Chapter 3 Tourism Impact On The Environment: Preserve, Conserve, Enhance or Even Rejuvenate
Chapter 3 Tourism Impact On The Environment: Preserve, Conserve, Enhance or Even Rejuvenate
Chapter 3 Tourism Impact On The Environment: Preserve, Conserve, Enhance or Even Rejuvenate
Introduction
The environment is one of the three dimensions of tourism, as a tourism resource, the
environment affect the quality of tourism.
Lesson Outcome
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Forest ecosystem
Desert ecosystem
https://www.conserve-energy-
future.com/desert-ecosystem.php
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Grassland
Aquatic ecosystem
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Freshwater ecosystem
Ocean Ecosystems
Our planet earth is gifted with the five major oceans, namely Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and
the Atlantic Ocean. Among all these five oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic are the
largest and deepest ocean. These oceans serve as a home to more than five lakh
aquatic species. Few creatures of these ecosystems include shellfish, shark, tube
worms, crab small and large ocean fishes, turtles, crustaceans, blue whale, reptiles,
marine mammals, seabirds, plankton, corals and other ocean plants.
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Coastal Systems
Plants and animals in an aquatic ecosystem show a wide variety of adaptations which
may involve life cycle, physiological, structural and behavioural adaptations. Majority of
aquatic animals are streamlined which helps them to reduce friction and thus save
energy. Fins and gills are the locomotors and respiratory organs respectively. Special
features in freshwater organisms help them to drain excess water from the body.
Aquatic plants have different types of roots which help them to survive in water. Some
may have submerged roots; some have emergent roots or maybe floating plants like
water hyacinths.
Lotic Ecosystems
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Lentic Ecosystems
They include all standing water habitats. Lakes and ponds are the main examples of
Lentic Ecosystem. The word lentic mainly refers to stationary or relatively still water.
These ecosystems are home to algae, crabs, shrimps, amphibians such as frogs and
salamanders, for both rooted and floating-leaved plants and reptiles including alligators
and other water snakes are also found here.
Wetlands
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Tourism can impact the environment in a number of ways. The impact can cause by
tourist behavior, construction, the quality of infrastructure, and the dynamic between
tourism supply and demand, design of facilities of tourism development guidelines by
developer and ineffective law enforcement.
Tourist can impact the environment through their behavior, such as throwing trash,
rowdiness, or spitting. They also could actually affect the environment by their mere
presence.
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Land Degradation
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Waste
Waste products include biodegradable wastes, such as food wastes, leftover food by
customer, kitchen food scrap and spoiled food.
Grey water from bathing and from swimming pool, human waste, sewerage sludge,
coffee - wastewater.
Solid waste products that are not disposed of properly in designated area turn into
litter. The most common types of litter are plastic bottles, cigarette butts, aluminum foil
packaging, discarded can, disposable lighter and diaper
Pollution
The major forms of pollution are air, water, light, visual, and noise.
The Air pollution is caused by the release of chemicals and particulate into
atmosphere
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seaports, beach resorts and hotels. The sources of light pollution are glare, light
trespass and sky glow. This can be treating to nocturnal wildlife.
Noise pollution includes roadway noise, industry to well as high-intensity sonar. Noise,
aircraft, from tourist may be generated by transportation.
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Climate Change
There is broad-based agreement within the scientific community that climate change is
real. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concur that
climate change is indeed occurring and is almost certainly due to human activity.
The primary cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal,
which emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—primarily carbon dioxide. Other
human activities, such as agriculture and deforestation, also contribute to the
proliferation of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
While some quantities of these gases are a naturally occurring and critical part of
Earth’s temperature control system, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 did not rise
above 300 parts per million between the advent of human civilization roughly 10,000
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years ago and 1900. Today it is at about 400 ppm, a level not reached in more than
400,000 years.
Even small increases in Earth’s temperature caused by climate change can have
severe effects. The earth’s average temperature has gone up 1.4° F over the past
century and is expected to rise as much as 11.5° F over the next. That might not seem
like a lot, but the average temperature during the last Ice Age was about 4º F lower than
it is today.
Rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps (again, caused by climate
change) contribute to greater storm damage; warming ocean temperatures are
associated with stronger and more frequent storms; additional rainfall, particularly
during severe weather events, leads to flooding and other damage; an increase in the
incidence and severity of wildfires threatens habitats, homes, and lives; and heat waves
contribute to human deaths and other consequences.
http://www.takepart.com/flashcards/what-is-climate-change/index.html
Water Stress
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occurs when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain
period or when poor quality restricts its use. Water stress causes deterioration of
fresh water resources in terms of quantity (aquifer over-exploitation, dry rivers,
etc.) and quality (eutrophication, organic matter pollution, saline intrusion, etc.).
Source: http://epaedia.eea.europa.eu/alphabetical.php?letter=W&gid=108#viewterm
Habitat Fragmentation
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According to the USEPA (1195), setting a building, facility or project can affect the
environment in a number of ways. Direct impact includes the destruction of existing
habits, alteration in topography and hydrology.
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Tourism has the potential to improve environmental quality in many ways, can provide
the incentive to develop land for commercial development. Examples are parks, Pasig
River.
Species Regeneration
Infrastructure build for travel and tourism could actually be designed to enhance or
create habitat for animals.
For examples, in the construction work of the Kansai International Airport, the perimeter
of the man-made island shoreline was protected by gently sloping rock-piled
embankment.
Chapter 3 pp 47-59, Tourism Impact and Tourism Sustainability-Cruz, 1st edition, Rex Store published
2016
https://sciencing.com/about-6325114-information-forest-ecosystem.html
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/desert-ecosystem.php
https://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands.php
https://byjus.com/biology/aquatic-ecosystem/
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