Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Tourist attractions - How to combine tourism with environmental protection?

How to combine tourism with environmental protection?

To develop eco-tourism, we must take ecology as the criterion, comprehensively analyze various factors, comprehensively consider them, and develop, utilize and protect them according to ecological principles. According to the changes and characteristics of the system, constantly improve the structure and layout of the tourism system, and try to maintain its ecological balance and environmental benefits. A good eco-tourism system should have.

1. Introduction

Since haeckel founded "Ecology", it has developed by leaps and bounds for more than 100 years. It has developed from simply studying the relationship between biology and environment to studying the development and management of natural resources, the change of human living environment, the construction of nature reserves and the way of sustainable development, which provides a solid theoretical basis for the coordinated development of society, economy and environment. Eco-tourism, the main body of which is human beings, and the tourist object is the natural environment. Therefore, from the perspective of discipline definition, eco-tourism belongs to the category of ecology, but the biological components in the relationship between biology and environment are not ordinary creatures but people. Therefore, the management of such a system must be guided by ecological principles and proceed from the universal laws of ecology to coordinate the relationship among biology, environment, economy and development. The open natural landscape and nature reserve are both natural ecosystems, and tourism behavior itself is a kind of human activity, which forms a more complex man-nature composite system with the natural system than the pure natural ecosystem. It includes not only biological and environmental conditions, but also human activities and social, political and economic conditions. It is a multi-level and multi-factor unity composed of these complex factors. Human life and production activities will cause changes in the ecosystem; Conversely, changes in the ecosystem have a great impact on human activities. The ecological elements of nature reserves are interrelated, interdependent and mutually restricted, and they are all carrying out material circulation and energy conversion according to ecological laws. If one factor changes, it will cause a chain reaction of other factors in the system. When the self-regulation ability of the ecosystem exceeds the limit, the ecosystem will lose its balance, the tourism environment will be destroyed and the tourism industry will be affected.

Therefore, the development of eco-tourism must be based on ecology, comprehensive analysis of various factors, comprehensive consideration, and development, utilization and protection in accordance with ecological principles. According to the changes and characteristics of the system, constantly improve the structure and layout of the tourism system, and try to maintain its ecological balance and environmental benefits. A good eco-tourism system should have a harmonious structure, efficient and economical material circulation and energy conversion, which can not only adapt to the changes of natural conditions, but also have the ability to purify environmental pollution, give full play to the best production efficiency and provide beautiful eco-tourism places for human beings.

Nature reserves are managed and protected by the state, and it is absolutely forbidden to cut down and destroy the natural environment, especially within the demarcated boundaries, even normal industrial and agricultural production cannot be carried out. However, the construction of nature reserves can not be separated from local residents, and the two are as close as lips and teeth and promote each other. The construction of nature reserves must bring more benefits to local residents, not poverty, because countless practices have proved that the goal of protection can only be achieved if local residents live well. So what do local residents rely on to survive and live? As far as various economic activities are concerned, developing ecotourism in nature reserves is a very effective means to obtain funds. Eco-tourism can not only bring economic benefits to nature reserves, but also educate tourists on nature conservation, make local people live happily and maintain the economic form of sustainable management of nature reserves. How to achieve the effect of developing production and reducing environmental damage? We believe that we should first adhere to the principle of sustainable development and protect the environment under the guidance of this principle, especially following the most basic ecological principle that tourism cannot exceed the environmental capacity.

2. The emergence of the concept of sustainable development

The simple idea of sustainable development has a long history, and the embryonic form of this idea exists in the practice of traditional agricultural and forestry production and social development. However, as a scientific term, it is systematically expounded in the World Natural Resources Conservation Plan (WCS) published by 1980 (IUCN, 1980). Although this document is mainly aimed at the protection of natural resources, its scope goes far beyond the simple protection of natural resources, taking protection and development as two complementary and inseparable aspects, and putting natural protection under the framework of the development of the whole society.

The World Nature Conservation Plan has changed the past conservation theory and practice. It is clearly pointed out that its purpose is to combine resource protection and development well. Development here refers to economic development that meets human needs and improves people's quality of life; Protection here refers to the rational use of the biosphere (the earth where organisms live and live) by human beings, so that contemporary people can obtain the greatest sustainable benefits and maintain their potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations. The outline puts forward three objectives of biological resources protection, namely, (1) maintaining basic ecological processes and life support systems; (2) maintaining biological genetic diversity; (3) Ensure the sustainable utilization of ecosystems and biological species.

