Napo Wildlife Center (Ecuador) shows positive unintended consequences

Treehugger has a wonderful slide show of a visit to the Napo Wildlife Center in Ecuador, run by the indigenous Kichwa tribe. While many people attack ecotourism as greenwashing because flying to these places burns lots of fuel. What these critics don't seem to grasp is that without this tourism income, the world would lose some of its most valuable treasures. This point is driven home in the article by showing the only real economic alternative in the region - oil drilling. Look no further than the lawsuit against Chevron Texaco to see what kind of impact this has had on the Ecuadorian Amazon. There are several sea turtle nesting beaches that would be empty without ecotourism, all of the eggs would be collected and sold on the black market.

One thing that caught my eye was the slide that said that many of the Kichwa had stopped eating monkeys, long a favorite food, since the tourists wanted to see them. This kind of behavior change can end up being one of the most powerful positive impacts for conservation even though its not part of the original intention. In some turtle communities, tourism programs are started mostly as an economic issue with a limited reach to residents. However, once other people in the community realize that their family and friends depend, directly or indirectly, on the survival of the turtles, it becomes a powerful social pressure to stop eating eggs.