Principles of Ecotourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Principles of Ecotourism - Essay Example However the influx of such tourists in large numbers itself presents a threat to the ecological balance preserved in such locations. Instances of these locations include national parks, sanctuaries, forest preserves, coastal areas, mountains etc. This paper chooses a particular eco-tourism spot and examines its ecological appeal, efforts made by interested groups -both private and governmental-in preserving such ecological appeal and problems and corrective policies followed to tackle threats to such appeal. Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is spread over an impressive some 1.5 million hectares in northeastern Bolivia. This park is one of the most remote and biologically diverse areas on earth. The park is located so strategically and fortuitously that it harbors multiple eco-systems-a variety of eco-systems which is almost not available anywhere else on the earth. This park has following eco-systems: Amazonian rainforest, gallery forest, semi-deciduous tropical forest, flooded savannah, thorn scrub, cerrado and wetlands. In addition to such a wide variety of eco-preserves, the Noel Kempff Park also covers the Capar plateau, an imposing 85,000-acre Precambrian escarpment emerging quite dramatically from out of the rainforests surrounding it. The plateau is pleasantly greened by lush grasslands and cerrado forests and drained by several perennial rivers on its uneven landscape, which makes for the 10 spell binding and spectacular waterfalls.(The Nature-a,2006) Perhaps due to this strategic and unique biogeographic location, the Noel Kempff Park is reckoned to house the richest store of biological diversity on earth, much of which has largely become lost to the world from other, more accessible, parts of the Amazon, for instance. Noel Kempff park is home to an impressive 630 species of birds (nearly a quarter of all known bird species in the Neotropics), 70 species of reptiles and 130 species of mammals including the freshwater river dolphins, the giant otter and the rare species maned wolf. (The Nature-a, 2006) The Park management in Conservation Milieu Due to the rich biodiversity offered in this large landscape the national park has become hot eco-tourism spots not only for the specialized and naturalist visitors but also for general interest tourist. The arrival of global tourists has stirred the local population into tourism related activities and an uncontrolled spread of these may work ultimately to threaten the bio-diversity of the region. Careful planning and organization of the ecotourism was required so that the park is not able to preserve its biodiversity but also encourage tourism and gather funds which can then be deployed in furthering more preservation initiatives. Bolivian government has entrusted the management of the Noel Kempff Park to a private non-profit organization called Fundacin Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) .FAN has taken quite a number of initiatives for visitors management. In this initiative it has been recognized by FAN and Bolivian government that the future of national parks and other protected area s depends on their ability