Potential for Ecotourism Development in Al-Hiswa  Protected Areas  

 

 

 

 

Potential for Ecotourism Development Within Al-Hiswa  Protected Areas  

 

 

 

The Study Area

 

The three wetlands are located in Aden Governorate situated in the Western part of the Gulf of Aden. Aden Governorate is privileged by a geographical location in the middle of the East and West and the existence of a seaport with special characteristics for the international shipping lines where a number of natural fundamentals exist that secure ships against windstorms and sea currents. The location of Aden, overlooking the Gulf of Aden made its waters a principal source for indigene and migrant sea creatures' biodiversity.  Following initial investigation, the wetlands bounded to the north by Al-Munsoora & Beer Fadhl and 22 May playground and residential areas, to the south by Gulf of Aden Aden and International Airport, to the east by Caltex and Al-Sulaban and Al-Nasr Camps and to the west by Al-Hiswa & Beer Ahmed and A residential quarter, Royal Hotel & Al-Burihi Hospital.

 

The wetlands lie in Khormakser and Al-Mansoura districts. The first exists on the coastline extending to Al-Alam towards the East and Al-Mansoura district and located between Aden Peninsula and Little Aden Peninsula and Al-Shiekh Othman District. The wetlands have an environmental and geographical importance as the existence of the wetlands located between Caltex and Al-Hiswa at the final outlet of the treated waste water and comprise a unique ecosystem within which rich biodiversity is found.  The wetlands of Aden lagoons are considered water surface areas which salt plants exist on the edges and neighboring the wetlands of Al-Mimlah and separated from the principal water surface of Al-Mimlah wetlands by Aden International airport fence. These three Wetlands form the area dealt with under the Management Plan for the Conversation Zone of Aden Governorate. The need for the development of planning guidelines for ecotourism development.

 

Tourism and Its Impact Upon The Poor and Environment

Issues around tourism and its potential for impacting positively upon the poor have been receiving increasing amount of attention. ODI and DFID of UK have stressed that tourism should be made 'pro-poor'. "Pro-poor tourism" means "tourism that generates net economic, social, environmental or cultural benefits to the poor" (Ashley, Goodwin and Roe 2001, Ashley, Roe and Goodwin 2001).

 

Practical strategies for pro-poor tourism have been studied in various parts of the world such as Nepal (Saville 2001, Saville 2002), St. Lucia in the Caribbean (Renard et al 2001) and Ecuador (Braman and Fundacion Action Amazonian 2001) as well as others summarized in Ashley, Roe and Goodwin (2001). Until recently 'ecotourism' has been a more common term than 'pro-poor tourism'.

 

The potential for ecotourism as an economic alternative to extractive exploitation of natural resources has been demonstrated in the three Wetlands and showed that the wetlands provide job opportunities and a livelihood source for a quite good number of the community members in addition to contribution to the national income. Despite the lack of a proper management for these lands to make use of their natural resources in a way that secures regeneration and sustainability for their livelihood

 

. The raw salt is also considered a main item for the implementation of various important industries such as Soda, sodium carbonates, tri poly sodium phosphate, sodium silicate, used in manufacturing detergents, soap, oil refining, textile and glass manufacturing in addition to use in the production of plaster as well as in the production of certain materials used in fertilizers manufacturing in addition to gypsum which has many utilizations.

 

Ecotourism has been defined variously "as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves natural environments and sustains the wellbeing of the local people' (The Ecotourism Society) or "an enlightening, participatory travel experience to natural and cultural environments... ensures the sustainable use of environmental resources, while producing viable economic opportunities for the host communities" (University of Pretoria, Centre for Ecotourism) both quoted in Nichol (1998a). Viewed with these definitions in mind 'pro-poor tourism' differs from 'ecotourism' in as much as the former puts the poor at the centre of the tourism initiative and the latter puts the emphasis upon conservation or sustainable resource use. In fact sustainable resource use or conservation and sustainable livelihoods of poor people in areas of tourist interest are interdependent and hence for the purposes of this study the more commonly used term "ecotourism' will be used on the understanding that this is in itself will be expected to be 'pro-poor'. Hence the term 'ecotourism' functions as an umbrella term for all kinds of tourism to be analyzed in this report.

 

These environmental costs need to be rigorously examined through assessment of the carrying capacity of different areas. Rigid quotas setting ceilings on development of tourist facilities, restrictions on the type of development, and quotas for numbers of visitors to any particular location over time are essential as well as effective systems of sewage disposal / treatment and litter disposal. A thorough introduction to ecotourism and its potential in the Wetlands was prepared by Nichol (1998 a and b). This identified potential ecotourism products as Krusadai, Hare (or Musal) and Nallathanni islands and suggested a planning framework for their development. The report still has relevance and should be used as reference material in preparation of an integrated ecotourism plan

 

Importance of Multi-Stakeholder Community-Based Ecotourism
 Management

 

One of the main concerns when promoting tourism in the protected areas relates to protecteing the environment and setting up environmental - trend opportunities and mechanisms, likely to preserve natural resources from degradation, also through conservation and sustainable use of territory and its renewable resources. Uncontrolled heavy infrastructure and investment may be destructive if not properly managed. Conversely, precisely because ecotourism builds intensively but not extensively on the use of natural resources, ecotourism may play a more proactive role in protecting environment. To enhance national capacity in monitoring biological resources utilization, it needs to create an operational monitoring and assessment system, specific need in this area including knowledge management system and enhanced staff capacity in preparing and implementing of ETS. Efforts should be made to integrate aspects of biological diversity.

 

In the absence of the targeted categories participation in the rational management of these lands the natural resources of these wetlands are exhausted and the concern of these targeted categories became gaining livelihood from these lands without observing how they sustain and renew and how the habitat of these wetlands are kept clean and free of pollutants.

 

 Generally local people lack awareness about the biodiversity conservation and the of the area. Hence there is an urgent need for Community based Sustainable Natural  Management using 'smart partnerships' between stakeholders where a co-management process is considered legitimate by those who authorize it, those who design and implement it and those affected by it .

 

A multi-stakeholder approach involving all stakeholders and enabling their participation in management decisions and code of conduct enforcement should be undertaken to ensure that stakeholders view the shared resources as in their own interests to protect. The complicated multi stakeholder issues could not addressed in detail in this report as time was insufficient to address all stakeholders and their concerns in sufficient detail. However, as a pre-requisite to any further developments, PARTICIPATORY MULTI-STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY-BASED MANAGEMENT OF THE WETLANDS BIODVERSITY CONSERVATION MUST go hand in hand with any attempt to diversify livelihoods of local community including ecotourism. Participatory natural management and development of ecotourism must be part of one integrated process to reduce the current pressure on the biodiversity of the Wetlands areas. Such integrated, participatory multi-stakeholder approaches to management of parks with ecotourism are being successfully undertaken in Malaysia in Pulau Payar Marine Park (Lim 1998) and the Maldives (Firaag 1997). Hence it is suggested that in developing an appropriate mechanism that experience from these areas is drawn upon heavily.

 

Considering the potentials of these wetlands that may be used for tourism purposes and for education and guidance the beneficiaries may be involved in the management of these wetlands through raising their awareness of the importance of the environment of the wetlands and their role to maintain environmental balance and the organization of their management of the natural resources (wooding, pasturing, hunting) to achieve sustainability and renewal of these resources and prevent depletion and to promote the cultural heritage ( traditional artifacts) , vinegar and salt industry and make use of these wetlands for the purposes of studies, scientific research, education and guidance.