Developing Ecotourism in Russia's Zapovedniks

by Natalia Moralyova and Elena Ledovskikh
In: Russian Conservation News, Winter'2001

Note from the editors: Tourism in Russia's zapovedniks, or strict nature preserves, has become an important topic of discussion in recent years, particularly as zapovedniks try to subsist on the small budgets the federal governments allots them. The authors of this article have watched the development of ecotourism from its outset, and here offer their perspective on the history and future of this trend in the management of Russia's protected areas.

Just five or six years ago the very idea of introducing ecological tourism into zapovedniks seemed like an intrusion into a sacred place. Today the idea has become fashionable. The first steps in this direction began with a USAID-WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) program in the Russian Far East aimed at supporting zapovedniks (program coordinator: N.Moralyova, main executant of the ecotourism project: E.Ledovskikh). The program provided several zapovedniks with technical support and management plans, organized unified systems of environmental monitoring, created environmental centers, and facilitated the development of ecotourism. The initial goal of all these measures was to help the zapovedniks find supplemental sources of finances, but our ultimate dream was that the zapovedniks would become cultural and educational centers in the regions, that they would combine elements of education, culture, and recreation, including museums and children's clubs, folk art studios, lecture circuits, and forums for the exchange of ideas.

Everything necessary already existed to put such plans into practice. Zapovedniks may not seem like cultural centers, seeing as they are located deep in the wilderness, far from theaters, museums, and lecture halls. But they are staffed by magnificent people who are well educated, devoted to their work, and romantics at heart; zapovedniks also have great potential as tourist attractions because they hold unique wilderness, interesting sites, and all have some form of infrastructure upon which to build. We looked on tourism as one way to achieve a goal, to attract broad public attention to the zapovedniks, and at the same time as a commercial component to facilitate environmental education. Back in 1996, as we prepared our plans, everything seemed so simple: all we had to do was try to follow the example of the Academy of Sciences, which had brought foreign university students to their research stations. We simply had to try to transfer their experience to the zapovedniks. In the early nineties, together with scientists at the Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Animal Ecology, we had organized biological study programs for foreign students quite successfully. The mutual benefits of these efforts were obvious. We were able to continue our scientific research, meet and spend time with interesting people, gain new scientific contacts, and even receive some funds to improve the infrastructure of the station. In turn the students saw the results of many years of Russian scientists' research and had the unique opportunity to spend time in the depths of the taiga. Indeed, the students were so impressed by their experience that they compiled a book about their trip, which for us was the best form of advertising. We could not foresee then that our small project had laid the path for the development of ecological tourism in Russia's zapovedniks.

The realization of the project in the zapovedniks of the Russian Far East allowed us to contemplate the possibilities and particularities of developing ecotourism in each and every zapovednik, to prescribe an optimal strategy, to consider the practical issues involved in instituting sustainable tourism, to lay out the paths of future work. Of the many accomplishments of this project, here we will describe only one example: the experience of developing ecotourism on Popova Island in Dalnevostochny Morskoi Zapovednik (Far East Marine Zapovednik).

Dalnevostochny Morskoi Zapovednik is a small, 64,000 hectare zapovednik formed in 1978 to protect the forests, prairie, and ocean ecosystems of twelve islands in the Gulf of Peter the Great in the Sea of Japan. As beautiful as the environment of the zapovednik was, however, the social and economic climate of the region produced serious tensions between the local population and the management of the zapovednik. In 1996 Popov Island, the closest to the mainland, presented a bleak portrait: industry had fallen, buildings were in disrepair, unemployment was widespread, and the local population was irritated and bitter. The museum "Nature of the Sea" stood in half-ruin, without electric light or heat. Many believed that under such conditions restoring the museum, founding an ecological center, and developing tourism was a risky undertaking, to put it mildly. The actual achievements, however, turned out to be far more notable than anyone ever expected. To begin, the project's initiators were able to attract the island's children with environmental and ecological ideas. In turn, the children began serious work, mapping out regions of Popov Island that were covered with trash, and then encouraging their parents to take part in clean up efforts. They also created the Ecological Theater and founded the movement "Children Teach the Protection of Nature." Simultaneous renovations to the museum and a summer hotel, children's camps, the furnishing of the ecocenter, and advertisements attracted a stream of guests to the island and significantly increased the incomes of the museum and the zapovednik. Over the course of three years the project changed a great deal: the local population began to respect the zapovednik and museum, began to develop the desire to protect nature, and began to hope for an improvement in the socio-economic situation. Today these hopes are connected, above all, to the flourishing of the zapovednik and the growth of tourism on the island. The project has ended, but the work it began has grown successfully: increasing numbers of people want to come to the island, see the museum, visit the ecocenter, and walk along set nature trails.

Another result of the project was the founding of the Dersu Uzala Ecotourism Development Fund. The development of ecotourism is a complex and potentially destructive process that requires careful management. We were sure that zapovedniks, whose historic role has been based in conservation and scientific research, but never tourism, would need help organizing ecotourism, and that a unified organization could provide a needed forum for the exchange of experience and information between various zapovedniks. Furthermore, someone had to take on a crusade to introduce concepts of sustainable tourism and how these concepts could play out in reality. From the very beginning it is important to plan tourism in a zapovednik to minimize the possible negative repercussions and maximize advantage for the zapovednik and the region. This is the task the Dersu Uzala Fund took upon itself. We transferred our successful experiences and the lessons we had learned in our earliest projects to other zapovedniks in the Russian Far East, and later incorporated them into programs in zapovedniks and national parks of the entire Altai-Sayansky region in the course of the ROLL (Replication of the Lessons Learned) Program funded by the Institute of Sustainable Communities (ISC) and USAID. Leaders of Teberdinsky Zapovednik in the northern Caucasus region are currently carrying out another environmental tourism ROLL project. Over the course of the past several years, about 20 zapovedniks have actively begun developing environmental tourism.