The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) submitted a report entitled "Our Common Future" to the United Nations in 1987 (WCED, 1987). The report runs through the idea of sustainable development, and puts forward the strategies and actions of sustainable development while fully considering the current world environmental situation. The definition of sustainable development here is basically consistent with that put forward in the World Nature Conservation Program, that is, "sustainable development is to meet the needs of contemporary people without damaging the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." According to the report, to achieve sustainable development, we must: (1) increase the speed of economic growth and solve the poverty problem; (2) improve the quality of growth and change the problem of destroying the environment and resources; (3) Do everything possible to meet people's needs for employment, food, energy, housing, water, sanitation and health care; (4) limiting the population to the level of sustainable development; (5) Protecting and strengthening the resource base; (6) Technological development should be compatible with environmental protection; (7) Incorporate environmental and development issues into policies, laws and government decisions.

In a word, sustainable development does not deny economic growth. From the beginning, this concept emphasized the coordinated development of economy and environment, and even put the problem of poverty in the first place. While changing the growth mode at the expense of destroying the environment and resources, we should not forget to solve the problems of employment, providing food and limiting population. Achieving sustainable development is the common aspiration of all mankind. The traditional development model can't meet the requirements of today's and future development, and mankind is seeking a road of coordinated development of population, economy, society, environment and resources. We believe that sacrificing the environment for development is unsustainable development; At the same time, the development that overemphasizes the protection of the environment and ignores the increase of people's wealth is not sustainable development. Because sustainable development is a question of how to seek development ways, how to improve economic growth and how to develop the economy without damaging the environment.

3. Discussion on the concept of sustainable development

After the concept of sustainable development was put forward, it has been widely responded and developed rapidly in the world. Both academic circles and government agencies regard sustainable development as an important research topic and action criterion (ERP environment, 1999). At the same time, some scholars have put forward different views on this concept. They think that sustainable development is more like a slogan than a scientific concept (Di Castri, 1995), and even think that sustainable development is a vague development (Oldman, 1995). In view of these situations, this paper makes a brief introduction so that we can have a more comprehensive and profound understanding of this concept.

Why is there such a problem in the concept of sustainable development? Di Castries (1998), a famous French ecologist, thinks that the concept of sustainable development itself is not accurate enough to be applied, because it is contradictory and cannot correctly reflect the long-term trend and uncertainty. In the current geographical economy and open information society, the application of the concept of sustainable development is more arbitrary. Because the motives of politicians, officials, environmental experts, businessmen and entrepreneurs are completely different, the concept of sustainable development has become more arbitrary and subjective. He further pointed out that the concept of sustainable development has the following six weaknesses. (1) The population, resources and environment are unbalanced, both of which are changing, so the capacity cannot be applied in this case. We can't use a fixed framework to measure those ever-changing spaces and their related elements; (2) Natural resources are not fixed or designated in advance, and substances previously regarded as non-energy sources, such as fresh water, wetlands and tides, have now become important energy sources; (3) Species, ecosystems and resources are constantly evolving or changing, and it is impossible to transfer these contemporary resources to our descendants without change. Even if we contemporary people do not interfere, we must change it by natural selection; (4) We can't explain the needs of future generations and the future resource value through simple reasoning or deduction of current trends. Contemporary people's demand for electricity, trains and computers is unimaginable to our ancestors, and may be unpredictable in the future; (5) Sustainable development cannot be measured and counted. So far, there is no international unit of calculation to measure sustainable development. (6) Considering the dynamic, nonlinear, open, stable and adaptive changes of the system, from the perspective of methodology, the two terms of development and sustainability are not harmonious.

Di Castri (1995) wrote an article in Nature and Resources, and put forward the "chair" model of sustainable development, which further standardized the connotation of the concept of sustainable development. He pointed out that sustainable development can be regarded as a chair. Its four legs are equal in length and strength. Each of the four legs is relatively independent but interdependent, and they are all components of sustainable development. If one leg is shorter or longer than the others, it will be unstable and unsustainable. These four legs are social, economic, cultural and environmental. The conclusion of sustainable development is that only in the four aspects of economy, environment, society and culture can a relatively balanced development be achieved. However, no country or region in the world has achieved or will achieve perfection and balance in these four aspects. For example, the United States has a developed economy and a good natural environment, but the social environment is not good, especially in big cities. France also has serious social problems, mainly manifested in the high unemployment rate. The economy of developing countries is developing rapidly, but the further development of their economy is rapidly restricted by environmental deterioration and ecological destruction. From a global perspective, rapid economic development and environmental degradation are very common, and no country or region has achieved the balance of these four aspects, or the coordinated and sustainable development of these four aspects.

