- Biodiversity
- Climate Change
- COVID-19 Pandemic
- Cultural Heritage
- Overtourism
2021 | CREST, WWF, ASU, IUNC WCPA TAPAS Group |
In many parts of the world, the COVID-19 crisis has led to increased habitat encroachment, poaching, illegal wildlife trade, and unregulated harvesting, placing an increased risk for zoonotic disease transmission. At the same time, there are ongoing concerns of dramatic increases in COVID-19 induced tourism visitation and waste production in some locales, which also impact public health and visitor management.
This symposium, co-sponsored by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group (TAPAS Group), Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Arizona State University (ASU) School of Community Resources and Development, located in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, brings together global experts to address some of these challenges and provide examples of solution-oriented outcomes, in the wake of IUCN’s 2021 World Conservation Congress.
Biodiversity Conservation Financing through Sustainable Nature-Based Tourism
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare that nature-based tourism is the largest market-based contributor to finance and steward protected areas. It also underscored that a vast majority of enterprises are SMEs – companies that lack capital and collateral to weather storms and invest in biodiversity conservation initiatives. This session will highlight the financing challenges and identify potential emerging solutions.
Visitors Count: Establishing the Economic Impacts of Tourism in Protected Areas
Visitors Count! are new guidelines that aim to help national stakeholders, protected area managers and researchers count visitation and measure economic impacts consistently through a standardized approach. In this session, several of the guidelines’ contributing experts will explain how to use the approach, to help managers make informed decisions on management plans and tourism strategies. The methodological approaches were developed and tested in different protected areas around the world, including within protected areas, national parks, UNESCO World Heritage properties, and UNESCO Biosphere reserves.
Sustainable Livelihoods and Human Health through Tourism
There is an emerging body of evidence that tourism in and around protected areas elevates human well-being, including higher wealth levels, a reduction in poverty, and health benefits. The panel will explore the underlying body of research and nature-based tourism models to achieve the best outcomes.
Visitation and Biodiversity Conservation in Protected Areas in Light of COVID-19
Global tourism revenues have been helping to deliver biodiversity conservation and livelihoods for decades. The revenue creates financial incentives to conserve important wildlife populations and the areas where they live, as well as support local communities and economies. The pandemic, however, is dramatically changing all this, causing systemic shock with widespread implications. This session engages international experts who will share insights into the impacts of the pandemic on visitation and biodiversity conservation in protected areas.
The Resurgence of Overtourism in Protected Areas in Crisis Recovery
Where protected areas have reopened, domestic trips have provided a vital lifeline to businesses that previously relied on international visitors, but these have overwhelmed some natural spaces. Problems have included overcrowding, anti-social behavior, littering, and makeshift toilets, which threaten conservation objectives and pose a hazard to human health. In this session, experts provide insights into proactive strategies being used by protected areas to address these challenges.
Sustainable Tourism Blueprints and Solutions
Our planet is at a critical crossroads, simultaneously facing climate, biodiversity and pollution crises, and with tourism destination’s host communities bearing the brunt of the impacts. In this session, global thought leaders will share their proactive blueprints and solutions for sustainable tourism, and we will discuss how we can combat these challenges together.
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