I carefully hike to my field site, wet branches catching my bare hands and the muddy slopes of the cloud forest sinking my feet into the hot, humid ground. I felt awe as I take a breath on the side of the mountain atop the “Inca Valley”: Macchu Picchu can be seen in the distance on the other side of the hill. Tourists can often be found walking below in the valley, taking the “Inca Trail” to visit these monumental ruins of the Incan empire.
While annual visit rates to the Macchu Picchu ruins are astronomical, the surrounding community rarely benefits from tourism. Most of the money goes to foreign owners who control the markets, leaving locals to deal with the fallout. But what if there were a different, more sustainable way to travel?
Andean Cock of the Rock: Image by Jake Krauss
My job here in Peru is to study the Andean cock-of-the-rock, a beautiful bird famous for its unique mating displays. Males gather in a forest arena, competing over spaces for the best lighting to highlight their bright orange and black suits. They squawk, hop, and flap their wings to attract the attention of a female, who chooses the best dancer as her mate. Bird enthusiasts come from around the world to see this unique display.
My research is helping to support the development of ecotourism, or travel based on the appreciation of wildlife and nature, in the surrounding Macchu Picchu community. By diverting the flow of tourists to the ruins through communities like the one I’m working in, locals can see some of the benefits of tourism, too.
Tourists can act as patrons for local vendors, and locals can be hired as guides and managers. Making a profit from tourists who visit the forests to see the birds incentivizes the community to protect their forests.
Image by Jake Krauss
In order to be successful, however, this kind of tourism has to be developed from within the community. Sustainable ecotourism employs and respects the cultural identity of locals, who have a deep knowledge of their lands. With the local community on board, benefits from ecotourism are more likely to result in benefits to the surrounding forests, including less poaching and deforestation.
Ecotourism can sometimes harm wildlife, too. Visitors who feed wildlife can change their behavior, affecting their survival and reproduction. They can also disturb forest habitats when creating trails. The unintended repercussions of good-willing tourists can inadvertently harm the environment that they are hoping to save.
For example, tourists visiting the Amazon and feeding animals for close wildlife encounters have caused serious harm. Pressure from tourists to see wildlife has caused locals to capture animals from the forests, holding them in cages for tourists’ viewing pleasure.
By doing a little research beforehand, visitors can choose ecotourism providers that involve and benefit local communities to support conservation. Have you visited a place just to see the unique wildlife and beautiful natural places? How did your experience benefit or harm the critters you were trying to see?