It is precisely because of the fuzziness of the concept of sustainable development itself that experts from different institutions and academic backgrounds will inevitably explain and comment on it with the colors of their respective fields, and sometimes even unilaterally emphasize one aspect of the problem and ignore the important value of the other. Sustainable development has many meanings. The idea is simple and complicated. On the one hand, the environment must be protected from the interference of biological communities. On the other hand, it sounds unrealistic: how can we build bridges and expressway without causing some damage? How to produce enough food to satisfy hunger? How to build dikes for flood control? If we restrict the destructive economic activities of investors, how can we attract investment and development? Can they have no economic benefits (Johnson & Johnson, 1998)? In fact, any environmental problem has its obvious economic characteristics. The emergence of environmental pollution is a by-product of human development of machinery and petroleum industry, and ecological destruction is a by-product of human development of energy, transportation and other industries. Without the development of these industries, these environmental problems might not have happened. However, restricting human economic development in order to reduce environmental problems is a negative and inaction view, and it is also an obstacle to human progress and social prosperity. Therefore, the environmental problem is essentially an economic problem, and it is a problem for human beings to build and develop their own civilization. In this sense, eco-tourism is an economic activity that can best reflect the idea of sustainable development. What deserves our attention is that the concept of sustainable development, which is generally accepted by academic circles and the public, does not clearly indicate that it is a model that can develop the economy without damaging the environment, but only emphasizes intergenerational equity in the process of using natural resources to prevent contemporary people from depriving future generations of the right to use resources. The World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) pointed out that economic growth and development will inevitably lead to changes in physical ecosystems, and all ecosystems cannot be undisturbed forever. The forest in the first place has been destroyed, but the second place may be rebuilt, but there must be a plan to prevent soil erosion and genetic degradation. In short, the utilization of renewable resources should be within the scope of environmental capacity. According to the agreement of UNCED (1992), forest resources and woodlands should be managed reasonably to meet the social, economic, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations. When we quote this concept, we must be comprehensive and accurate, so as to guide our economic activities reasonably, build our country well and promote our economy.

1At the World Summit on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June, 1992, governments of all countries reached a consensus that economic development and environmental protection should be coordinated. China is the first country in the world to compile and implement "2 1 Agenda", which shows that the people of China will shoulder the responsibility of economic development and environmental protection together with the people of other countries. In fact, China only uses 7% of the world's arable land to feed 22% of the world's population. The pressure on resources, ecology and environment is enormous, and it has also made great contributions to the civilization of all mankind. What's more worth mentioning is that from 1 June 65438+July1day, natural forest harvesting will be stopped, and natural forest protection projects will be fully implemented to ensure the sustained and healthy development of the national economy. All these reflect the firm determination of the state and government to put economic development first, rather than weakening the central position of economic construction. China Agenda 265438+20th century emphasizes the strategic thought of sustainable development: that is, it changes from the traditional economic model that emphasizes quantitative growth to a sustainable development model that emphasizes improving the quality of development, and effectively protects the environment on which human beings depend and the resources needed for future generations' development while developing the economy.

4. Ecotourism and sustainable development

"Eco-tourism" is a kind of theme tourism, which means that tourists go to nature, enjoy the natural landscape and understand the ecological phenomenon, receive environmental education, and realize sustainable management at the same time. Eco-tourism is not only used to represent all natural scenery, but also emphasizes that the objects to be visited will not be destroyed. Tourists are inspired by environmental education and ecological civilization, which embodies the requirements and responsibilities of protecting nature. According to Yafei Niu's research (1999), the concept of ecotourism can be divided into three types: (1) the concept of ecotourism defined according to market and consumption behavior. Eco-tourism is put into the market as a tourism model or tourism product to provide tourists with a beautiful natural and human environment; (2) The concept of tourism defined according to the goal of sustainable development. Take eco-tourism as a tourism development model, and combine tourism development with community development and environmental protection; (3) Eco-tourism defined according to the code of conduct. Tourism activities emphasize the behavior norms and environmental values of tourists and local residents, which can enable tourists and local residents to establish good environmental protection and ethics and respect local cultural traditions.

The word eco-tourism has been widely spread in China for only a few years, especially in nature reserves, which rely on its natural landscape advantages and regard eco-tourism as a pillar industry for sustainable utilization of resources. With the improvement of people's living standards, returning to nature, enjoying the beautiful scenery and cultivating people's sentiments have become fashionable choices for people's leisure, and the number of tourists in nature reserves is on the rise, providing unprecedented opportunities for local economic development. According to the chair model of Di Castri (1995), ecotourism can meet the coordinated development of society, economy, culture and environment.

