THREATS AND PRESSURE ON BIODIVERSITY FROM TOURISM IN SOCOTRA

Biodiversity is being threatened by mass tourism across the attractions as a whole, but particularly protected areas. The tourism footprint on biodiversity is expected to grow over time. The Tourism Development Plan identifies potential impacts on biodiversity as a potentially serious issue that needs to be managed.

The threat posed by tourism to biodiversity is also documented in protected area management plans. These threats may be divided into two categories: direct threats and indirect threats. Pressures vary spatially across the landscape; while some areas are currently not heavily impacted, there is no guarantee that they remain so in future.

Direct Threats to Biodiversity

Construction of tourism infrastructure

- Development of tourism infrastructure, (hotels and other tourism infrastructure) in ecologically sensitive areas leading to fragmentation and loss of the habitat. The loss of connectivity between different habitat blocks poses a significant risk to biodiversity in Yemen as a whole, and undermines the utility of PAs as a critical storehouse of biodiversity.

- The current tourist development in Socotra, for instance does not follow any planning concept. Tourist infrastructure is in a stage of unregulated and unplanned expansion. Increased access also allows further infrastructure development along roads and the consequent increase in rubbish. Tourist infrastructure is in a stage of unregulated and unplanned expansion, for the moment mainly concentrated in the Hadiboh plain (MAYER 2009). Developers are already prospecting in other regions.

• In Aden Wetlands, construction of investment projects in the boundaries and within the wetlands which have harmful environmental impact without study of the environment impact assessment.

Visitors Impact

High visitor numbers in sensitive environments and protected areas leading to disturbance of the habitat. Visitors’ activities have exerted extensive pressure on biodiversity from trampling, hunting, plant collection, uncontrolled trekking and climbing, etc.

- In Socotra, which is by far the most visited tourism site in Yemen, habitat degradation has already been recorded—and tourism is believed to have an impact on wildlife populations. Beyond the island’s capacity, the travel influx results in violation of environmental articles. Yet the number of tourists has risen sharply in the last decade, with local tourist police estimating over 5,000 foreign visitors in2012, including local visitors. If these numbers cannot be managed in a sustainable way, the number of visitors will adversely impact the environment while their needs will not be met due to a lack of infrastructure. On Socotra, negative effects accumulate in touristically attractive yet highly sensitive, small localities such as protected areas. The island is an example of a place where tourist numbers concentrate, and which in the absence of management or control, inevitably leads to gradual degradation. With a steep rise in visitor numbers and an increase in overall attention, the illegal export of live organisms, ex situ breeding for commercial benefit and trade in Socotran endemics is increasing rapidly.

- The damage by visitors at JBNP was observed . Visitors especially families, tend to be concentrated in a few locations, and considerable destruction has occurred, especially during peak weekends in the spring when many plants are flowering and the rivers have water.

Pollution and wastes

Effluent discharges, litter accumulation and extensive abstraction of water. Hotels generate significant wastes, often dumped in ecologically sensitive areas. This has changed animal behavior-- waste dumps are scavenged by species. However, this practice also results in the accumulation of toxic compounds in the ecosystem. A second problem arises as a result of the excessive extraction of ground water and surface water from wadis. The latter is a serious problem, as it threatens the biodiversity of these small, fragile but important habitats.

The production of wastewater and solid waste in tourist areas often exceeds the carrying capacity of local infrastructures due the high seasonal demand. Pollution also negatively affects water quality in beach areas and drinking water supplies. The human health implications can be severe. The cause and effect for tourism is also great, as tourism contributes to all forms of pollution (water, waste and atmosphere) and is adversely affected by the impact of pollution on the natural resources they rely upon.

Consumption of water

Water shortages already exist in Yemen and are likely to spread and increase. This not only is an environmental threat but poses many problems for the tourism industry itself as the shortages could lead to structural problems in the long term. Freshwater concerns are reaching crisis levels in Yemen as demand outstrips supply and desertification advances throughout the country. During the summer months water supplies are exacerbated by tourist flows for use in hotels and swimming pools.

Species

Negative impacts on endemic species caused by habitat fragmentation may not be immediately visible but come with a lag effect (see TILMAN et al. 1994). The effects of road building on local animal and plant populations extend well beyond the actual road place (TROMBULAK & FRISSELL 2000). We will witness the extent of the current damage to Socotra’s biodiversity in a few decades, not now. Even so, many extinctions may go unnoted because our current understanding of the total diversity, especially of the terrestrial invertebrates, is still incomplete.

Indirect Pressures on Biodiversity

Local population encroachment on the natural resources in sensitive areas and intensive resource use to support their livelihood needs. Local populations are using the provisioning and regulating ecosystem services to support.

Roads Development

Roads development increasing access to tourism areas. The placement of roads around tourist areas is providing easy access to ecologically important areas and increasing the pressure from tourists on these areas. Unless planned to incorporate biodiversity values—this could have the inadvertent effect of increasing other threats (i.e. poaching). In general, road construction is one of the most destructive forms of habitat fragmentation on protected areas, facilitating extinction. It contributes to habitat isolation of terrestrial species, subdividing populations on either side of a new barrier thus limiting gene flow and increasing the chances of extinction. Roads result in significant loss of biodiversity due to:

Deforestation

Deforestation has been causing a serious degradation of natural resources in and around the JBNP (mostly cutting of trees for fuelwood by the women, especially in the most remote areas), because the local communities have no cheap alternative energy sources. There are no commercial fuelwood plantations nearby and no government subsidises that would encourage locals to use alternative fuels, such as gas, which remain too expensive, or biofuels which are undeveloped. Also, for some families, the collection and sale of (dry, dead) firewood in JBNP still represents their largest source of income. Deforestation is likely to continue unless the root causes of poverty and lack of affordable alternative fuels are addressed. collection of firewood at the Al-Heswa site was not controlled, but now the locals cut according to quotas although it is unclear how these have been calculated and whether the level cut is really sustainable.

Domestic over grazing

The local people living in or around the protected areas traditionally raise cattle, sheep and goats. The number of livestock is increasing with the population. The high numbers of grazing cattle and other domestic animals have an extremely devastating effect on the protected areas`s ecosystem. Because of overstocking, there has been some deterioration with an increase of the unpalatable grasses. Overgrazing has negative consequences for the vegetation and the soil preservation. For instance, Livestock grazing has been banned from the core area of the JBNP and restricted throughout most of its buffer zone. However, this practice has probably been occurring in the area for thousands of years and the flora will have evolved in response to some level of grazing pressure. Preventing grazing altogether may lead to changes in the composition of the flora and actually reduce biodiversity (through loss of grazing resistant herb species and associated invertebrates).

Social and cultural impacts

While tourism provides certain economic benefits to a region at least in the short term, it also causes disturbance to the local way of life as well as to social structures, and can adversely affect traditional practices that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. It utilizes the physical environment for profits that are mainly directed out of the country, creating adverse impacts on livelihoods and lack of benefit sharing with the local people who will bear tourism related costs to both the human and natural environment. Additional resource use conflicts occur between tourism and local populations as they compete for limited resources of water, sanitation, energy and land uses.

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