Overview of Environmental Impacts

The topic I have chosen to research throughout this semester is the environmental impact that tourism has had on the world today.  It is obvious that most tourism starts with the burning of fossil fuels in order to travel to a specific area, but how can we as conservationists preserve this beautiful land and still be able to see it all?  How do we create a minimal impact on an area’s environment and still experience it to the fullest?  These are just a few questions I have asked myself when I think of the massive impact that tourism has had on environments all over the world.  In some countries more fresh water is wasted in hotel showers in a week then some villages of their own people get to drink and cook with for a month (UNEP 2001).  Tourism tends to put great stress on local resources which are usually already scarce to begin with. This leads to land degradation in order to exploit more of these resources and expand the touristic horizon.  There are also very many physical impacts I wish to examine such as the impacts on coral reefs, trampling of vegetation and deforestation of an area in order to build infrastructure. There are also many other non-tourism related environmental impacts that our race has had on the world today that I will be discussing such as the oil rigs sinking and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I hope to educate us all on the different types of pollution tourists can create while travelling and what we can do to minimize this footprint.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located within the North Pacific Gyre

When tourism begins to explode in any given area the negative impacts on the environment is usually linked with the deforestation of an area in order for the construction of general infrastructure such as roads, tourism facilities, resorts, golf courses, hotels, airports, hospitals and restaurants. On the other hand some may look at this as a positive aspect because it is helping create jobs in that area and attracting tourists to that location which is revenue for the country itself.  Tourisms relationship with the environment is very complicated and certain activities have very different impacts on an environment. I plan to learn how cultures, ecosystems and habitats have changed over time due to heavy exploitation and study what we must do in order to preserve the natural beauty we are so readily to destroy.  One way we do this is we allow large scale deforestation in order for the building of more infrastructures. This has caused many species of wildlife to be forced to migrate from their original homes. Also when animals are constantly in view of tourists for viewing it can put a heavy stress on that animal and alter their natural behaviours.