Sustainable Community Development and National Park - Research Proposal Example

Sustainable Community Development and National Park(X) By Literature review Definitions A national park is a region that has been put under protection with the aim to preserve the beautiful scenery, a natural phenomenon, a historical site or objects and wildlife. Protection of this area is anchored on the laws of the land and is done through the enactment of necessary legislation (Cooper, 2008). A national park is also alluded to as an integrated area of living in the country side. Here people live, work and direct their efforts toward the conservation of the natural environment. A national park could also be a region of historical significance within a country. This area is often put under protection for the benefit of future generations. Individuals are able to visit national parks and acquire important knowledge about their countries history (Cooper, 2008). Background In earlier years the population of mankind was not much, there were only a few individuals living on earth. Life expectancy in these early days was low, people had no experience on use of modern medicine and hence only few births were done successfully. Child mortality rates were also high (Negi, 2002).A limited number of individuals managed to pass through childhood and become adults. Adults were also not able to live past the age of forty. Effectively, the population of the world remained low. In recent years with the discovery of modern medicine, people have been able to tackle these issues effectively. The population grew to levels which could not be easily contained (Accessible Tourism, 2010).A lot of pressure was now put on the existing natural resources as people began to clear more land to grow food and to live in. The effect of this sustained growth in population began to be felt through a variety of ways; human and wildlife began to have frequent conflict (Cooper, 2008). People begun to occupy some of the wildlife natural habitat; animal migratory corridors also had increased human presence resulting in dispute whenever animals were passing through. Individuals would also kill animals that had strayed onto their land. The increased population levels also meant that more forest was cleared to provide land for settlement and timber for use in making furniture, building, construction and fuel. Some of the beautiful scenery that had previously filled the land was also destroyed (Accessible Tourism. 2010). Pressure had been put on existing natural resources and some were faced with the prospects of extinction. This was a major challenge as the future generations would not be able to see and experience the nature and wildlife (Cooper, 2008). The government of the day together with environmental bodies could not just sit and let this happen. Through parliament they decided to put in place appropriate mechanism to deal with the problem. The legislature was able to effectively deal with this issue through the establishment of national parks. In this area’s natural resources would be put under protection away from human interference. These national parks would effectively ensure that wildlife, forests, areas with unique scenery and historical sites were all given adequate protection. (Gifford, 2004) Sustainability of national parks The establishment of national parks faced a lot of challenges in the initial stages. This was due to opposition from individuals and organizations which had exploited these resources freely. Secondly, there was the issue of lack of adequate funding. To be able to set aside a large area of land and effectively fence it off would require massive capital. To protect the park from invasion would also necessitate the employment of security personnel who would continuously keep a close eye on the area. Apart from the government and a few other individuals, people did not see the need to spend a lot of funds in the conservation of natural scenery, wildlife and historical sites (Hambler, 2004). Sustainability/sustainability and tourism (3 pillars) The pillars of sustainable development are three; social, economic, and environmental. Tourism makes a massive contribution to these three pillars of sustainability. Tourism facilitates the creation of employment opportunities which improve livelihoods. The kind of jobs created in this sector has a multiplier effect and lead to numerous job opportunities elsewhere (Davidson, 1989). Traditional tourism mainly involved travelling from one location to another. It was mainly done for business or leisure (National parks. 1993). When the aspect of tourism was brought into national parks the sustainability of national parks became a reality. A new concept of sustainable development of national parks began to take shape. It entailed encouraging the wellness of the natural environment while adequately sustaining the economy and the lively hoods of the people. National parks are mainly located in the countryside away from large cities. In these parts of the world the economy is relatively smaller; individuals also have low income levels (Negi, 2002).The effective establishment and running of a national park would require large amounts of capital. Individuals in the areas around national park would also need to earn some sort of income from conservation activities in their localities. Tourism would thus serve as a major source of revenue for all this to take effect (Chalifour 2012). People coming into national parks would mean sustained existence. The national parks would generate revenue to sustain their activities. Individuals would have to pay to go into national parks; the money collected will be used to ensure sustained existence of the natural resources. The development of the national park therefore gets to contribute massively to the economy of the area (National parks. 