Ecotourism: A chimera for rural communities in protected natural areas

Abstract

International institutions promoting “sustainable development” have broadened their scope of action to incorporate ecotourism as a new field to promote capitalist accumulation. As part of the process, they are offering financing and “technical assistance” to incorporate rural and native communities in providing these services, generally in partnership with international promoters of these activities that are organizing the markets. Considering the enormous cultural and economic gap between the groups of service providers and consumers, it is evident that most of the encounters imply a lack of mutual understanding of the situation and an appropriation of the benefits by people outside the communities. In the process, the communities end up sacrificing important parts of their own existence and their social, cultural and productive organization along with their ability to protect their ecosystems. There are, however, hopeful examples of where self-management prevails.

Keywords: ecotourism, sustainability, self-management, autonomy, exploitation.