Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
1-5 per cent per annum since designation. However, significantly, the rate of increase or
decline in visitation since designation as World Heritage was little different from overall
trends with respect to tourism visitation. Indeed, less than half of respondents reported
that the sites they managed had specific areas for the explanation of the World Heritage
Convention and why the sites were granted WHS, even though almost two-thirds of sites
used such status in order to attract international and domestic visitors. Nevertheless, over
half of the sites considered the effect of WHS on tourism at the sites to have been either
'positive' or 'extremely positive', eighteen site managers were neutral about the
relationship between tourism and WHS, and only one site manager reported that WHS
had been 'extremely negative' for tourism.
An interesting study of the effects of World Heritage designation was that of S.Wall
(2004), who examined the Laponian World Heritage site in north-western Sweden which
was declared a World Heritage site in 1996. The site includes four national parks
established under the provisions of the Nature Protection Act 1909: Sarek National Park
and Stora Sjöfallet National Park (1909), Muddus National Park (1941) and Padjelanta
National Park (1962), and two nature
reserves established under the provisions of the Nature Conservation Act 1964: Sjaunja
(1986) and Stubba (1988). In total, 95 per cent of the site is protected as national park or
nature reserve. The World Heritage site has a total area of approximately 9400 square
kilometres. According to Wall (2004) only 3.7 per cent of her respondents (primarily
Swedish and German tourists) stated that the visit would never have occurred or would
have had different travel plans if it had not been a World Heritage site. Nevertheless, 64
per cent of her respondents agreed either completely or in part that World Heritage
designation had value for the surroundings, while 51 per cent agreed either completely or
in part that WHS also had value for visitors. As Wall (2004) noted, redesignation from
national park to World Heritage Status may have long-term effects on perceptions of a
location as a destination; however, such influences required longitudinal analysis in order
to be better understood. Indeed, acquisition of WHS may have more impact in a
developing country context rather than in the industrialised nations because of
development of infrastructure and improved accessibility that designation may make
possible.
ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF NATIONAL PARKS AND
WILDERNESS AREAS
Environmental history is a field concerned with the role and place of nature in human life
(Worster 1977, 1988). Research and scholarship on the environmental history of national
parks and wilderness lies at the intersection of a number of fields of geographic and
academic endeavour. Within geography, as with history, the increased awareness of the
environment as a social, economic and political issue has led to geographers and
historians attempting to chart the history of land use of a given region or site in order to
increase understanding of its significance, values and present-day use (I.G.Simmons
1993; Dovers 1994, 2000a, 2000b; Crosby 1995; Russell 1997; Hays 1998; Pawson and
Brooking 2002). Such research is not just an academic exercise. As well as assisting in
