Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia
Abstract Ecotourism plays a vital role in both economic development and depending on the scale, it can also aid environmental conservation. Ecotourism planning often considers culture‐based and nature‐based tourism separately, failing to recognize the synergies between them, with the potential to ma...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-01-01
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| Series: | People and Nature |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10755 |
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| author | Alejandra Echeverri Natasha M. Batista Stacie Wolny Guido A. Herrera‐R Federico Andrade‐Rivas Allison Bailey Anaid Cardenas‐Navarrete Armando Dávila Arenas Andres Felipe Díaz‐Salazar Katherine Victoria Hernandez Kelley E. Langhans Bryam E. Mateus‐Aguilar Dallas Levey Andrew Neill Oliver Nguyen Andres Felipe Suárez‐Castro Felipe Zapata Natalia Ocampo‐Peñuela |
| author_facet | Alejandra Echeverri Natasha M. Batista Stacie Wolny Guido A. Herrera‐R Federico Andrade‐Rivas Allison Bailey Anaid Cardenas‐Navarrete Armando Dávila Arenas Andres Felipe Díaz‐Salazar Katherine Victoria Hernandez Kelley E. Langhans Bryam E. Mateus‐Aguilar Dallas Levey Andrew Neill Oliver Nguyen Andres Felipe Suárez‐Castro Felipe Zapata Natalia Ocampo‐Peñuela |
| author_sort | Alejandra Echeverri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Ecotourism plays a vital role in both economic development and depending on the scale, it can also aid environmental conservation. Ecotourism planning often considers culture‐based and nature‐based tourism separately, failing to recognize the synergies between them, with the potential to market locations as biocultural destinations. Using Colombia as a case study, we created metrics of taxonomic biological diversity as measured by vertebrate species richness (including birds, mammals, freshwater fishes, reptiles and amphibians) and institutionalized cultural richness (by counting the number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage sites, museums, endemic music festivals, Afro‐Colombian Territories and Indigenous Reserves) and evaluated the spatial correlations between them. To determine biocultural ecotourism potential, we evaluated whether biocultural richness was accessible and mapped potential biocultural ecotourism supply. By mapping areas of sports fisheries, birdwatching destinations, national park annual visitors and airport arrivals we also estimated spatial demand. We also analysed the difference between biocultural ecotourism supply and demand to assess the realized and untapped potential for biocultural destinations. While biocultural richness is high in the Amazon, Pacific and Caribbean regions, we found that there are no win‐win‐win locations where culture, species richness and accessibility are all high. Areas with great potential for biocultural ecotourism development largely coincide with designated Indigenous Reserves and Afro‐Colombian Territories. Our paper suggests that Colombia is currently safeguarding its biocultural capital and that it remains inaccessible to tourists. This study underscores the power of integrating cultural and biological variables to reshape the ecotourism sector. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eae5b44b9e7a423d9d7b0ce7bebb0322 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2575-8314 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | People and Nature |
| spelling | doaj-art-eae5b44b9e7a423d9d7b0ce7bebb03222025-01-23T04:04:08ZengWileyPeople and Nature2575-83142025-01-017119421410.1002/pan3.10755Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in ColombiaAlejandra Echeverri0Natasha M. Batista1Stacie Wolny2Guido A. Herrera‐R3Federico Andrade‐Rivas4Allison Bailey5Anaid Cardenas‐Navarrete6Armando Dávila Arenas7Andres Felipe Díaz‐Salazar8Katherine Victoria Hernandez9Kelley E. Langhans10Bryam E. Mateus‐Aguilar11Dallas Levey12Andrew Neill13Oliver Nguyen14Andres Felipe Suárez‐Castro15Felipe Zapata16Natalia Ocampo‐Peñuela17Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California Berkeley Berkeley California USAThe Natural Capital Project Stanford University Stanford California USAThe Natural Capital Project Stanford University Stanford California USADepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology The University of Knoxville Knoxville Tennessee USASchool of Public Health and Social Policy University of Victoria Victoria British Columbia CanadaWashington State Department of Natural Resources Olympia Washington USADepartment of Integrative Biology University of California Berkeley Berkeley California USAFacultad de Comunicación y Creación, Universidad del Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia Bogotá ColombiaDepartamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad de los Andes Bogotá ColombiaInstitute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California los Angeles Los Angeles California USADepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Virginia Tech Blacksburg Virginia USADepartamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad de los Andes Bogotá ColombiaDepartment of Biology Stanford University Stanford California USABotany Department School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin Dublin IrelandDepartment of Biology Stanford University Stanford California USAAustralian Rivers Institute, Griffith University Gold Coast AustraliaDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Tropical Research Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California Los Angeles California USAEnvironmental Studies Department University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz California USAAbstract Ecotourism plays a vital role in both economic development and depending on the scale, it can also aid environmental conservation. Ecotourism planning often considers culture‐based and nature‐based tourism separately, failing to recognize the synergies between them, with the potential to market locations as biocultural destinations. Using Colombia as a case study, we created metrics of taxonomic biological diversity as measured by vertebrate species richness (including birds, mammals, freshwater fishes, reptiles and amphibians) and institutionalized cultural richness (by counting the number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage sites, museums, endemic music festivals, Afro‐Colombian Territories and Indigenous Reserves) and evaluated the spatial correlations between them. To determine biocultural ecotourism potential, we evaluated whether biocultural richness was accessible and mapped potential biocultural ecotourism supply. By mapping areas of sports fisheries, birdwatching destinations, national park annual visitors and airport arrivals we also estimated spatial demand. We also analysed the difference between biocultural ecotourism supply and demand to assess the realized and untapped potential for biocultural destinations. While biocultural richness is high in the Amazon, Pacific and Caribbean regions, we found that there are no win‐win‐win locations where culture, species richness and accessibility are all high. Areas with great potential for biocultural ecotourism development largely coincide with designated Indigenous Reserves and Afro‐Colombian Territories. Our paper suggests that Colombia is currently safeguarding its biocultural capital and that it remains inaccessible to tourists. This study underscores the power of integrating cultural and biological variables to reshape the ecotourism sector. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10755biocultural diversitybirdwatching tourismconservation planningcultural heritageecotourismrecreation services |
| spellingShingle | Alejandra Echeverri Natasha M. Batista Stacie Wolny Guido A. Herrera‐R Federico Andrade‐Rivas Allison Bailey Anaid Cardenas‐Navarrete Armando Dávila Arenas Andres Felipe Díaz‐Salazar Katherine Victoria Hernandez Kelley E. Langhans Bryam E. Mateus‐Aguilar Dallas Levey Andrew Neill Oliver Nguyen Andres Felipe Suárez‐Castro Felipe Zapata Natalia Ocampo‐Peñuela Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia People and Nature biocultural diversity birdwatching tourism conservation planning cultural heritage ecotourism recreation services |
| title | Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia |
| title_full | Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia |
| title_fullStr | Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia |
| title_short | Toward Sustainable Biocultural Ecotourism: An Integrated Spatial Analysis of Cultural and Biodiversity Richness in Colombia |
| title_sort | toward sustainable biocultural ecotourism an integrated spatial analysis of cultural and biodiversity richness in colombia |
| topic | biocultural diversity birdwatching tourism conservation planning cultural heritage ecotourism recreation services |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10755 |
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