Integrating ICTs into ecotourism and sustainable community development

1. Integrating ICTs into ecotourism and sustainable community development Martin Franklin and Roger Hosein Department of Economics UWI, St. Augustine

2. Format of this Presentation • Introductory remarks on Sustainable development and Ecotourism • Challenges to our communities • Possible causes of non-sustainable development • Priorities for ICT in development • Knowledge, ICT & Development • ICT in Sustainable Development & Ecotourism

3. Community Development (CD) A process (SCCD, 2001 ) • building active communities based on social justice and mutual respect • changing power structures, in order to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives • changing existing organizations so that their practices and culture embrace the empowerment of their communities. Frazer (2005) • Some of these barriers are poverty, lack of access to resources, rights, goods and services, discrimination, and the economic, social and digital divides.

4. Community Development (CD) A multi-disciplinary process (IACD, 2003) • focuses on building solidarity among groups of people who share common interests • concerned with building the capacity of people to define and address their problems and visions within the context of their own culture.

5. Sustainable Community Development (Swisher, Rezola & Steins 2006) • CD becomes sustainable when it results in a community that is environmentally sound, economically productive, and socially just. • Sustainable communities recognise that their economic and social structures as well as the health of their local environment are intertwined. • Sustainable communities understand that programs and policies that foster only one aspect of development, be it economic growth, social gain, or environmental protection, to the exclusion of the other two aspects will not promote sustained progress for the community.

6. Sub-Processes, Components and Measurable Outcomes of Sustainable Community Development (SCCD 2001)

7. Ecotourism (Honey 2008) • travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low impact and (often) small scale • typically involves travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions • a conceptual experience, enriching those who delve into understanding the environment around them • gives visitors an insight into their impact as human beings and also a greater appreciation of natural habitats • provides funds for conservation • directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities • fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights.

8. Ecotourism (Harris & Vogel, 2005) • In the context of sustainable community development, ecotourism is closely associated with community-based tourism (CBT). • CBT is a mechanism for fostering natural and cultural resource conservation and community development. • CBT is often implemented in support of wildlife management, environmental protection and/or development for indigenous peoples.

9. Ecotourism(Tisdell & Wilson, 2002) • In the context of sea turtles, ecotourism can have direct benefits for the conservation of nature as well as indirect benefits. • The direct benefits are the protection of breeding sites of turtles, investments that assist in increasing the likely survival of baby turtles, scientific data collection, and stimulus to programmes aimed at controlling poachers. • The indirect benefits occur because tourists, as a result of their turtle experience, become more aware of threats to populations of marine turtles, show greater appreciation for the value of turtles, develop greater empathy for them and learn ways in which they can foster turtle conservation.

10. Challenges to Communities The challenge facing communities is to integrate environmental, economic development and the well-being of all people, not just for today, but for countless generations to come so that development be sustained (IISD 2005). Communities are also challenged to ensure that the following requirements are met in implementing any strategy for sustainable community development: • members of the community believe that they have the capacity to resolve their own problems and shape their own future; • community development initiatives are geared towards developing the community’s capacity to deal with global issues e.g. HIV/AIDS, Climate Change at the local level. (Swisher, Rezola & Steins 2006).

11. Challenges to CommunitiesFranklin & Hosein (2009) • Communities are also challenged by the globalization and technological shifts that have stimulated a revolution in the information and communication industry. • The centre of this technological revolution is the Internet with its significant potential for accessing and transferring information, computer-based communication and innovative teaching strategies, all at a global level. • Communities must chart a course towards their sustainable development and in so doing, adopt/integrate the new information and communication technologies (ICT).

12. Possible causes of non-sustainable development. (AlKutbi & Ahmed 2006) • Strategy - The practice of strategic planners in the fields of ICT and Development to (a) work separately and (b) adopt ICT applications that are replicated from the developed countries notwithstanding the differences in culture as well as the social, economic, infrastructure and institutional structures; • ICT - Low penetration of ICT; • Human - Lower human knowledge and varying levels of culture resistance.

13. Moving forward to SCD (AlKutbi & Ahmed 2006) Recognition be given to: • the Internet is a powerful tool for the promotion of knowledge acquisition and creation; • building human capacity of individuals through knowledge creation and acquisition is an influential factor in sustainable development that should not be overlooked; • the low penetration of ICT is related to either poor infrastructure and/or the cost of services; • the number of Internet users increases significantly as the cost of Internet connection decreases; • the issue of culture resistance to the sharing of tacit knowledge is complex and difficult to measure since it involves social and physiological elements.

14. Priorities for ICTs in development (Heeks 2005) ICT for development can be decomposed into two parts, namely: • ICT consumption i.e. the use of technology in applications such as e-commerce e.g. ATM and e-government e.g. online drivers licence renewal; • ICT production i.e. the creation of hardware, software and other components of the ICT infrastructure. Empirical evidence suggests that the developmental gains from investing in ICT production are greater than for investment in ICT consumption.

15. Integrating ICTs into SCD (OECD 2003) SCD requires co-operation at the local, regional and international levels. Principles proposed by DAC members for integrating ICTs into development co-operation are: • Sustainable ICT projects should be locally owned and accompanied by human capacity development (CIDA, Japan, Netherlands). • Capacity in effectively using ICTs for development is often the main constraint, not equipment (majority of donors). • The private sector is instrumental in expanding ICTs for development access and applications (USAID). • Governments play a key role in establishing a well-regulated, competitive enabling environment for ICTs to flourish (CIDA, EC and majority of donors). • For ICTs to have a positive development impact, the various social groups must have equal access to them, particularly disadvantaged groups such as the poor, children and indigenous people (CIDA). • Many important aspects of ICT infrastructure are cross-border in nature, and therefore require international/regional co-operation (World Bank).

16. Knowledge • Knowledge resides in each community. It can be created, shared and utilized in each community. • Analytical models demonstrate that knowledge is the main engine of economic development. • The Internet is a powerful and enabling tool to promote knowledge acquisition (education and lifelong learning) and knowledge creation (R&D). • ICT can be used as technologies for facilitating knowledge acquisition, sharing and utilisation in communities.

17. Knowledge Framework for Sustainable Development (AlKutbi & Ahmed 2006) Recognising the imperative of human knowledge in SD, the framework involves: • Online Learning • Continuous Learning • Exchange of tacit and explicit knowledge • Knowledge Creation, Sharing & Utilization • Human Capital Accumulation • Sustainable Development. This framework must however be supported by the synergy between ICT and Development Strategies as well as flourishing ICTs.

18. Examples of ICT used as online technologies for knowledge acquisition (AlKutbi & Ahmed 2006)

19. ICTs and Development The potential and role of ICT as a tool for contributing to development has received much attention in the literature e.g. • Digital Opportunity Initiative (2000) • UNDP et al. (2001) • Sandro M. R. (2002) • Arunachalam (2002) • Quibria et al (2002) • Harris (2004) • Lallana (2004) • Willard & Andjelkonic (2005)

20. A sample of ICT Interventions that have the capacity to contribute to SCD and Ecotourism

21. ICTs & Rural Communities (Harris & Vogel, 2005) • There is a need for pro-poor policies that ensure the ICT sector covers rural areas. • E-commerce for community-based tourism, or e-CBT, can become a pump-primer for introducing the telecentres into rural communities. • Telecentres can subsequently be used to foster the other forms of development that ICTs make possible. • Telecentres that target income-generating opportunities from the outset are more likely to survive after the initial start-up funding dries up.

22. Thank You