Fernanda de Vasconcellos Pegas

A population accounting approach to assess tourism contributions to conservation of IUCN-redlisted mammal species.

Over 1,000 mammal species are red-listed by IUCN, as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. Conservation of many threatened mammal species, even inside protected areas, depends on costly active day-to-day defence against poaching, bushmeat hunting, invasive species and habitat encroachment. Many parks agencies worldwide now rely heavily on tourism for routine operational funding: >50% in some cases. This puts rare mammals at a new risk, from downturns in tourism driven by external socioeconomic factors. Using the survival of individual animals as a metric or currency of successful conservation, we calculate here what proportions of remaining populations of IUCN-redlisted mammal species are currently supported by funds from tourism. This proportion is ≥5% for over half of the species where relevant data exist, ≥15% for one fifth, and up to 66% in a few cases. Many of these species, especially the most endangered, survive only in one single remaining subpopulation. These proportions are not correlated either with global population sizes or recognition as wildlife tourism icons. Most of the more heavily tourism-dependent species, however, are medium sized (>7.5 kg) or larger. Historically, biological concern over the growth of tourism in protected areas has centered on direct disturbance to wildlife. These results show that conservation of threatened mammal species has become reliant on revenue from tourism to a previously unsuspected degree. On the one hand, this provides new opportunities for conservation funding; but on the other, dependence on such an uncertain source of funding is a new, large and growing threat to red-listed species.

Ecotourism as a conservation tool and its adoption by private protected areas in Brazil.

Ecotourism in private reserves combines the establishment of protected areas with an incentive mechanism to conserve biodiversity. Brazils private reserve system is well-established but little is known about its links to tourism. This study puts the global private protected area into context and quantifies the extent to which ecotourism has been adopted as a sustainable land-use practice on private reserves in Brazil. Our findings demonstrate that small reserves do contribute to conservation and are used for ecotourism. The belief that large reserves are necessary for ecotourism and conservation is challenged. Only 4% (n = 45) of the 1182 reserves are engaged in ecotourism, mainly those within the Atlantic Forest biome and these are generally small in size (<50 ha). Reserves provide modest to basic accommodation as well as education and economic opportunities that include adjacent communities. Hiking and bird watching are the most popular activities but many reserves are threatened by poaching and invasive species. The low adoption of ecotourism appears due to a combination of factors, including lack of landowner interest, constraints imposed by regulations, logistics and anthropogenic threats. Nonetheless, there is potential to expand ecotourism within private reserves as 143 further private reserves are located near those already engaged in ecotourism.

For love or for money? Investigating the impact of an ecotourism programme on local residents' assigned values towards sea turtles

This study adopts an ‘assigned values’ conceptual model to explain the formation of values and behaviours related to sea turtles at an ecotourism project in Brazil. For over 25 years, the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Programme (TAMAR) has used ecotourism to protect sea turtles in the fishing village of Praia do Forte. The village beaches are prime nesting sites for endangered marine turtles, traditionally harvested on a regular basis, despite federal bans. Seventy-seven residents, including 25 TAMAR workers, were interviewed. Results indicate an overall support for TAMAR, turtle conservation, and implementation of ecotourism initiatives. Both TAMAR workers and non-workers were equally likely to support turtle conservation for the economic role that turtles play in the local economy, with variations in perceptions about their intrinsic or ecological values. Changes in use and values are positive indicators that education and economic benefits from ecotourism can generate support for conservation. However, such outcomes are not necessarily a result of greater stewardship but rather of changes in the social, cultural, and economic dynamics of the village. A better understanding of the factors that drive people to support conservation initiatives, both in terms of values and behaviours, are essential if conservation efforts are to succeed.

