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Saving What Remains ECO-TOURISM Eco-tourism is rapidly becoming an excellent way for developing countries to bring in foreign revenue by preserving their rainforests. Ecotourists pay to see a country's natural beauty, not the destruction caused by short-run exploitation. Money spent directly in the local economy helps give economic value to forest preservation. The locals, along with the government, can see the importance of keeping the forest intact. Most tourists are willing to pay directly for preservation in the forms of park entrance fees and donations. Eco-tourism can provide local people with economic assistance by offering them employment opportunities as wildlife guides and rangers for parks, and as workers in the service force of hotels and lodges. This employment provides a relatively even flow of income often higher than they would receive from selling their marginal, small scale agricultural crops at market. With eco-tourism, income is earned from preserving the ecosystem, and forest clearing is discouraged because it is detrimental to income. Similarly, ecotourism can reduce the need for poaching and hunting of forest animals for income. For example, in West Africa, former poachers are hired as park rangers since they have intimate knowledge of local animal wildlife. Ecotourism also provides the opportunity for wider intellectual development for locals educated as wildlife guides. With an education, their children will have a better chance of breaking out of their subsistence lifestyle and improving their livelihood. Finally, local communities can earn supplementary from the fabrication on handicrafts. However eco-tourism must be carefully developed and well planned, because short-term development and lack of planning can doom rainforests just like logging and have the same detrimental social effects. Tourism can become an uncontrollable industry that can cause more harm than good to the environment. Several countries are facing adverse effects from tourism (it can no longer be considered "eco"-tourism) including Costa Rica and Malaysia. Costa Rica is one of the best examples of a tropical country developing its eco-tourism potential to its fullest. Every year, hundreds of thousands of foreigners visit Costa Rica's many national parks, making tourism the country's third largest industry behind coffee and bananas. However some of the parks are being overwhelmed by the mass numbers of tourists and are consequently losing species which seek out areas away from noisy, intrusive humans. The Bornean parts of Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, are about to be assaulted with huge development projects for tourism. These will not only require extensive deforestation for building materials and land area, and pollution from human and other wastes, but also bring huge numbers of tourists to the delicate ecosystem. Introducing so many people is liable to have serious effects for the environment and destroy the very attractions that bring ecotourists. To be sustainable, ecotourism requires careful planning and strict guidelines; short-term development can doom forests like unsustainable logging. Too many people, inadequate facilities, and poor park management can spell the end for the "eco" in ecotourism. Ecotourism, when carried out in a sustainable fashion, can be very beneficial to local people, the economy, and the environment. It should not be restricted to legally protected areas, but also be promoted in natural areas that lack protection. The presence of tourists protects the area from over-exploitive activities when properly managed.
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