|
|
|
|
Introduction to the Research Wildlife and exotic landscapes are important tourist attractions throughout the world, although particularly so in developing countries which still contain large tracts of relatively undisturbed wilderness. In 1990 developing countries attracted 50 million tourists who left revenues of 55 billion US dollars in the process (WTO 1991). Furthermore, there is a growing tendency towards visiting protected areas in these countries (Ceballos-Lascurain 1996). Tourism has the potential to provide much needed economic benefit to a region, however this industry can also pose a serious threat to the cultural and natural environment, affecting the lives of local people (Conservation International 1999) and the very wildlife, habitats and protected areas that are the basis of the attraction (Pigram 1980, Boyle & Samson 1985, Boo 1990, Groom 1990, Wallace 1993, Staib & Schenck 1994, Hidinger 1996, Yoon 1997). The environmental consequences of badly planned tourism are many and vary from erosion, water- air- and soil-pollution, introduction of alien species and diseases, disruption and destruction of feeding and breeding habitats, redistribution of wild populations, and so forth. Environmental problems such as these can lead to long-term impacts on local habitats and wildlife and can put the very future of local tourist industries at stake by reducing the attractiveness of a destination (Mieczkowski 1995, Mihalic 2000). Amazonian rainforests have seen a greater than average growth in tourist numbers over the last 15 years. There exists a significant degree of uncertainty regarding the magnitude of tourism related impacts on Amazonian wildlife, due in part to the relatively recent attraction of this environment and the scarcity of thorough long-term investigations. Rainforest tourism in the Peruvian Amazon, and particularly in the Department of Madre de Dios, is characterised to a great extent by large static lodge-based operations or tented camps with their associated clearings, infrastructure, trail networks, guides, motorised river boats, etc. Such operations are currently a growing phenomenon. There is little or no information related to the effects of lodges on rainforest wildlife and an urgent need exists 1) to investigate the local impacts of this type of operation on wildlife, 2) to identify adequate management practices in order to prevent or alleviate impacts when they are found, and 3) to divulge this information to lodge administrators, tourists, global operators, and local people as well as the government authorities responsible for tourism and natural resource management. Visitors to Madre de Dios are drawn, on the whole, to two protected areas, the Tambopata Candamo Reserved Zone (TCRZ) and the Manu Biosphere Reserve (MBR). In 1998 these areas attracted approximately 14,000 and 2,500 tourists, respectively. The average annual growth rate in tourists to Madre de Dios over the last 5 years has been approximately 22% with the vast majority of this growth occurring in the TCRZ. In this report we present the findings of "Project Tambopata", a tourism impact study undertaken from January 1997 to November 1998 at five lodges associated with the TCRZ. These were: Cusco Amaz�nico Pueblo Hotel (CAPH), Explorers’ Inn (EI), EcoAmazon�a Lodge (ECO), Sachavacayoc Centre (and Sachavaca Inn) (SACHA) and the Tambopata Research Center (TRC). The investigation concentrated on four faunal groups: mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds. Many species within these groups are frequently considered important natural tourist attractions in their own right, for example monkeys and macaws, etc. so the information herein is of direct interest to lodge administrators and tour companies serving the area. The project was co-ordinated by the Research and Monitoring Studies Unit (RAMOS) of the Tambopata Reserve Society (TReeS). TReeS is a Non-governmental Organisation and UK Charity (No. 298054) that has been active in Tambopata since 1986. The classic experimental procedure for environmental impact assessments (EIA) involving wild populations requires the measurement and analysis of abundance before and after a supposed impact variable commences, both in the area of influence of the variable (treatment) and well away from it (control), although always in comparable habitats. However, in this instance we were unable to examine the wildlife communities in question before the impact variable (tourism) began, as all lodges were already built and operational several years before this investigation commenced. In order to overcome this we designed the study such that we could investigate the residual or ongoing effects of tourist lodges that have been operating for varying numbers of years and have hosted varying numbers of tourists as a consequence. The central variables under investigation were the presence of tourist trails in the habitat and the intensity of trail-use. Other observable variables relating to tour-group management, guides, waste disposal, pets, and so forth are also discussed, although no quantitative data was collected on them. We feel these other issues required discussion in order to adequately illustrate the reality of tourism in Tambopata and the range of issues that can affect the local wildlife. The stakeholders in the area, that is to say the lodge administrators and staff, protected area managers in the form of the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA), local government authorities such as the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce (MITINCI), as well as local communities are aware that tourism and lodge operations may be damaging the local environment. Many have expressed a need to investigate the issue in more detail and have expressed much interest in receiving information and recommendations to mitigate impacts where identified. This report addresses that need. The conservation status of the TCRZ since it was created in 1990 has been temporary. Only after biological and social land-use studies have been undertaken will land-use zoning and categorisation of forested and agricultural lands be defined. The final stages of this planning process, which includes tourism as a land-use, were underway as this report was being prepared (1999). We therefore call the attention of the TCRZ Land-use Planning Committee to the findings of this report in their search for information and guidance in developing an appropriate tourism management plan for the area. We also consider this report and the journal publications that will follow, as important baseline references for future investigations of the same wildlife communities and lodges that were studied, and we hope that future inquisitive scientists will continue where we have left off, improving our understanding of the mechanisms underlying tourism impacts and highlighting the importance of long-term wildlife monitoring of these impacts. |