II.7.
BIODIVERSITY
geographical range, appears to be a gap in marine designations with the exception of the Seaflower MPA. Co-operative management initiatives where local fishery communities are involved in the development and implementation of sustainable fishery policy are implemented in the North of Chocó Department. Such initiatives could be replicated in other coastal areas of the country.
4.5. Nature-based tourism Nature-based tourism is a growing economic sector in Colombia. The 2010-14 PND aims to increase visitor numbers to national parks from 679 000 to 1 million. Various instruments have been applied to support nature-based tourism. Ecotourism investment receives a 20-year income tax exemption if certified by MADS (Decree 2755, 2003). A voluntary environmental certification system for tourism providers has been established (see Section 3.1). The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism is also engaged with naturebased tourism, and a nature-based tourism strategy is under development. Increased nature-based tourism represents both opportunities and threats to biodiversity. In 2011-12, there were 1.5 million visitors to all types of protected areas. There appears to be scope for Colombia to increase revenue from tourism in protected areas. This would help finance the management and infrastructure needed to ensure that increased tourism did not adversely affect the biodiversity and ecosystems in and around protected areas. The National Parks Authority has implemented Community Ecotourism Programmes in some national protected areas. By the end of 2012, six partnerships had been established. Their aim is to improve the livelihoods of communities in the parks’ zones of influence while reducing pressures on natural resources by fostering environmentally sustainable economic activities. These programmes support the goal of promoting fair access and benefit sharing of biological resources (see Box 7.3), and contribute to growth in the wider tourism sector, which is forecast a 3.6% annually over 2012-22 (WTTC, 2012).
Notes 1. Secondary vegetation comprises plant communities that have regrown after a significant disturbance to primary vegetation (e.g. where grass and scrub land develops after burning or felling of primary forest). Pressures (such as grazing by domestic livestock) that prevent primary vegetation returning maintain secondary vegetation. 2. Ecological-social mosaics are areas containing a mix of agricultural and other transformed land and natural habitats. 3. www.evri.ca/Global/HomeAnonymous.aspx (accessed, 22/2/2013). 4. The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, the José Benito Vives de Andréi Institute of Marine and Coastal Research, the Amazonian Institute of Scientific Research, the Pacific Institute of Scientific Research and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources. 5. www.tremarctoscolombia.org. 6. Aichi Target 11: “By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes”. 7. Between 1.2% and 1.4%, depending on the figure used for Colombia’s maritime territory (several maritime boundary disputes persist). This figure excludes some areas of the Subsystem of Marine
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