Tourism & conservation

Tourism & conservation Presenter 文国瑛

Examine the balance between tourism & the protection of nature and historical heritage

International Travel : Rise in visits to and from UK • The number of visits to the UK made by overseas residents doubled between 1983 and 2003. The number of visits abroad made by UK residents has tripled over these 20 years.

Is tourism double-edged? • Tourism has significant environmental, cultural, social, and economic impacts, both positive and negative. If undertaken responsibly, tourism can be a positive force for sustainable development, conservation and environmental protection. If unplanned, tourism can have a devastating effect on fragile environments. • Excessive tourism's adverse impacts include ecological damages caused by construction, tourists and vehicles, water pollution and damages of cultural relics.

Popular and marketable holidays rely, to a large extent, on the existence of attractive and clean destinations. So to balance the tourism development and the environmentally fragile areas is of vital important, Therefore, ‘sustainable tourism' is currently an achievable ideal adopted by Britain. • Many countries, including the UK, are recognizing the need for a change of priorities - to take decisions on environmental and social issues which do not neglect economic consequences. • It’s convinced that Britain retains large area of beautiful natural heritage, partly because its economic growth depend less on environmentally damaging activities and people’s efforts (organizations).

The organizations • The National Trust (founded in 1985) • A voluntary organization , aim at the preservation of land and buildings of historical interest or beauty. • The largest private landowner in Britain. • World Wildlife Fund (WWF-UK founded in 1961) • conserving the world's biological diversity; • ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable; • promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000(also known as CROW) • CROW will extend the public's ability to enjoy the countryside whilst also providing safeguards for landowners and occupiers. It will create a new statutory right of access to open country and registered common land, modernize the rights of way system, give greater protection to Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), provide better management arrangements for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), and strengthen wildlife enforcement legislation. • The Act is a balanced package of measures that will allow people to enjoy more of the countryside. It will help to conserve the rural environment, protect wildlife, and also ensure landowners can use the land to its best advantage.

Background to the Act • Part I of the Act Access to open country • Part II of the Act Rights of way • Part III: Nature Conservation and Wildlife Protection Sites of Special Scientific Interest • conservation agencies are given the power to refuse consent for damaging activities and to encourage positive management of the land; • a statutory duty for public bodies to further the conservation and enhancement of SSSIs; • increased penalties for damage to SSSIs by owners and occupiers and other parties.

Wildlife Protection Will strengthen legal protection for threatened species and bring up to date Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. • Makes certain offences 'arrestable' - this also means that stronger search and seizure powers are available to the police; • creates a new offence of reckless disturbance; • gives increased powers to the police and wildlife inspectors - they will have the power to enter premises to check species sales controls and can require tissue samples to be taken from wildlife species for DNA analysis; • enables Courts to impose heavier fines and prison sentences for virtually all wildlife offences.

Part IV: Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty • The Act will improve the management of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) by the following two new measures. • requiring local authorities in whose areas AONBs are contained to prepare and publish a management plan for each AONB. • allowing conservation boards to be created, by order, for individual AONBs where there is local support. Conservation boards would take over responsibility for the management plan and other aspects of the management of the AONB from the local authorities. There would be a mixture of members appointed from the local authorities and parishes, and also by the Secretary of State to represent conservation, land management and countryside recreation interest

The conservation of National Parks and (AONBs). • In British, they are the finest landscapes have been conserved through designation . Both of them accorded a high degree of protection against inappropriate development through the planning system. Proposals for any major development in one of these areas have to be demonstrated to be in the public interest before being allowed to proceed. Considerations include whether the development is needed in national terms; the impact of permitting it or refusing it on the local economy; the potential for developing elsewhere, or meeting the need in some other way; and the extent to which any detrimental effect on the landscape might be moderated. • Moreover, Conservation of the countryside outside these designated areas is also important. The Countryside Agency runs many programmes designed to conserve the countryside and to help people enjoy it.

Compare with other Country • The maze of mysterious lines and figures which can only be seen by air attracts numerous tourists worldwide to the Nazca lines, one of Peru's World Heritage sites. However, they are only allowed to see it from helicopter. Approaching the Nazca lines by walking and driving is forbidden in order to avoid possible damages. • It’s believes that over-exploitation for tourism may damage the unique inheritance of the sites and threaten local cultures. Unfortunately, over-exploitation and excessive tourism are obvious in places of interest of China.

An iron-chained bridge or a cable car can easily be seen in some famous mountains, on the foot of which even stand many villas and hotels for visitors to rent. By contrast, Fuji mountain in Japan has few facilities like these ,the only way to the top is to climb. Yellowstone Park in the United States was put on the endangered heritage list in 1995, because heavy visits had severely disturbed wild animals. Nowadays, tourists have to draw lots to decide who can go into the park.

To sum up… • Receiving 700 million tourists every year, China began to learn from foreign experience to protect its pressured sites. In the Dunhuang Grottoes of northwest China's Gansu Province, tourists have to make a reservation to see the endangered frescos. • As my point of view world Heritage sites should be open to people, because, first, we have both the right and the obligation to learn from our ancestors, and second, tourism income can fund heritage preservation. However, excessive tourism will bring disaster to heritage sites. It's crucial to establish balance between tourism and preservation

Thanks for your patience! References • http://www.statistics.gov.uk • http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk • http://www.wwf.org.uk • http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside

Tourism & conservation