Geography GCSE: Ecotourism Case Study (Sarawak)

Geography

·    Sarawak is in the Malaysia part of Borneo which is a large island in SE Asia.
· Tropical climate with average temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius with an average rainfall of 200mm a month.
· It is home to tropical rainforests with several large rivers including the Sarawak River. The Malaysian part of Borneo is separated with the Indonesian part by a mountain range.

Physical Attractions	Human Attractions
Borneo is home to the extremely rare animal the Orang-utan in the wild or in the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation centre.	Kuching City that is the capital of Sarawak.
The Bako National Park also has a variety of flora and fauna such as the proboscis monkey, bearded pigs, silver-leaf monkeys, hornbills, crocodiles, the carnivorous pitcher plants and wild orchids. Most amazingly there is the World’s largest flower called the Rafflesia. Other National Parks include Gunung Gading.	Rainforest World Music Festival attracts 20,000 people every year. This is also linked to the Borneo World Music Expo.
Beautiful beaches with clear waters and variety of fish and birds such as Hawaii Beach.	There are many Forts such as Fort Emma attracting historical or cultural tourists as temple is 150 of years old.
Fascinating caves in Bau with Fairy cave famous for its stalagmites. Borneo is famous for its huge cave systems.	The Old state Mosque is integral to the Kuching landscape built in 1852.
Satang Islands are home to coral reefs, which attract divers.	San Ching Tian Temple is the largest Taoist temple in SE Asia.
The rainforests attract adventurers from all over the world especially since Sarawak is renowned for its Ecotourism.	The fact that people can stay in locals’ homes ften makes the holiday cheaper and gives it an authentic feel to it especially since you are at one with nature.

Activities

·    Cruising and Diving especially in the Satang Islands due to the marine biodiversity including coral reefs with crystal clear water.
· Adventure sports occur a lot here in Sarawak including caving, jungle trekking, rock climbing, and mountain biking, rafting and kayaking.
· Looking at the beautiful rare wildlife that is only found in Borneo such as the Orang-utans.
· The Headhunter’s Trail / Longhouse Experience. This allows people to combine the longhouse stay with a rainforest trek culminating in trips up river in traditional longboats.

Sustainability

Ecotourism – Travel to fragile, pristine and usually protected areas that strive to be low impact and small scale. It helps educate the traveller, provides funds for conservation; directly effects the economic development and political empowerment of local communities; and fosters respect for different cultures and human rights.

All Ecotourism actually has a fundamental flaw, as it requires energy and therefore greenhouse gas emissions to get the tourists to their destinations. However it does combat mass tourism and makes tourism as a whole more sustainable. In Sarawak the Longhouse experience educates the travellers into respecting the local communities and nature. Since the stay in relatively less developed areas it has a low impact on the environment. The tourism and guides around the forests are organised by locals so they may teach trailers how to respect the wildlife and therefore not damage it i.e. plant walks are put in place to protect the vegetation. The Penan are a tribe that engage in this sort of tourism.

Benefits

· Since locals take tourists into their homes and it is done on a small scale the money often is simply exchanged hands directly without the need for middlemen stopping the problem called ‘leakage’.

· This politically empowers the area as it is attracting tourists and producing money for the country so the Government will be more willing to listen to them or deal with their issues potentially.

· Since there are no middlemen and often in the locals homes they provide you with food alongside the fact that in these remote places there are no shops as a tourist you do not end up spending a lot of money.

· The Government may want or is willing to protect the environment as it attracts tourists and will not bulldoze it.

· Tourists now can choose from a wider range of destinations.