Amazon Interactive
The Ecotourism Game
Ecotourism is an increasinglypopular form of tourism in which tourists seek out wild and scenic areassuch as rainforests or mountains for an active and educational trip. Thetourists are usually from the North America, Europe or Australia/New Zealand;their destination is often in the developing world.
Ecotourism has also become popular among people interestedin both environmental conservation and sustainable development. It has beencalled a way to save the rainforest and a "win-win development strategyfor undeveloped rural areas."
In many situations, however, ecotourism fails to deliver onits promise. Many researchers have studied ecotourism's failures as wellas its successes. In this game, you can try your hand at developing an ecotourismproject in the Amazon. Can you make ecotourism sustainable? Good luck!
You and your family areQuichua, an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadorian Amazon. You live in a communityof 100 Quichua on the banks of the Río Pangayacu, near the RíoNapo, an Amazonian tributary. Your community is also called Pangayacu. Thereare other Quichua communities in the area, but you must travel by canoeto reach the nearest town.
Your parentsand grandparents used to survive by hunting, fishing, and growing a fewcrops like plantain (right) and manioc (below) . But timeshave changed. You now spend most of the day in the fields growing coffee,maize (corn) and rice to sell at the market. Many years ago your land wascovered with tropical rainforest, but in the past decade your family cleared10 of your 15 hectares (25 of 40 acres). You need this land for crops, butyou are also worried about losing the rest of the forest.
Tourists from North America andEurope have begun showing up in your community. They seem nice enough, butno one likes guests arriving uninvited. Some people say the community shouldavoid anything to do with tourism. Tourists, these people say, interferewith daily life and tempt the youth with their city ways. But your neighborAgustín and several other members think that the community shoulddevelop an ecotourism project. That way, tourists would come on organizedtours and the money they spend would benefit the people who live here. Itmight also bring in enough money to replace some agricultural income, sono one would have to clear more rainforest.
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| This pile of plants represents how much primary rainforest your communityhas left. Currently about a third of all community land is forested. | This pile of coins represents household income. Currently each householdearns about $600 a year. |
You and the rest of the community have to decide what to do.Will ecotourism help preserve the rainforest? Will it bring in money forfood and other goods from the market, school supplies, and other necessities?Or will it interfere with daily life?
What do you think?