First of all, ecotourism can promote social development. Tourism is a very familiar social activity with a long history. It can make people know each other, increase knowledge, develop friendship and promote economic, social and cultural exchanges. From the current situation of various industries, eco-tourism is an important industry to realize sustainable development. By developing tourism, local residents can find living space outside their own ecosystem, expand their business areas and integrate into the whole society. The areas where eco-tourism can be carried out are generally distributed in forest areas, grasslands or other remote mountainous areas. These are relatively closed systems, so many original, unique and precious natural landscapes are preserved, which is a huge wealth. Giving full play to the benefits of this wealth plays an important role in creating more employment opportunities for local people, maintaining social stability and improving the expansion and opening up of remote mountainous areas. Eco-tourism is a non-consumption tourism. After tourists are satisfied and local residents in the tourist area provide tourism products, the natural landscape and environmental conditions will not be destroyed, and the sustainable utilization of tourism resources will be realized.

Secondly, eco-tourism is conducive to improving the level of culture and civilization, which is obviously different from other industries. Although tourism is also a product, it is a product with more cultural connotation. Tourists not only get products but also get the influence of nature through sightseeing, and gain knowledge about people and nature. Especially, while eco-tourism sells beautiful scenery to tourists, tourists also get a kind of culture and civilization education, which has gone far beyond simple business behavior and buying and selling relationship. Ordinary enterprises can only improve their customers' material civilization. While selling products, excellent enterprises also publicize their corporate culture and improve their customers' spiritual civilization. Eco-tourism allows tourists to be baptized by nature and at the same time promotes a higher level of civilization, that is, ecological civilization. Ecological civilization is an important part of spiritual civilization in a broad sense, which is manifested in people's rational understanding, rational behavior and moral sentiment in correctly treating and handling the relationship between man and nature, maintaining ecological balance and protecting the natural environment. Today, when the world is facing various environmental problems and is troubled by ecological destruction, we need ecological civilization more, and the whole society needs to take action to protect the environment and protect the earth on which human beings depend. Eco-tourism is the most effective means of ecological civilization education; Eco-tourism area is the largest classroom of ecological civilization education; Natural landscapes such as forests, grasslands, oceans, animals and plants, corals and rich biodiversity are the best teaching materials for ecological civilization education.

Thirdly, eco-tourism can promote environmental protection. In order to implement the strategy of sustainable development, we must protect the environment, resources and biodiversity. However, protection is human activity and people's conscious social practice, so how can we stimulate people's protection motivation and realize the sustainable development of the environment? The most important thing is to cultivate people's love: including love for nature, love for the environment and love for life. So where did this love come from? We know that loving parents and teachers is the inheritance of Confucianism; We know that patriotism and love for the people are the result of patriotic education. The former is deeply rooted and the latter is vivid. Confucian culture and social education lack the foundation of people's love for nature, so we must use an effective method, which is eco-tourism. Eco-tourism can stimulate people's awareness of loving nature and environment, and stimulate people's protection motivation. Because eco-tourism makes people really experience the beauty and charm of nature, stimulates people's love, and makes environmental protection an effective voluntary action, thus achieving the purpose of active protection and active protection.

MecNeely (1996) believes that the main reason why biological resources are often destroyed is that the residents closest to nature reserves are deprived of the right to manage these resources, and eco-tourism and local residents can be closely combined to complete the protection task. Human beings are a part of nature, and every life form is unique. No matter how valuable it is to human beings, it deserves respect. The benefits from nature depend on the necessary ecological process and the maintenance of life support system, as well as the diversity of life forms. Protecting biodiversity must conform to ecological principles. The reasons for the existence of species and ecosystems may be more important than simply satisfying the economic desires of contemporary consumers. When a gene pool tends to be extinct because contemporary people try to satisfy their personal interests to the greatest extent, all future generations will pay the price for it.

Sustainable development must oppose two extreme tendencies: one is to pursue quantitative growth unilaterally, ignoring benefits and environment; The other is one-sided emphasis on environmental protection and neglect of economic development. At present, under the condition of outstanding ecological environment problems and rapid economic development in China, we should pay more attention to the occurrence of the latter tendency If the poverty problem of local people cannot be solved well, it will be difficult to protect the environment and resources effectively. The ecotourism mentioned in the last article is only an industrial example of the sustainable development of forest areas or nature reserves. Can other similar industries develop? Such as green food industry, feed and fertilizer industry, gifts and handicrafts in forest areas, etc. Sustainable development is first of all economic development, and there is no sustainable development without economic development. In a word, development is the last word, solving poverty and developing economy are our central tasks, and protection is also for development and better development for future generations.