Eco-tourism was once touted as a major breakthrough for alleviating poverty in southern Africa while conserving the region's environment and culture. Now, concerns abound that the principle is not as benign as initially believed and could result in increased degradation of ecosystems, a loss of biological and cultural diversity. The group points out that this way, the theme will also be less susceptible to abuse by profiteers and privileged minority groups, who may seek to exploit this UN programme for self-serving purposes. There is concern that supranational institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organization who are pressuring developing countries towards trade and investment liberalization, that national and local governments will lose the capacity to plan and manage tourism, and eco-tourism, on their own.
Tourism is a key industry for southern Africa.
In countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia, the travel and tourism sector contributed 5.3 percent to economic output and 5.2 percent to employment. But while eco-tourism is beneficial to southern African economies, an assessment of the benefits must be weighed against destruction to the environment. In some cases, indigenous peoples have been forced out of their traditional lands to make way for tourism businesses. According to Anita Pleumarom writing in Third World Resurgence, such tourists are illegally collecting forest plants with potential medicinal value for the biotechnological industry, a clear case of biopiracy. Cousin Island Special Reserve was recognized as the best example of how eco-tourism is practised as well as for coastal and marine management in two recent publications released by international organisations.