Communities, Tourism and Poverty Alleviation in Africa

[planeta]

Tourism in many parts of Africa increasingly causes damage to wildlife and its habitat, and poses serious threats to both the environmental health of indigenous territories and the cultural integrity of indigenous peoples. This topic will look at cultural and environmental problems with conventional safari tourism.

By sharing examples and ideas, participants will evaluate the role that sustainable, community-based tourism enterprise development can play to achieve conservation and alleviate poverty within the larger context of the political, economic and environmental landscape of Africa.

REFERENCES

Africa - Planeta.com
http://www.planeta.com/africa.html

Poverty Alleviation and Tourism
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/poverty.html

Community Tourism - Planeta.com
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/community.html

Forum Guidelines
http://www.planeta.com/worldforum.htm

[Gerhard]

An interesting approach to tourism in Africa and other poor regions is Pro-Poor tourism:
"Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is tourism that results in increased net benefits for poor people. PPT is not a specific product or niche sector but an approach to tourism development and management. It enhances the linkages between tourism businesses and poor people, so that tourism's contribution to poverty reduction is increased"
http://www.propoortourism.org.uk/what_is_ppt.html

While the approach clearly has poverty as main focus, there is a positive environmental spin-off: If tourism has visible benefits for the local poor, there is an added incentive to conserve the environment, especially if this people-nature link is clearly promoted as part of the tourism development.

Some practical pro-poor tips for Africa:
http://www.propoortourism.org.uk/howto.htm

Gerhard

[Gerhard]

An interesting project in Botswana that I visited in the planning stages several years ago is a unique example of human-nature interaction. Dqae Qare Game Farm offers the visitor a nature and cultural experience with "San" guides who have lost access to their vast land and were forced to change from their nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, yet their vanishing bush skills survive in some. The community-owned Kuru Development Trust http://www.kuru.co.bw/
decided to use a part of their limited remaining land for tourism, thereby creating employment, preserving the "San" local traditional knowledge and conserving a natural area.

http://www.dqae.org/
or
http://www.kuru.co.bw/Game%20Farm.htm


"With their indigenous knowledge of the Kalahari and their legendary tracking ability, tourists are encouraged to expand their knowledge of this unique, culturally distinct, people group…(the San / Bushman)"

"The Ncoakhoe (the local San tribe) are proud to take visitors on bush walks and show them the traditional uses of the various local plants such as rope making and medicines. They also share their astounding ability to track animals, reading the prints in the sand as if signposts…"

For a related document on Community Tourism in Botswana:
http://www.imacmexico.org/ev_es.php?ID=25495_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

[planeta]

Madrid, 2 January 2007 - The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said today that 2007 should be a critical year to consolidate tourism as a key agent in the fight against poverty and a primary tool for sustainable development.
http://www.world-tourism.org/newsroom/R ... essage.htm

[Gerhard]

Linkages between tourism and local agricultural products can be an interesting way that tourism can assist in sustainable poverty alleviation as this diversification creates less dependence and the tourism and products can enhance each other: the products becomes better known as tourists visit, and the local product can make the tourism experience more unique.

One such example for the Cederberg Region of South Africa is the completely locally grown yet increasingly internationally known rooibos tea (famous for its health benefits) and the recent founding of a new local tourism route:
http://www.capeaction.org.za/newsletter/newsletter.php?intNewsletterID=68
http://www.rooibosroute.com/ (website still under construction)

[planeta]

Recommended reading

Afrikatourism
http://afrikatourism.blogspot.com

Responsible Travel Resources - Afrikatourism
http://afrikatourism.blogspot.com/2007/ ... urces.html

[kurt_a]

A new survey on Responsible Travel for South Luangwa has been posted and all who have visited that region of Zambia are encouraged to complete it.

https://survey.kent.ac.uk/slts

Part of a MSc project at the Durrell Institute of Conservation & Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent (UK).

Related sites:
http://www.slcs-zambia.org
http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/dice

[planeta]

Will No One Speak for Africa?
http://whiteafrican.com/?p=822

There will continue to be drought, floods, war, corruption and poverty - all of the items that plague many African nations and which are amplified by the media.

However, there will also continue to be a solid majority of Africans who live happy lives without the interference of any aid or development organization. They will live in their village, raise their children, send them to school and teach them from their rich heritage. There will continue to be children growing up in the city who love to learn and would blossom even more with access to technology and information.

If you grew up in Africa, do you think that there is a use for inexpensive computers in schools?