Ecotourism in the Congo Basin

Thank you for the opportunity to consider how ecotourism can contribute to the conservation of the Congo Basin.

My argument is that ecotourism has the potential to contribute significantly to conservation and the national economy in countries of Central Africa, and that Central Africa can be a significant ecotourism destination as it has natural assets that will attract the ecotourist. But how tourism develops in Central Africa will have to be carefully structured, otherwise it will contribute neither to conservation nor to national development.

There is nothing particularly new or novel about nature tourism. But nature tourism, if properly conducted, can contribute directly to the conservation of wild places and wildlife. If it does that, such tourism earns the sobriquet “ecotourism”. In other words, ecotourism has distinguishing characteristics that make it different from nature tourism writ large, venture tourism, or adventure travel, although these and other forms of tourism can fit into the ecotourism category on occasion.

Ecotourism, as David Sandalow has just pointed out, thus has the following characteristics:

• People are actively encouraged to appreciate nature. This is not adventure tourism in wild places. The aim and hope is that the visitor will become more of a conservationist.
• People tread lightly on the natural fabric of wild places. By definition, these are places with minimal impact, so people must not destroy or degrade what they come to experience.
• People actively participate in the conservation of the area, usually by providing economic benefits to the national economies or to local communities. Huge number of ways that this can happen
  • Visitors might directly contribute to the operation of reserves through the payment of fees
  • Visitors can indirectly contribute through spending in-country (lodging and transportation), encouraging countries to protect wild lands, and establish the necessary capacity to transport visitors
  • Visitors can purchase local handicrafts contributing to local economies
  • Tourist operations can pay concession fees to park authorities or national governments.
  • Tourist operations can provide employment opportunities for people local communities.

  It is the hope for this kind of ecotourism that informs the recent initiative of the Republic of Congo to establish 13 protected national parks in the country, covering more than 10% of the national territory. And the potential of this kind of ecotourism has been considered for the park systems throughout the Congo basin.

  But tourism enterprises in wild areas frequently fail to attain these criteria.
  Tourist lodges can be blights on the landscape, consuming local resources like clean water, and not managing their wastes in an appropriate way.
  In their desires to see wildlife, tourists can hound animals to distraction.
  Economic benefits sometimes do not flow to the national governments, and do not contribute to reserve protection with profits being taken out of the country.
  Operations frequently provide few resources and opportunities to local communities.

  In some of the countries with the most fully developed nature tourism industries in the world, too few resources flow to the national park systems for them to survive without continuing donor support. Too often, even though the tourism might be critical to the country’s economy, high percentages of profits move offshore and are not reinvested in the country’s future.

  What kind of tourism operations are most likely to maximize both the conservation and development benefits, and minimize the impact costs in Central Africa? At this workshop, we have heard a range of options presented:
  Some have argued for small lodges, accomodating relatively small numbers of visitors, with “high-end” but rustic facilities, with significant community involvement, and a focus on minimal impacts on the environment.
  Others have argued for larger facilities, with diversified businesses, involving significant capital equity, providing more down market but modern facilities, and a focus on economic sustainability.
  Obviously these are somewhat false dichotomies, and individual characteristics do not always cluster together. Both approaches, or mixtures of each, ultimately can lead to the desired conservation and development benefits. But the critical question we should ask is which is likely to do so in the Central African context?

  I would suggest that growth in tourism in Central Africa should be slow.
  Tropical forest tourism is difficult and attracts only a special visitor. The models for the evolution of tourism in the region probably come more from the tropical forests of South America than the savanna systems of Africa.
  The growth in the tourism industry should be accompanied by concomitant growth in the capacity of national governments to regulate and manage the tourism sector. Unless that capacity develops at an appropriate rate, there is the danger of overregulation, which could stifly private investment and creativity or underregulation, which can results in a race for the bottom line – and attaining the lowest common denominator of little development and conservation benefit.
  The growth in tourism also should be accompanied by development of accomodation networks, transportation systems, information nodes, security structures and health networks. Countries in the region face significant challenges to establish this infrastructure.
  My conclusion after examining these requirements is that the tourism that should be encouraged should not be a mass market one. But if tourism is to going to have a discernible impact on the economy at a national level, then that tourism will have to be high end – attracting visitors who have the capacity to spend money. This kind of strategy is possible if the location is special (a model program is perhaps the Mountain Gorillas project in Rwanda, which has and still provides significant forest exchange earnings for the country, with a small number of visitors).

  Is Central Africa special enough? I would argue that there is incredible tourism potential in the region. That potential has not yet been realized partly because the difficulties of access to the region, and partly because ecotourism in tropical forests is difficult. But in Central Africa, both are changing. Roads and airflights are opening up the countries, and Central Africa offers a unique natural introduction to tropical forests: large open areas in the forests, the bais, created by edaphic factors and the activities of animals like elephants. In the bais, one can see animals under optimal conditions. Central Africa is also the home to fascinating wildlife. Three of the four great apes (Gorillas, Chimpanzees, and Bonobos) are found here. There are locations with as many as 12 additional primates. Elephants, Forest Buffalo, Giant River Hogs, Leopards to name a few, are the animals of our childhoods. This is a special place.

  One tourism operation in the region that might provide a model is the Petit Loango Project run by the Societe de Conservation et de Developpement (SCD), in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – an effort that is located in the Gamba Complex near the Gabonese coast.
  The project is working with government agencies to begin to establish regulations and best practices for ecotourism.
  Lodges are being constructed at scales and with environmental constraints that will minimize impacts.
  The numbers of visitors will be controllable.
  The project is planning to contribute significant funds to conservation and social development projects once operations have started up.
  And the project has already helped secure significant donor funds to initiate such projects.
  Other projects exist, but for ecotourism to take off in Central Africa will require the development of appropriate systems linking these individual initiatives. It is putting in place these systems (of governance, capacity, and infrastructure) that perhaps will be our greatest challenge.

  Thank you.