Globally rainforests are under threat on numerous fronts, including clearing for agriculture, harvesting for timber and urban expansion. Yet they have a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and providing other ecosystem services. Rainforests are also attractive tourist spaces and where they have been used as a tourism resource have generated significant income for local communities.
However, not all use of rainforests as a tourism resource has been sustainable. Rainforest Tourism, Conservation and Management argues that sustainability must be the foundation on which tourism use of this complex but ultimately fragile ecosystem must be built upon. It provides a multi-disciplinary perspective, incorporating rainforest science, management and tourism issues. Rainforest Tourism, Conservation and Management is organized into four sections commencing with Rainforest Ecology and Management followed by People and Rainforests, Opportunities for Rainforest Tourism Development and finally Threats to Rainforests.
Each major rainforest region is covered, including the Amazon, Central America, Africa, Australia and south-east Asia, in the context of a specific issue. For example rainforests in Papua New Guinea are examined in the context of community-based ecotourism development, while the rainforests in Borneo are discussed in an examination of wildlife issues. Other issues covered in this manner include governance, empowerment issues for rainforest peoples and climate change.
1. Introduction
Bruce Prideaux
2. Rainforest Ecology and Biodiversity
Bruce Prideaux
3. Threats to Rainforests
Steve Turton
4. Making World Heritage Matter: Wet Tropics Management Authority Partnership Initiatives to Enhance Quality of Tourism and Visitor Experiences
Alistair Birtles
5. Protected Rainforest Areas in Chile : A Review and Current Issues
Mirko Vera Campos, Noel Scott and Noreen Breakey
6. The Lamington National Park: A Contrasts Approach to Rainforest Tourism Research
Noel Scott, Don Getz, Steve Noakes and Eric Laws
7. National Parks, Rainforests and Tourism in Australia: An Historical Perspective
Warwick Frost
8. Tourism Stakeholders in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area
Julie Carmody and Bruce Prideaux
9. Visitor Experiences of a Rainforest Walk: Implications for Tourism Management
Jennifer L. Hill and Georgina Gough
10. Enabling Rainforest Ecotourism: A Case Study from Amazonian Peru
Jennifer L. Hill and Ross A. Hill
11. Indigenous Peoples and Rainforest Tourism: Canopy Walkways as Tourist Attractions
Heather Zeppel
12. Community Based Ecotourism: Opportunities and Difficulties for Local Communities
Hana Sakata and Bruce Prideaux
13. Empowerment, Ecotourism and Rainforest Communities
Adrian Mendoza and Bruce Prideaux
14. The Brazilian Amazon: A Missed Opportunity for Rainforest Tourism
Cristina Rodrigues and Bruce Prideaux
15. Opportunities for Rainforest Tourism in PNG
Grace Guaigu and Bruce Prideaux
16. Rainforest Primate Tourism in Uganda
Dan Musiguzi, Eddy K. Tukamushaba and Celestine Katongole
17. Rainforest Wildlife: Opportunities and Threats
Fiffy Hanisdah Saikim and Bruce Prideaux
18. Sustainable Tourism of the Forest in Jamaica in Cockpit Country
Novadene Miller
19. Birdwatching in Papua, Indonesia
Sharon Hardwood
20. Trees, Tourists and Trade-offs: The Political Ecology of Rainforest Tourism, Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Alleviation in Madagascar
Ivan Scales
21. Climate Change and Changes to the Stability of Protect Area Rainforests: Implications for Tourism
Bruce Prideaux
22. Cairns Case Study: Climate Change, Impacts, and Response Strategies for Rainforest Tourism
Robyn Wilson
23. Feral Animals in Rainforests: are they Seen as ‘Pests’ by Tourists?
Kana Koichi
24. Conclusion
Bruce Prideaux
Bruce Prideaux is Professor of Marketing and Tourism Management, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
"The significance of rainforests in many parts of the world suggests that this text is long overdue as it explores the challenges for the sustainable development, conservation and management of rainforests for the benefit of tourism. With a highly experienced international list of contributors, the editor has delivered a timely, engaging and challenging text that is both diverse in its coverage and critical in its investigation. With a plethora of international case examples and variety of global perspectives this is a highly recommended text for those with a passion for the world's rainforests and the challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of tourism."
– Alan Fyall, University of Central Florida, USA.
"This book addresses a significant gap in our understanding of rainforests and the opportunities they offer as tourist attractions. Two particularly noteworthy features are a chapter that outlines the science behind rainforest management and the inclusion of researchers from many of the countries where rainforests are found including Brazil, Chile, Uganda, Jamaica and Sabah."
– Bob McKercher, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China.
"Despite their popularity as venues for tourism, rainforests are among the most fragile ecosystems on earth, acutely endangered by anthropogenic exploits, including tourism. This exceptional volume is chockfull of sagacious studies and essays that underscore the importance of rainforests as one of the most desired, albeit delicate, resources on the planet. Rainforest Tourism, Conservation and Management is an unequivocal must-read for every scholar who is interested in tourism and its consequences for our planet!"
– Dallen J. Timothy, Arizona State University, USA.