Eco-Lake
Exploit Completely Our Total
Outdoor and Underwater Resources In
a Systematic Manner.
or
ECOTOURISM
This article was inspired by many things -
having seen islands change, knowing what they were like, what
they are like now and what they might become. Also inspiring were
photographs in a dive magazine of a "new" area, totally
unexplored. The reef was so beautiful and solid, not one dead
coral anywhere, that I wondered how long it would take to ruin
it because of promotion. Everyone has to see this perfect reef
- and trash it. Not intentionally but now boats go over it, an
occasional drop of oil, a tin can, a dragged fin...
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Two hikers trek through a previously unexplored
region of a vast forest only to stumble upon a lake so beautiful
that they both are lost for words. It is surrounded by mountains
that take their breath away. A waterfall built by an angel cascades
down into the lake. The animals, never having seen or smelled
man, are not petrified of his presence. So impressed are the hikers
that they tell their friends, who tell other friends. Soon the
area has a steady stream of hikers. New paths are trampled into
the forest and lake shore. Charcoal is left behind by some campers
along with an unintentional piece of litter.
The area becomes famous within a small group
but not easy to get to. Always out to make a profit, a travel
agency starts helicopter trips making it available to everyone,
not just the physically fit hikers. The noise and sight of this
huge machine causes many animals to permanently leave the area
. Other animals are fed by campers which causes an unnatural relationship.
The lake, whose abundance of fish never saw a fishing line, has
monofilament "growing" around underwater branches. A
few more pieces of litter appear. No one liking litter, the helicopter
brings in a few 55 gallons drums so the litter can be piled in
one area only. One camper, seeing that the drums are too full,
burns them. Another seeing that burning seems to be acceptable
burns them again, weakening the drums. After a time they rust
and collapse spreading garbage everywhere.
Soon other agencies are promoting the area
and more people arrive. Articles appear in the travel section
of major newspapers. Larger campsites are cleared to handle the
ever growing numbers. Sections of land are sold off with a promise
of "limited development". It does not take too long
before the first small lodge is built. Still difficult to get
to, a small road is cut through the forest and another log cabin
lodge goes up. These become very profitable so another larger
lodge is built which is more like a hotel. Limited development
is allowed to increase- to a new limited level.
A few people begin to comment that nature
is being disturbed and the area is changing. Toilets are flushing
every day, the smell from the lodges' restaurants fills the air
and off road vehicles can be heard all day long. Not wanting to
lose their investment and with others knocking at the door to
get in, a confrontation begins between conservationists, the lodge
owners and those who specialize in vacation travel. Most travel
agents and hotel owners never paid much attention to the radical
conservationists so they were at a loss as how to fight. A clever
person came up with some ammunition and called it "Eco Tourism".
There, that would keep everyone quiet. We have developed this
lake under the name of eco tourism. Has it helped the lake? Not
at all. Has it returned it to its natural state before those two
original hikers discovered it? No, and it never will.
With eco tourism, new hotels open calling
themselves "green hotels". The pollution in the area
has grown out of hand. Boats are now motoring on the lake and
there is talk of the largest hotel yet to be built by a huge chain.
It has only been 20 years since man first set his eyes on the
lake but now it is totally dominated by him. The animals have
all left and much of the lake shore is covered in homes, condominiums
and hotels. The lake is now chemically polluted and most of the
fish are gone. What have we done?
Were jobs desperately needed in this area?
Were new jobs created for local people who were starving? There
were no local people so no jobs were needed. It was a simple case
of developers and profit seekers who came and have long gone.
They don't have to see the lake any more. They are looking for
new lakes.
Caribbean islands are the same. They have
suffered heavily from over development. One island, which was
world famous for its pristine reefs and excellent diving, attracted
so many divers, that the reefs suffered and now, the very thing
that attracted everyone in the first place has been nearly ruined
by those people who came to see it. The destruction was not caused
by direct contact as much as the need for more hotels, which in
turn means more sewage and garbage. Unable or even unwilling to
pay for a sewage treatment plant, more and more pollutants found
their way to the reefs.