An exploration of a mini-guide programme: Training local children in sea turtle conservation and ecotourism in Brazil

This study explores the mini-guide programme delivered by the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Program (Tartarugas Marinhas or TAMAR) in the fishing community of Praia do Forte, Bahia, Brazil. Established in 1995, this programme lasts 1 year, training local children, aged 10–14 years, in guiding skills and learning about sea turtles and marine ecosystems. The children also receive a monthly stipend. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 77 local community members were conducted during 9 months of ethnographic research to assess perceptions about the programme. The interviews also included seven former students who provided an evaluation of the programme from their perspective. The results indicate community-wide support for the programme, with locals focussing not only on greater environmental awareness of the children (or Tamarzinhos, as they are called), but also on the personal development as a result of participation. Former Tamarzinhos themselves agree with this assessment and demonstrate knowledge gain and positive behaviour about conservation of marine species, new aspirations towards higher education, greater training and skill acquisition. As such, long-term environmental programmes such as the mini-guide programme at TAMAR can promote socio-economic and environmental changes that last throughout the youth and adult lives of the children.

Conserving Brazil's Atlantic forests

In their Report “Using ecological thresholds to evaluate the costs and benefits of set-asides in a biodiversity hotspot” (29 August, p. [1041][1]), C. Banks-Leite et al. calculate that Brazil could protect the most biodiverse 30% of its 143 million hectares of endangered Atlantic forests by

Four hurdles for conservation on private land: the case of the golden lion tamarin in Brazil's Atlantic Forest

Many threatened species worldwide rely on patches of remnant vegetation in private landholdings. To establish private reserves that contribute effectively to conservation involves a wide range of complex and interacting ecological, legal, social and financial factors. These can be seen as a series of successive hurdles, each with multiple bars, which must all be surmounted. The golden lion tamarin, Leontopithecus rosalia, is restricted to the Atlantic Forest biome in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This forest is largely cleared. There are many small remnant patches on private lands, able to support tamarins. Local NGO’s have successfully used limited funds to contribute to tamarin conservation in a highly cost effective way. We examined the mechanisms by analysing documents and interviewing landholders and other stakeholders. We found that the local NGOs successfully identified landholdings where ecological, legal, social and some financial hurdles had already been crossed, and helped landholders over the final financial hurdle by funding critical cost components. This cost <5% of the price of outright land purchase. This approach is scaleable for golden lion tamarin elsewhere within the Atlantic Forest biome, and applicable for other species and ecosystems worldwide.

Domestic tourism and sustainability in an emerging economy: Brazil's littoral pleasure periphery

The littoral pleasure periphery (LPP) is a major and expanding spatial feature of Brazil that is dominated by almost 200 specialised coastal resorts, beachfront metropolises and beachfront cities. It is notable in an emerging economy context for the extent to which domestic forces have influenced its development, including not just favourable geographic features but patterns of historical settlement, modernisation processes, national culture, and geopolitical motivations. Reflecting Brazils economic and social dualities, the LPP exhibits two distinct models. The southern LPP, like counterparts in the more developed world, is long-established and displays an “organic” growth trajectory. The northern LPP is a hybrid of “organic” and “induced” impulses exhibiting more rapid and largely planned growth manifested in low density development. Despite efforts of a multi-partner regional tourism initiative – the Programa de Desenvolvimento do Turismo (PRODETUR) – to facilitate economic and social equity through targeted tourism investment, the northern LPP resembles classic Third World LPPs where mainly “non-white” local residents are often displaced by coastal development involving “white” investors and tourists. Unsustainable tourism outcomes are therefore indicated in both components of the Brazilian LPP and minimal progression toward an enlightened mass tourism ideal.

Interdependencies among traditional resource use practices, sustainable tourism, and biodiversity conservation: a global assessment.

Local communities are often encouraged to adopt alternative land-use practices to minimize their impacts on biodiversity. Tourism is one of these practices but it can also impact conservation and traditional resource use activities. Using a review of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List database as well as nature-based tourism, ethnozoology, ethnobiology, and wildlife conservation and trade literature, we examined the influence of tourism on the traditional resource use–conservation balance and the potential outcomes for species conservation. We identified 547 local culturally important species (LCIS): 369 were threatened by traditional practices (e.g., hunting) and 161 were protected (e.g., totemic species). Most LCIS were found in the Indomalayan, Neotropical, and Afrotropical regions and roughly 30% were involved in nature-based tourism, particularly mammals. Very few LCIS (<5) were threatened by tourism. Results suggested that tourism can support species conservation and protect traditional practices by providing alternative local sustainable development options.