Reducing tourists` damage to ecosystems
Large numbers of people visiting sites of special interest can potentially damage these protected places. New research suggests a method to determine the most suitable tourist routes through these areas, which preserves the biodiversity of the site by minimising the harmful impact caused by tourists.
Tourists can damage sensitive areas in a number of ways: trampling habitats, compacting the soil, increasing the risk of fires, causing greater air and water pollution, picking flowers and plants, littering the area with rubbish and travelling to the site. New parasites and fungi can be introduced to the site and animal behaviour can be modified through human contact.
In Europe, nature conservation is directed by the EC Habitats Directive, and the Birds Directive, which identify sites and species in need of protection. The Directive promotes the importance of managing EU Sites of Community Importance (SCI) to conserve the biodiversity contained in these areas. One goal is to balance the protection of the habitats, plants and animals with the contribution made by tourism to the economic development of local communities. Traditional methods used to choose routes of tourist paths have relied on historical or socio-economic use of the area. In contrast, modelling techniques allow priorities to be identified which offer specific protection to the biodiversity of the site whilst supporting tourist activity in the area.
Using an EU SCI in the central Alps Province of Northern Italy as an example, researchers from Italy used modelling techniques to propose walking routes through the area. In addition to suggesting three new optimised pathways between existing tourist facilities, the study also recommended that eight of the walkways currently in use be closed because considerable damage was being caused by tourists using these routes. In this study the researchers recognised biological and logistical benefits, costs and constraints when designing the model. Within the identified constraints, the best paths were those that had the fastest and flattest routes and which incorporated compromises between the competing aspects of conservation and tourist use.
A modelling system allows:
- paths to be routed away from threatened habitats - for example, those areas containing rare plant species or fragile
- surfaces (identified as EU priority habitats)
- walkways that minimise contact between grazing animals and people
- location of the flattest paths for tourists
- the exclusion of slopes with a slant above 45 degrees as being inaccessible
- exclusion of parts of the landscape with terrain considered unsafe for tourists
- the incorporation of expert opinion to give weight to the various aspects affecting conservation of the area
- the inclusion of other considerations, such as the attractiveness of the landscape
Modelling systems could be used in other ecologically sensitive sites to plan tourist facilities, which have minimal impact on the biodiversity of the area.
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