E
xtended prior to there was a wide spread concern about the atmosphere, the population of what is now Diawling National Park (DNP), lived as component of their atmosphere guarding and using it and the surrounding regions which formed a lush ecosystem of dunes, estuaries, pastures, and forests, wealthy in plant and wildlife bio-diversity capable of sustainably supporting thousands of inhabitants. Positioned in the southwest corner of Mauritania on 15,600 hectares, this wetland area became a state owned park in 1991, below the path of Diawling National Park. The Park, is bordered on the south by the Senegal River, the west by the Atlantic Ocean, the north by the Chat Tboul Reserve and encroaching sand dunes, the northeast by Keur Massene (a well known hunting resort), and the east by unregulated homesteading and agriculture production. Only a all-natural barrier of sand dunes divides the fresh and salt water wetlands of the park, as a result developing a exclusive habitat for each fresh and salt water birds. The park is a permanent year round household to practically 300,000 birds and a supports more than a million migratory birds through the winter months.
From the incredibly inception of the park in 1991, the ambitions incorporated offering an financial future for the region’s inhabitants. Nonetheless, more than the final 20 years the ecosystem of the park has been tremendously broken by big exterior infrastructural projects (dams, dikes, and water diversion activities) and compounded by interior exploitation: hunting, more than fishing, and poor agriculture and water management practices. Nowadays the park’s wetlands, its wildlife, and its inhabitants, face some of the most intense all-natural situations and man created obstacles in their struggle to survive on degraded land in a deteriorating ecosystem.
Nonetheless, when cooperating with an really poor population, whose only implies of survival is a dying ecosystem, it is not realistic to insist that they do a lot more to preserve their sensitive atmosphere. An option implies of revenue generation, which focuses on preserving their current life-style though making use of the ecosystem as an asset, ought to be created and implemented. Prior research of the DNP’s all-natural sources and financial possible and proof from encounter in Senegal’s adjacent Djoudj Park, indicate that Ecotourism might be the most productive way of accomplishing the ambitions of: wetland conservation, preservation of classic customs, and offering a path out poverty. The incredibly definition and notion of Ecotourism delivers empowerment of indigenous populations by providing each monetary worth and dignity to their classic activities.
In the course of the creation of the park, there was important resistance from residents, who had been conscious of the predicament that initially occurred in Senegal’s Djoudj Park involving forced removal of the nearby population and cessation of all activities. In addition, a lot of stakeholders each inside and outdoors the Park saw, and continue to see, financial improvement in terms of big infrastructure and agriculture projects rather than in the conservation and well being of the wetland ecosystem. The involvement of a lot of international organization’s concerned about Diawling National Park’s environmental state, has left the inhabitants with suspicion about their future in the park. Despite the fact that the notion of Diawling has constantly been incredibly diverse and encourages the continuation of nearby activities like fishing, gathering of plants, and herding residents worry that after the park’s ecosystem has been restored, they will be forced to leave in the name of conservation.
Initializing ecotourism activities calms the worry of forced removal from the Park and guarantees the population’s necessity and future in the Park as an integral component of the ecotourism, conservation, and wetland preservation tactic.
The inhabitants of Diawling National Park and its surrounding regions have historically been oppressed and rather invisible in the realm of Mauritanian society. Nonetheless, enhanced financial standing, independence, and international recognition breed empowerment and respect inside politics strengthening their significance and securing land tenure rights.
The implementation of Ecotourism in the Park, and the resulting financial and environmental rewards to the neighborhood and Mauritania as a entire, will give the vulnerable inhabitants of the Park a voice and a tangible argument against continued exploitation of their most important resource, the Senegal River.
Knowledge in other regions of Mauritania indicates that tourist usually leave with a deep attachment to the people today they visited and come to be advocates for the enhanced financial welfare of the population.
As a result below the ‘Wetlands Restoration & Poverty Reduction by way of Ecotourism’ tactic the atmosphere, financial improvement, and ecotourism are unified they can not exist as separate entities. What impacts 1, will effect the other.
