Arooba Ahmed
How Ecotourism Can Harm Indigenous Communities
Rabi Scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York – studying Biochemistry and Psychology
Background for the article: “How Ecotourism Can Harm Indigenous Communities”
- Very few eco-tourism projects managed by indigenous communities
- Create a culture that fetishizes them
- Classifications – guidelines and solutions
- We should start by changing our views
References
- Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (by Rob Nixon)
Indigenous Communities have no say in the creation of the eco-tours – legal bindings
- A better way?
- If run by NGOs, non-profit organisations?
ARTICLES DISCUSSED
“This tourist-centered ecotourism experience can also be found in Kenya, where the economy is driven by tourist dollars.
Seventy percent of the nation’s tourist parks are located on indigenous Maasai land, and images of the Maasai warriors are often used in international advertising campaigns.
The Maasai receive no financial benefits from this industry, and other communities receive very little, if at all any. Beyond this, the stereotypical representation of this indigenous community is completely regressive.
The Maasai people have begun to incorporate business and commerce into their lives, and the depiction of them solely as warriors is not nearly the full picture of a group that has a wealth of other practices and traditions.”
Rob Nixon, in his 2011 book goes into depth on this issue and comments on game lodges (spaces where mainly Western tourists come to stay during tours).
He argues that they have created an environment that is detached from the rest of the world by denying the existence of modernity.
For local communities, it’s a win-win experience.
Ecotourism provides support through employment and other means, but not at the expense of the local environment.
Ecotourism companies can also help give back to the community by offering training in useful skills.
Community projects: From walking in the ancient Ethiopian highlands to meeting remote tribes in the Amazon: the travel companies who run sensitive trips that support indigenous lifestyles
Finca Esperanza Verde, Nicaragua
Owned by a non-profit organisation and run by volunteers based in North Carolina, the lodge is powered by renewable energy sources (solar and hydro-electric), and 10% of its income is invested in rural water projects and local schools.
