Tourism has an essential role in terms of contributing to the financial sustainability of protected areas. In addition, through effective and efficient benefit-sharing, tourism can positively impact numerous stakeholders within and beyond the protected area.
Living on the Edge: Benefit-Sharing from Protected Area Tourism highlights the complexity of benefit-sharing, the importance of identifying all relevant stakeholders, the challenges of ensuring equity and sustainability, and the critical importance of good governance. The evolution of benefit-sharing mechanisms over time also emphasizes a continuing need to evolve and adapt to each unique situation as much evidence indicates that little has changed for those living on the edge. Although this book focuses on benefit-sharing from protected area tourism, it is essential to acknowledge that along with these benefits are costs associated with tourism, including possible increased local prices, loss of access to land, human–wildlife conflict, and other related costs. The contributing authors agree that benefit-sharing must include good governance, accountability, equity, transparency, a broad reach of stakeholder engagement, and a robust combination of tangible and intangible benefits – with recognition that benefit-sharing systems need to be adaptive and evolve, as needed, according to the relevant situation.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
Susan Snyman, PhD, is Director of Research at the African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation, and Research Associate with the School of Tourism & Hospitality at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is also Vice-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WPCA) Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group. Her research is focused on sustainable, diversified wildlife economies, including specifically, nature-based tourism and impacts on communities.
Kelly S. Bricker, PhD, is Professor and Chair in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah. She is the Vice-chair of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC); she coordinates the Capacity Building Working Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WPCA) Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group, and is Chair of the Central Wasatch Commission Stakeholders Group, Utah. Her research is focused on nature-based tourism, impacts on communities, and effective strategies for sustainable protected area and destination management. With partners in OARS, her husband, and 12 communities, she founded the conservation programme, ‘Rivers Fiji’.
