Living over Water - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 246

FIGURE 14.18 A typical tree in the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary that might house colonies of
a variety of avian species.
Early planning (Nedeco and Midas 1998) suggested that once ecotourism is run-
ning at full scale in the Prek Tol Core Area (seventy-six tourists a day), an estimated
gross income of more than a million U.S. dollars could be generated if an initial
investment of over $100,000 was provided. Liu and Syariffudin (2003) later posited
how the construction and maintenance of sustainable buildings in the community of
Prek Tol (for health care, education, etc.) would be a sustainable source of income
for local villagers and could be used to fund similar infrastructure projects in the
surrounding villages. Today, the arrival of ecotourists to view the waterbird colonies
has made the community of Prek Toal one of the most affluent floating villages
on the lake. Proving that nature conservation can be linked to economic develop-
ment through responsible ecotourism (see chapter 16), outside investment has built
schools, a health center, and a pagoda. Tour groups often stop for breakfast or to pick
up supplies in the village on their way to the bird colonies and can even spend a night
at the visitor center for a true immersion experience (Figure 14.19).
In general, ecotourism may not be beneficial to either the environment or the local
population, especially in developing nations, if it results in the exploitation of the local
people, local culture, and natural resources, and/or the local peoples' exploitation of
their own culture and resources (Liu and Syariffudin 2003; see also chapter 5). It is
not unheard of, for example, that the impact of international organizations such as
UNESCO and well-meaning nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) charged with
enforcing regulations and implementing management practices has resulted in animos-
ity and suspicion in the locals, whose cooperation may be merely superficial in nature,
thereby driving a vicious cycle of continued exploitation of the land. Several observ-
ers offer cautionary notes to the seeming success of the Prek Tol story. Poole (2005)
believes that the Prek Toal Core Area survives not due to park management but because
it lies within some of the lake's most important fishing lots, which are closely managed