Tourism and the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014
Every decade, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) convenes a World Parks Congress (WPC), in conjunction with the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). The sixth WP...
Protected area tourism: Progress, innovation and sustainability
Protected areas are highly sought after destinations by the increasing number of global travellers. Tourism has grown faster in the last 60 years than most other industries and the United Nations World Tourism Organization estimates that the number of international tourist arrivals will increase by an average of 43 million (3.3%) a year in the second and third decades of this century. The literature on tourism is substantial, in 2012, there were >150,000 items in total, with around 5000 relevant to sustainable tourism (CIRET, 2012 in Buckley, 2012). Eagles et al. (2002: 13) explain that the growth in interest in sustainable tourism and ecotourism reflects a rising tide of social concern about the quality of the natural environment and the effects of tourism. McCool (2009) highlights that the management of sustainable tourism in protected areas essentially requires numerous tradeoffs between two goals: (1) protection of the key values that form the basis for preservation and (2) allowing access to visitors to enjoy and appreciate those values. He goes further to say that these trade-offs occur within a context of a lack of societal agreement on goals and also a lack of scientific agreement on the relationships between causes and effects; two conditions needed to identify and implement effective tourism management actions (McCool, 2009). Many researchers have described how tourism and visitation to protected areas can generate both positive and negative environmental, economic and social impacts (Eagles et al., 2002; Leung et al., in press; McCool, 2006; Mitchell and Ashley, 2010; Snyman, 2014). The past decade has seen the publication of research on protected areas addressing several core themes in relation to sustainable tourism, including: the economic impacts of tourism (Lapeyre, 2011; Nielsen and Spenceley, 2011; Snyman, 2012, 2014; Spenceley, 2010; Telfer and Sharpley, 2008), including a recent focus on value chain analysis (Meyer, 2007; Mitchell et al., 2009; Rogerson, 2012; Rylance and Spenceley, 2013; Spenceley et al., 2010) and inclusive tourism (Rylance and Spenceley, 2014a, 2014b), the social impacts of tourism (Deery et al., 2012; Esteves et al., 2012; Mbaiwa, 2005; Stronza and Gordillo, 2008) and the environmental impacts tourism has in protected areas (Buckley, 2010; Eagles, 2013; Mbaiwa, 2003). Another area of research which has progressed in the last decade is that of understanding visitation (Kajala, 2009, 2013; Kajala et al., 2007, Leung et al., in press; Spenceley et al., 2015a; Telfer and Sharpley, 2008) and the importance of understanding the impact of visitation on tourism and conservation and finding ways of maximising benefits and, at least, satisfying all stakeholders. There has also been research focusing on the different governance types of protected areas and the various tourism models that accompany these, for example transboundary protected areas, involving different country’s governments (Spenceley, 2006; Vasilijevic et al., 2015); community conserved areas (Lapeyre, 2011; Snyman, 2012) shared governance, and governance by the private sector (BorriniFeyeraband et al., 2013). The linkages between tourism and poverty reduction have also been explored extensively in the literature (e.g. Ashley et al., 2001; Erskine and Meyer, 2012; Hall and Brown, 2006; Mitchell, 2012; Rogerson, 2012; Scheyvens, 2011; Scheyvens and Russell, 2012; Spenceley and Meyer, 2012), and particularly in relation to areas of high biodiversity and protection (e.g. Ahebwa et al., 2012; Nelson, 2012; Rylance and Spenceley, 2014a, 2014b; Snyman, 2012). Demand for tourism in protected has largely grown since the end of Second World War and has been associated with the increasing convenience and reduced
Laser remote sensing : fundamentals and applications
Electromagnetic Theory of Radiation. Quantum Physics and Radiation Processes. Interaction and Propagation of Radiation. Laser Fundamentals. Laser Systems as Remote Sensors. Laser-Remote-Sensor Equations. Analysis and Interpretation of the Lidar Return Signals. Atmospheric Lidar Applications. Hydrographic Lidar Applications. Concluding Remarks. Index.