Strengthening community tourism

Snapshot Solution

by Katia Herz, Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas por el Estado (SERNANP)

Sustainable tourism

Sernanp. PNRA, 2022

In 1983, the PNRA was created to protect the cloud forests of the forest browse, high forest, and endangered species. It also ensures the hydrological stability of the Abiseo, Túmac, and Montecristo river basins.

There are 11 communities located around the PNRA. Basically, tourism activities have been developed in the eastern sector, although they are being considered for expansion to other sectors of the PNRA.

Tourism is the second most important economic activity and has been significantly affected by the pandemic. However, the communities are interested in reactivating and strengthening this activity as an income diversification strategy. With the support of IUCN/Planeterra, five communities worked on the construction of the Community Action Plan, based on the needs of the communities and taking into account the local tourism market, which was socialized with protected area managers, local authorities and institutions with an impact on the area.

Last update: 20 Oct 2022

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Context

Challenges addressed

Floods

Increasing temperatures

Land and Forest degradation

Loss of Biodiversity

Ecosystem loss

Lack of access to long-term funding

Lack of alternative income opportunities

Lack of infrastructure

Lack of technical capacity

Unemployment / poverty

Scale of implementation

Local

Subnational

Ecosystems

Tropical evergreen forest

Tundra or montane grassland

Theme

Access and benefit sharing

Ecosystem services

Protected and conserved areas governance

Sustainable livelihoods

Infrastructure maintenance

Local actors

Traditional knowledge

Protected and conserved areas management planning

Watershed management

Forest Management

Tourism

Location

Abiseo River National Park

South America

Impacts

As part of the Action Plan development process, local stakeholders were identified with an interest in building a joint vision to implement tourism actions in the communities, with the support of local people. This represents a major step towards generating internal changes and promoting, in the short and medium term, economic, cultural and environmental growth.
According to the context of each community, organizational capacities were strengthened to promote sustainable tourism and/or infrastructure works were carried out under the "cash for work" mechanism, facilitating the purchase of materials from the project and labor as a contribution from the local population.
The "cash for work" mechanism included the renovation of bridges for tourist routes, implementation of a restaurant, a tourist reception house, a lookout point, and accessibility routes. The sustainability of this initiative has required a strong local awareness-raising effort, with the participation and involvement of local stakeholders.
Local people have been trained in ecotourism and its different forms of experience, development of tourism products based on local itineraries and unique sales proposals, technical field visits, determination of itineraries and costs, and management of product communication for visitor participation.