Protected Areas in a neoliberal world and the role of tourism in supporting conservation and sustainable development: an assessment of strategic planning, zoning, impact monitoring, and tourism management at natural World Heritage Sites

Abstract

Societies collapse when there is an increasing natural resource scarcity and growing stratification of society into rich and poor. The neoliberal world of targets, business plans and short term economic justification in which we live exacerbates these risks to society. It is imperative to find new ways of governing natural ecosystems that protect them from these risks and allows usage that helps close the development gap. Tourism in Protected Areas (PAs) is one important vehicle to achieve sustainable conservation and development outcomes. This paper highlights that the increasing focus on promoting human activity, especially tourism, in and around PAs is increasingly enshrined in the mandate and governance structures of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation natural World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves. It reviews strategic planning, zoning, impact monitoring, and tourism management by analysing all 229 natural World Heritage Sites, revealing that both overall strategic planning and tourism planning in these sites need improvements, notably through more consistent monitoring systems. The paper concludes by exploring the benefits of embedding World Heritage Sites into Biosphere Reserves, with a particular focus on core zoning, regional product development, and improved monitoring standards, and suggests ways to disseminate good practice worldwide to all types of PAs.