| These people are visiting a national park. Photo courtesy Al Walters. |
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| Through recreation and tourism, it is possible to use the forest without exploiting it. Forests attract people, whether their interests are camping, hiking, fishing, mountain biking. People who live in rural areas are likely to spend time in nearby forests, and people from cities are willing to travel great distances to visit natural, undeveloped areas. The tourism industry is worth billions of dollars annually, and much of that is generated by people's attraction to forests. |
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Tourism is not only a sustainable way to use the
forest, it is also economically practical. While most of the revenue generated by logging is taken by large multinational corporations,
profits from tourism often stay in the local communities. There are many local ecotour operators, providing tour-guides and
accommodations. Especially in places where forest resources are exploited by logging companies, tourism can be a
very successful alternative.
Left: A forest lake is a popular tourist destination. Photo courtesy Al Walters. |
| Benefits from recreation and tourism can be received constantly. People come to forests every year, year after year. If the forest was logged instead, there would be immediate economic benefits, but then no money could be generated from the site for another eighty years or more, until new trees reached full size. |
Trees are a very important feature in campgrounds. Photo by Maya Walters. |
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People from the cooler climates of North
America and Europe are especially drawn to the idea of tropical forests. In five years, the number of visitors to Manaus, a city by Brazil's
Amazon River, increased by 6 times. This interest that people have in seeing what the rainforest looks like is an obvious economic reason
to preserve it.
A group of travelers in Costa Rica's rainforest. Photo courtesy Naomi Woods. |
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| New parks and reserves are often created because more tourists will be attracted to areas of natural forests. Conversely, the increased number of tourists often end up destroying the very places they come to visit. Tourist vehicles can erode forest slopes, trees are cut down to provide places to build tourist lodges, and products from the forests are often taken by tourists as souvenirs. Too many people in any area almost always damage the forest, but compared to most alternative ways to use these areas, tourism is relatively benign. |
Campgrounds can become so popular that they begin to destroy themselves. All the nearby wood and fallen branches that
would have contributed nutrients to the soil is taken for campfires, and the air becomes thick with smoke. By now, most campgrounds have
rules about sizes of fires. Photo by Maya Walters.
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related topics
[threats to forests] [deforestation & overcutting] [tropical forests]
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