1993). Firstly, through the creation of various employment opportunities, people living around the national park are able to secure employment in various sectors thus positively contributing to their livelihoods. The local administration within the area is also able to raise a lot of finance through taxation. The returns raised are reinvested back into the community meaning that living conditions also get to improve (Baker, 2006). Sustainable tourism contributes massively to the overall sustainability of national parks. The idea behind establishing national parks was to archive sustainable management of the natural environment. This environment is made up of wildlife, forests, beautiful and attractive views; this requires a great amount of capital to accomplish (Long, 2006). Establishing a national park would also require that the local population feels included and that they can gain financially (Muir, 2006). Only when this is done will the project have full support of the local population given that they are a major stake holder in the project. Tourism provides the revenue to carry out all these activities. Revenues collected from the visiting tourist are channeled into maintenance of the natural resource. The effect of this is that the natural resources will be able to last for many years to come. Coming generations will also be able to enjoy the privilege of seeing all this marvels of nature (Chalifour 2012) Sustainable tourism in National parks Sustainable tourism is a very important aspect to a national park. Sustainable tourism is able to create employment opportunities which will result in income generation in rural regions. It has also the ability to impact positively on the wildlife, community and other landscape of the area if properly managed. Sustainable tourism that promotes, protects and enhances the unique qualities of national parks should be encouraged. Inclusion of the local population should take place. The local people should be able to understand and support the development of tourism. The social and economic benefits will thus be shared evenly. Individuals who visit national parks should be educated on the importance of sustainable development; this will inspire positive contribution to development of the parks and improve the quality the visitors receive (Compton, Ember, & Foster, 2013). Community . The community will be able to get a lot of opportunities from the establishment of the national park. The national park would have various individuals working at various levels. There would be security personnel, guides to take the tourists around, conservation experts who would do the technical part of the job and finally there would be managers charged with the management of the park (Compton, Ember, & Foster, 2013). All these groups of people would be paid from the revenue generated by the park (Long, 2006). This would result in increased living conditions of most of the locals who would manage to secure employment in the national parks. The hospitality industry places would also grow. Tourists coming to visit a place will require a place to stay; they will also need food to eat. All these services in essence would trigger the emergence of hotels and restaurants to cater for this new market. Individuals would thus able to invest in accommodation facilities which will enable them to make a lot of money ( Trumbauer, 2006) .Employment opportunities will also be able to come out of this. The inhabitants of these areas could also benefit from the existence of a national park by being able to provide accommodation to tourists in their homes (Van, 2005). Accommodation by these locals would mean that the locals are able to also earn some income. Apart from the income the tourist will be able to learn the culture of the local people during their stay. The visitors also get to experience the local food. Tourists need to move from one are to another, hence a need for transport facilities. This need for transport will result in massive growth of the transport sector and also serve as a source of employment to a large majority of people (Rombauer, 2006) Aim Increased human population has resulted in the natural environment; wildlife, natural scenery facing the threat of extinction. The large population that occupies the earth has meant that more land is needed (Van, 2005). Human wildlife conflicts have also developed. In order to conserve the natural environment, national parks would need to be set up (Mitchell, & Ashley 2010). The park will ensure that conflict between humans and animals is avoided, that our lakes, forests, scenic views will be in existence for a long period of time and the future generations will also be able to utilize them. (Long, 2006) Objectives and suggested research questions The objectives of the research would be to determine if sustainable establishment of national park can be archived, to find out the effect of the establishment of the national park on the local population. The third objective is to determine how national parks have helped in conservation of the ecosystem (Long, 2006) Possible research questions would thus be; does the establishment of national parks contribute to sustainable development? , how has the establishment of national parks contributed to the lively hoods of the local population (Long, 2006) Bibliography Accessible Tourism. 2010. 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Pleasantville, N.Y.: Readers Digest Association. Muir, J. 2006. Our national parks. New York: Cosimo Classics. Trumbauer, L. 2006. National parks. Bloomington, Minn: Red Brick Learning. Van, P. M. 2005. Space tourism: Adventures in Earths orbit and beyond. New York: Springer. Read More