As the popularity grew for the island, its
limited local population was unable to fill the jobs being created.
Foreign workers arrived. Housing was needed. More foreign workers
came to help build houses for the foreign workers. The schools
were filling too quickly with this influx and soon more were needed.
Who would build these schools? More foreign construction workers.
Population nearly doubled in a very short time. Little things
like traffic, which were never even thought about, suddenly became
a problem. Crime increased. With all the different backgrounds,
clashes in social norms and customs cropped up. The local population
began to lose its identity and many did not like it. This dislike
was expressed openly both through words and in many cases physical
actions.
As the population of the world grows and travel
becomes routine, the old favorite places have become so overdeveloped
and overcrowded that many people won't go there anymore. The travel
industry, in order not to lose any money, must open up new areas
for people to exploit. And the same thing happens again. It's
a domino effect. So unless we can vacation on Mars soon, there
will be little left of the earth as nature intended it.
All of this development was done in the name
of progress. Are progress and growth synonymous? Progress does
not always equate with development and development can not be
done ecologically. No matter how careful one proposes to be, a
bit of nature is always lost. Expansion, development and growth
do not guarantee success. A pond can function perfectly for centuries
without ever getting larger. It does not stagnate because of lack
of growth. If man comes along and unnaturally dredges the pond,
removes tons of earth from its boundaries and makes it 4 times
as large, it may be the end to that entire ecosystem.
Eco Tourism is not the opening of vast new
areas under the guise of keeping them clean or of educating the
public. If we are to even use the word Eco Tourism, it must be
defined as an educational process and applied only to areas where
tourism is already established. Education for both the citizens
and for the visitors. It is participation in the preservation
of our earth and more specifically our own lands and homes. To
simply say "here is a whole new region you can all visit
now but be careful", will not work. Everyone must realize
that our world is a natural resource that in some cases is being
abused and even in our children's childrens's lifetime might not
return to its natural state.
Unfortunately greed causes money to far outweigh
any concern for ecology. Once we have disturbed this very well
balanced nature it is a long process to revive it. Nature always
has had methods of checks and balances. It has not been until
modern man that these balances have been disturbed and in some
cases, sadly enough, destroyed. If man does destroy himself through
neglect, the plants, the other animals and the minerals will all
continue without us.
The importance of using eco tourism as a teaching
tool can not be emphasized enough. Here exists a great opportunity
to show people how important our earth is and how they can help
while having fun and enjoying a vacation. Eco tourism is not a
licensee to drive our four wheeled vehicles where no man has gone
before and make sure we take our beer cans back with us. Far from
it. Eco tourism is saying don't drive you car there at all. Leave
these areas alone. Leave them for nature. Eco tourism is saying
drive where you used to drive but look at it from a different
point of view. Help erase what man has done. Help clean up. Help
preserve. This is not only so we and our future generations can
enjoy it but so every living thing can go undisturbed.
Perhaps eco tourism is not even the right
word. Maybe words like respect, concern and care are what we should
use. Maybe even fear, fear of what could happen to our fragile
earth. It is not only keeping our environment clean and undisturbed
but to start to clean up where we have gone wrong.
After all the development and increase in
population, will it all be worth it? Perhaps the current generation,
who went to that lake for the first time, could argue they enjoyed
seeing nature at its finest, for a short time. One could also
argue that some people made lots of money by risking their investments
so they deserve a profit. But what about generations to come?
Nature will return itself to its original condition and begin
again with whatever it takes. Will man still be around to see
it?
When a drug addict overdoses, unless he gets
proper treatment, death is the result. Once in the hospital the
treatment is usually swift and positive. When nature is overdosed,
there is no hospital and the recovery can be hundreds if not thousands
of years. In the case of the drug addict, the symptoms are obvious.
Nature's problems can go unnoticed or worse, left to fester due
to apathy until it is too late.