Ecotourism as a tool for mangrove conservation in Southeast Asia

Brief

The Ecoresolve team analyzed and established a baseline for monitoring the mangrove ecotourism concept and how has been gaining global prominence recently while becoming an essential form of tourism for many people, with some 3,945 attractions in 93 countries. The project studied the effects of ecotourism on mangrove populations and local communities and how remote sensing can be applied to analyze mangrove indices and ecotourism parameters in the focused regions and populations: Southeast Asia, including Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Ecoresolve wanted to investigate how remote sensing tools should be used to drive mangrove conservation.

Specific goals

Ecoresolve conducted a comprehensive analysis that aims:

• To examine the regional scope, pattern, trend, and spatial and temporal scale/extent of ecotourism in mangroves.
• To identify the main mangrove ecotourism activities, facilities, and main mangrove species attractions.
• To examine and understand the short- and long-term positive and negative impacts of mangrove ecotourism.

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Execution

The Ecoresolve team conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles between January 2010 and December 2022. They analyzed the results to determine ecotourism's benefits and negative impacts on mangroves, remote sensing applications, the geographical distribution of mangrove populations, and current tradeoffs. We also discussed the interrelation with UN SDGs, water pollution and research shortages, and future avenues for ecotourism.

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Impacts & Results

Ecoresolve has uncovered various benefits and negative impacts of tourism on mangroves in the region and delineated the extent of mangrove populations and the impact of multiple activities. The team will continue to analyze the literature and propose recommendations for future applications of ecotourism and how it can be used to protect mangroves and benefit local communities..