Montane protected areas are at the same time places of high natural
values, great vulnerability and mostly very attractive for tourists.
It is true paradox, described in many books including well known
“Loving them to death” report, that the beauty and attractiveness
of mountain is one of the reasons they are endangered. The concept
of sustainable tourism is supposed to the answer to this dilemma.
However, while theoretically the idea sustainable tourism is commonly
accepted it is much more difficult to implement it. For sure, one
of the conditions of the success in making tourism sustainable is
proper co-operation between protected areas’ managers and
NGOs involved in tourism. This is why the organisers have decided
to invite people involved in the various aspects of this complex
issue to present and discuss first of all positive and negative
examples from different mountain regions.
The objectives of the Seminar are to exchange information,
experience and ideas on topics which include:
- new trends in mountain tourism and evolution of protected areas
management;
- identifying NGOs’ dealing with tourism in the mountains;
- the role of traditional tourist societies in shaping modern
mountain tourism;
- the reasons of disagreements between protected areas authorities
and NGOs’;
- special role of biosphere reserves in implementing principles
of sustainable tourism;
- case studies of positive and negative examples.
In addition the Seminar will provide participants
with an opportunity to visit the Babia Gora Biosphere Reserve –the
mountain massif ( 1725 m) of exceptional bio-cultural diversity
and with more than hundred years history of mountain tourism and
nature protection.
Currently the Babia Gora BR is involved into international project:
"Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity through
Sound Tourism Development in Central and Eastern Europe”,
sponsored by GEF. Selected achievements of this
project will be presented during field excursion.
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