Mulugeta Asteray

Community Based Ecotourism: an Approach to Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development Mulugeta Asteray

Community based ecotourism (CBET) has become the most important tool of biodiversity conservation in protected areas because of its nature to keep balance between community and the environment. This book assesses how CBET is used as a tool for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in SMNP. It is derived from research findings and is descriptive in its design. CBET in SMNP is an effective, efficient and sustainable compared with alternative approaches of conserving biodiversity. This is because of the reality that local communities are preserving the park better than the earlier periods due to economic reward from tourism. Local communities? awareness level on biodiversity of the park and its conservation has increased considerably. Capacity building programs has been given by government and NGOs to increase community participation in tourism and help contribute biodiversity conservation. The economic significance of tourism to the park and community is increasing significantly from year to year. But the income from tourism and numbers of population are not matching. Finally, good benefit sharing mechanism that can satisfy involved parties in the park is recommended.