS The recommenda
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4.4. PROBLEMS This section presents
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and therefore how the benefits to t
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c) Re-establishment of game The bel
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) Indirect income generation Sugges
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iome of these assumptions will have
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Chapter 6 - Tourism, Marketing and
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The following model was formulated
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Chapter 7 - Conclusions 7.1. INTROD
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Chapter 8 - Recommendations 8.2.4.
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Chapter 9 - The Way Forward proposa
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Chapter 9 - The Way Forward communi
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References Obua, J. 1997: The Poten
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The four questions that the study t
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3. Requirements The resources that
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Outreach programme at Mlawula could
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If the tourism development site wer
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Feasibility Study of Proposed Tourism Dev in Shewula, NE ...

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