What is happening today? Despite the successes of individual zapovedniks, overall the issue of developing ecotourism in zapovedniks, as before, creates many arguments and has many opponents. People accept new ideas and new approaches and directions with difficulty, and it seems that questions that are discussed in various auditoriums more than once continue to come up again and again. "What is ecotourism?" "Why do we have to develop ecotourism in zapovedniks?" "What are the threats to zapovedniks and how do we avoid them?" "What forms of tourism are appropriate for zapovedniks?" "What are the goals and challenges of developing ecotourism in zapovedniks?"

Unfortunately, few understand the basis of the international conception of sustainable tourism. As a result, we must return over and over again to definitions and recall that if tourism brings detriment to nature and does not support its protection, if the local population does not receive income from tourism, then this kind of tourism is not compatible with international principles and is neither sustainable nor ecologically sound. Today it is essential for us to understand and agree with each other on what exactly it is that we are developing. Are we working within the boundaries of international principles of sustainable tourism, or creating new problems to solve? We have listened to the opinion of scientists working in zapovedniks who insist that tourism is a temporary measure necessary for economic reasons until hard times pass and the state begins to give the zapovedniks as much money as they need. Both proponents and opponents of developing tourism in zapovedniks ought to understand that sustainable tourism is not simply a business, and that its goal is not so much gaining profit as working to preserve nature and searching for ways to involve the local population in this work.

Moreover, when we speak of tourism it is necessary to distinguish the territory of the zapovednik from the zapovednik as an organization. No one ever intended an intrusion into strictly protected areas and no one ever suggested a massive invasion into the heart of a zapovednik. There is more than enough beauty and potential tourist sites within the buffer zone of a zapovednik and adjacent areas outside. The tourism potential of territories abutting the zapovedniks should be used fully. Roads and trails must be blazed that include the most varied attractions of a region: archeological, historical, and geographical.

The zapovednik as an organization is a different matter. The zapovednik may take upon itself the roll of regional initiator of sustainable tourism ideology. This is one of the most important values of ecotourism. Developing and increasing tourism has significance not only for the zapovednik, but also for the economics of the entire region. This can change relations with the administration of the region and with the local population: the zapovednik ceases to be a closed institution that bows to the will of the state but has no relation to the economic or social problems of the region. Instead, it becomes an advantageous partner capable of offering the regional administration an ecotourism program that will ultimately increase the flow of visitors to the region, create jobs, improve the investment climate, stimulate national culture, and beget an influx of supplemental resources for the region's economy. People begin to take pride in the zapovednik, which has become a true regional center of cultural education.

Of course, seeing these hopes fulfilled is no easy matter. But much has already been accomplished, and the first steps in planning and managing tourism in accordance with declared principles has already produced results. The government of the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia has accepted one of the Fund's programs for developing ecotourism and included it in the general plan for increasing tourism. At the current time, the first steps are being taken in dialoguing with the local population and involving them in discussing issues regarding ecological tourism. Surveys have been conducted in settlements near Katunsky, Sayano-Shushensky, Altaisky, and Khakassky Zapovedniks. Within the framework of a tourism development project in Teberdinsky Zapovednik (ROLL Program), employees are weighing the merits of producing souvenirs made by local residents, and also planning a seminar to discuss possible paths for mutually advantageous partnership. Our work in advertising and marketing has also produced fruit: up until recently, the only tourists to zapovedniks were mostly groups of foreign students and scholars. This year, thanks to an advertising campaign, the opening of a website (www.ecotours.ru), and a publication in the magazine "GEO," for the first time ever, Russians have begun visiting zapovedniks. Many wish to combine recreation with education and consciously want to leave their money in Russia and do their part to preserve their native environment. This summer we sent about 100 Russians from Moscow to various zapovedniks, and many plan to visit a zapovednik sometime next summer. This is excellent news, because active interest on the part of Russians will lead to wide support of zapovedniks among the population. It opens new horizons for us and forces us to think about and plan out our next steps.

We must learn not only to plan tourism, monitor its effects, and work with the local population, but also think about the necessity of continuing to develop principles, rules, and ethics. We must develop tourism in zapovedniks only within the boundaries of the rules we set for ourselves. We must work only with those who are prepared to follow accepted rules and observe corporative principles. Tourism should become an instrument of environmental education for our guests, the local population, and indeed, for ourselves. The time is ripe for the creation of an ecotourism association that will ponder the issues involved in spreading ideas of sustainable tourism, developing a set of laws and principles of ecotourism in zapovedniks, and coordinating the work of zapovedniks, special tourist agencies, educational institutions, and advertising agencies. It should also consider voluntary certification of tourist business in correspondence to international principles of sustainable tourism.

The work that stands before us today is laborious and difficult. We must develop trails and tours, determine acceptable levels of human influence, search for resources to improve infrastructure, write new lectures, work on advertising and marketing, and still study and pick up practical experience. Everyone who visits Russia's zapovedniks not only becomes a participant in the process of creating sustainable tourism, but also a true teacher. Actual experience is the best training, the best means of advertising, and the best path to gaining new friends and new opportunities. Travel to Russian zapovedniks means the rare joy of walking on unknown paths and seeing the kind of beauties and secrets of nature that very few people manage to see in all their lives.