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Ecotourism as a tool to conserve biodiversity in the D.R. Congo, Cameroon and Gabon
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2600-271X
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EUI; STG; Policy Brief; 2023/09
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MUSAMBAGHANI, Veridique Kakule, Ecotourism as a tool to conserve biodiversity in the D.R. Congo, Cameroon and Gabon, EUI, STG, Policy Brief, 2023/09 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75610
Abstract
With the highest extreme poverty rate1 (54%) on the continent,
biodiversity degradation is being aggravated in Central Africa. This
is mainly due to a growing population lacking job opportunities
outside the forest. The lack of jobs leads communities near
protected areas to organise poaching and trafficking of wildlife.
With weak and non-diversified economies, central African countries
are experiencing financial difficulties in sustaining conservation in
the Congo Basin Forest.
Ecotourism has become an important economic activity. It
generates jobs for local communities and funds conservation of
biodiversity in developing countries. Kenya, Uganda, Botswana
and recently Rwanda are great examples of what ecotourism
can do for conservation and economic development. According
to a recent EU publication2, visits to protected areas generate
significant revenue for proper management including providing
the financial capacity to sustain anti-poaching efforts.
This paper first argues that boosting ecotourism in the DR
Congo, Cameroon, and Gabon with visits to protected areas
would generate meaningful revenue for proper biodiversity
management and conservation, including providing the financial
capacity to slow deforestation and sustain anti-poaching efforts.
Second, the paper documents how ecotourism would lead to
economic development boosting the GDP of countries involved
and diversifying their extractive economies. In addition, the paper
draws a line by highlighting the fact that not all forms of tourism
lead to conservation of biodiversity. This is because tourism
activities in one way or another can have negative impacts on the
environment, contributing to changes in land cover and land use,
energy use, biotic interchange and the extinction of wild species.
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Funded by the European Union.