Description
Ecotourism had been proposed as a tool of sustainable management of
protected areas since it is considered to be an environmental and social
form of land use, which may ensure the long-term conservation of natural
and socio-cultural resources; contribute to the local development; and
provide an equitable satisfaction to all stakeholders (YABLOKOV and
OSTROUMOV 1991, SADORGE 1993, CEBALLOS-LASCURÁIN 1996,
ELLENBERG 1997 and MÜLLER 1998). However, this concept is relatively
new in many countries including Cameroon and its definition and
implementation principles are still under consideration. Accordingly, it is
still open the question on how tourism can be realised in a protected area
in conformity with the requirements of sustainable development of the Rio
conference. This question is the main concern of the present study, which
aims to analyse the possibilities for the realisation of ecologically sustainable
tourism concepts in protected areas in Cameroon. Four protected areas
were selected for the case study: Waza National Park, Benoue National
Park, Korup National Park and Campo-Ma’an National Park.
The study highlights that the preliminary conditions for tourism development
exist in the case study areas. Actually for example, tourism can be legally
developed in some protected areas including national parks and the
government want to promote ecotourism as a tool of sustainable
management. There is a rich potential of natural and cultural attractions
whose quality varies generally with the areas. Although tourism has potential
for creating jobs and constitutes an important source of revenue, some
constraints and risks (can) hinder the sustainability of its development, for
example: Inadequacy of some law provisions; non active involvement of
all stakeholders; small number of visitors; lack of marketing; and inequitable
sharing of benefits and bearing of costs.
The study findings lead to the suggestion of strategies and indicators for
the successful realisation of the ecologically sustainable tourism concepts
in the protected area. These strategies are important for the development
and revision of the tourism and management policy, especially for the
protected areas management plan. Additionally, this study constitutes a
basis for further investigations in the field of ‘tourism and nature protection’,
especially in the central Africa sub-region.
Key words: Ecotourism development; Nature conservation; Protected area
management; National parks; Sustainable tourism; Cameroon.
