Eco-Cultural Tourism for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development of Remote Ecosystems in the Third World

Abstract

Most of the remote areas such as mountains and islands are characterized by the features such as remoteness, fragility, endemism, and upland/lowland or island/mainland linkages, besides richer biodiversity and indigenous knowledge, thus attracting a large number of quality conscious tourists. However, conventional “top-down”, reactive and ad-hoc approaches and ill-conceived “development” activities such as infrastructure for mass tourism will destroy the very natural and cultural resource base on which the tourism thrives in these areas. These trends have led to the paradigm shifts towards community-based, participatory, and pro-active management strategies. Appropriate strategies for integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods by regenerating nature and culture for facilitating sustainable development of remote ecosystems in the third world are discussed in this chapter.