Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
18.3.2
Do the Benefi ts Arising from Cultural Services
for the Many Outweigh the Benefi ts for the Few?
“Right now this place [a secluded natural spring] is precious to us - a little heavenly
corner that we can enjoy; if you open it up, [expletive] will come with their loud music and
garbage and destroy it. Why would I want to open the site up for more people?”
— Local resident in the southern Dead Sea Basin in Israel
In a comparison of ecosystem services provided at fi ve LTER sites in Israel's
northern Negev, it was found that some management authorities purposely develop
sites based on ecological features to attract tourists (Orenstein et al.
2012
). Thus,
when compared to other sites, sites developed for tourists receive higher values for
cultural services. We defi ned “potential ecosystem services,” as ES that are currently
not exploited for human use, but have potential to be used depending on changes in
cultural, ecological or other circumstances. Some agencies, prioritizing cultural
services, realize these potential services by preparing infrastructure and access to
natural settings. Survey and interview respondents in Wadi Araba seemed to support
such management strategies, by expressing enthusiasm for developing eco-tourism
based on cultural ES of the region. This led us to suggest to a group of local resi-
dents in the southern Dead Sea that they develop an infrastructure to allow access to
several fresh water springs in the region. Aside from capitalizing on potential
cultural services, we reasoned that a greater number of visitors would translate into
a greater amount of public support should the springs face threats from development.
Our suggestion led to the response quoted above. This leads us to a number of open
questions: What are we maximizing? How do we use the framework to balance the
relative value of cultural services provided by a site? Do more users necessarily
translate into a higher value of cultural service benefi ts?
18.3.3
Biodiversity or Cultural Landscapes?
“I had to think hard for an ecological [biodiversity-related] reason why building the hotel
would be bad”
— Local Israeli activist in Wadi Araba protesting the planned
construction of a new hotel
During the period of our research, there were two prominent environmental
campaigns taking place in the Israeli Wadi Araba. The fi rst was a proposed hotel to
be built in the Sasgon Valley at the entrance to the Timna Valley tourist site. Local
residents expressed, both in our research and in public protest, that the hotel was a
threat to the pristine nature of the valley. The second campaign occurred across the
road from the Sasgon Valley, in a small sand dune that was a relic of the once larger
Samar Dunes (Fig.
18.1
). A tender had been issued by national governmental agencies
to mine the remaining sand. While both sites share cultural and landscape importance,
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