Each Thursday, an invited contribution will be presented that will direct the focus to one or several issues related to tourism and Biodiversity. Comments to the contributions are most welcome from anybody interested in the subject, especially so from e.g. politicians, organisers, tour operators, authority officials, National Park Guards or - tourists. If there were no people there would be no environmental problems. To tackle the environmental problems, thus protecting the intergrity of ecosystems and biodiversity, is to manage people surrounding habitats of high biodiversity. Wherever local people live, they need appropriate and sustainable livelihoods.
Tourism is a major such option for people living in rural areas.
At most times, areas of high biodiversity often also are the most interesting ones for tourism development. Irrespective of which ecotourism definition one adopts, most would agree ecotourism is an effort to use tourism as an economic stimuli for local communities, and for preserving and protecting irreplaceable natural resources. There is no question that economics is the single most powerful force of tourism and humankind. It impacts virtually every decision made in the world today, including decisions to destroy and protect valuable natural resources. Without it, tourism and biodiversity will go nowhere.