The Challenges of Tourism Resources Conservation and Management in Abijata-Shala Lakes National Park, Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia
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Date
2008-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The Abijata-Shala Lakes National Park (ASLNP) was established in 1970 over an area
of 887 km2 of land, to conserve the spectacular aquatic birds and the biodiversity of the
locality. It is one of the most beautiful spots of Ethiopia, possessing blue lakes edging
with flat-topped acacia trees, magnificent wealth of avifauna, the lava caves, and hot
springs. Two Important Bird Areas are registered within this park where it contains
over 436 bird species, and is a home for a total of 76 mammal species. Besides of
their ecological values, the park resources enabled to generate about 2.1 million ETB
to the national economy through tourism provision between the years of 1989 to 2007,
and created job opportunities for citizens. However, most of the objectives for the establishment of the ASLNP are not yet
implemented and realized. Conflicting objectives are prevailing conceming the
conservation of resources among stakeholders. There are two types of incompatible
land use systems, consumptive and non-consumptive, going on in the national park,
which affected the natural resources to the extent that the whole ecosystem
functioning and its biodiversity is put in jeopardy. Currently population settlement, farm
land expansion, overgrazing, tree cutting, fishing, sand mining, mineral salt extraction,
and water abstraction constitute the major challenges of nature conservation with their
serious consequences on the tourism resources. Population pressure, land scarcity,
poverty, loose stakeholders coordination, and the conservation policies and
approaches practiced for decades are found to be among the major driving forces for
the huge resource degradation in the park. This study made a thorough investigation
on the existing conservation and management challenges, their sources, causes, and
consequences on the tourism attractions in the national park. For this purpose,
adequate data was generated from different primary and secondary sources using
various techniques. In the primary data collection process, 100 households, 24 visitors
and other stakeholders from the surrounding were administered by way of survey
questionnaire. The process was backed by discussion, interview and observation in
the study area, where the author believes it was vital to understand the perception,
outlook and resource handling mechanism of different actors within the ASLNP.
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Keywords
Tourism Resources Conservation