Strengthening community tourism

Snapshot Solution
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.
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production
SDG 15 – Life on land
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals