Page 9 - Professorial Lecture - Professor Mapaure

3. THE NEXUS BETWEEN WILDLIFE-BASED TOURISM AND

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No.15 seeks to ‘protect, restore and promote
sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat
desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss’
(UNDP, 2017). The arguments highlighted in this essay largely relate to this Goal.
With respect to tourism, ensuring a high quality natural environment in a tourist
destination is an important success factor for all types of tourism, not just for
wildlife-based tourism. Therefore, any damage to the environment threatens the
very resources on which tourism is anchored. Thus, wildlife-based tourism that
incorporates environmental conservation objectives is in a better position to
achieve sustainable development.

Visitors want a memorable wildlife experience. In order for this to happen, there
must be proper management of wildlife and biodiversity conservation in the tourist
destinations. The host communities (all local stakeholders) must therefore benefit
from their wildlife management and biodiversity conservation efforts (Figure 3).
That is why the visitors pay for that service. Overall, the local economy therefore
benefits. This is the nexus between tourism and biodiversity conservation.

Figure 3: The nexus between wildlife-based tourism and biodiversity conservation.
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