Living over Water - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 213

14 LivingoverWater

Introduction to Ecotourism
Development Concerns for
the Tonle Sap, Cambodia,
and Lake Titicaca, Peru

Robert L. France and Evi Syariffudin

CONTENTS
Introduction............................................................................................................ 227
Tonle Sap Great Lake............................................................................................. 228
Lake Titicaca .......................................................................................................... 272
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 293
References.............................................................................................................. 293

INTRODUCTION
Wetlands and shallow-water lakes have always served as convenient refugia for
peoples fleeing persecution. The relief image in the British Museum of cowering
Akkadians hiding from Assyrian warmongering despots amidst the tall marsh
grasses in southern Mesopotamia (Young 1977; France 2007) is a scene oft
repeated throughout history in many places around the world besides Saddam's
modern Iraq (nowhere more famously perhaps than the first settlements in the
Venetian lagoon; France 2008, 2010). Indeed, two particular examples—the
Tonle Sap Great Lake in Cambodia and Lake Titicaca in Peru—bear strik-
ing resemblance to the situation in Iraq (e.g., overwater living, heritage water
body of national importance and worldwide ecological uniqueness, surround-
ing archaeological ruins of global historical significance, burgeoning tourism
industries, and rampant development) and can perhaps offer insight into what
future concerns might be worthy of attention once societal peace and environ-
mental restoration are achieved in Iraq. Ecotourism is recognized as a means to
conserve the environment, educate and support local populations, and create an
awareness of fragile and precious ecosystems in the rest of the world (Liu and
Syariffudin 2003). However, the major challenge is to initiate such a program in
a region such as Iraq (and also Cambodia and Peru) where a strong foundation

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