Eco-tourism and its impact

In recent times, apart from the traditional tourism, the eco-tourism has also become popular among the people. The people visit from oasis in Egypt to snorkelling sites at far flung and isolated destinations to avoid the mundane tourist crowd. However, according to the latest study it is being suggested that the interaction between the wildlife and the tourists puts the wildlife at the risk of predation due to bigger animals.

According to the researcher Daniel Blumstein of the University of California, USA, nearly 8 million people visit these kinds of protected areas in the name of eco-tourism every year. If all the humans on earth visit these protected areas, the interaction would make a big difference to the environment. The massive demand of eco-tourism and other nature based activities may add up the long list of environmental changes brought about by the humans. The report published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, views into the long-term effects of eco-tourism and urges the managers of all these protected areas to take these factors into account to assess the sustainability of the area. The researchers have laid stress to the fact that the objective of eco-tourism is to increase the biodiversity of the reserve, and not to diminish it.

Blumstein said that when humans and animals interact in a benign way, they might start to feel getting into comfortable zone and further feel bolder in other situations. When this boldness transfers to real predators, then they will be subject to higher mortality when they encounter real predators. The researcher also adds that the presence of humans might discourage natural predators and hence make smaller animals bold as well. This type of transfer in the system by the human puts animals at a greater risk in the presence of their natural predators and poachers.

The new study is being done on different animals to see their conditions due to the visitation by the human beings. In addition, Blumstein also wishes to see the level of exposure at which the animals start bringing the change in behaviour and bringing themselves into the danger.