Contested Nature: Promoting International Biodiversity with Social Justice in the Twenty-first Century

7. The Political Economy of Ecotourism: Pendjari National Park and Ecotourism Concentration in Northern Benin

Ecotourism is believed to be the fastest growing type of tourism (Ecotourism Society 1998).1 Many have come to view it as a means of reconciling the conflicts between the needs for protected area conservation and the pressing needs of local people. While observers note that ecotourism is no panacea, they continue to argue that it has the potential to contribute to successful conservation and provide benefits to local communities in or near protected areas (Young 1999). Indeed, the United Nations designated 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) and its Commission on Sustainable Development requested that international agencies, governments, and the private sector undertake supportive activities. Yet despite these attractive arguments, local populations have in many cases received limited benefits, if any, from ecotourism operations and conflict over natural resources has not decreased (Bookbinder et al. 1998; L. M. Campbell 1999; McLaren 1998; Pearl 1994; Young 1999). In some cases, the impact on local people has been negative. Moreover, ecotourism has provided little protection for protected areas (Brandon and Margoulis 1996; Honey 1999). Groups such as the Third World Network recognize these complications, arguing that 103 Chapter Seven The Political Economy of Ecotourism Pendjari National Park and Ecotourism Concentration in Northern Benin PATRICK C. WEST, CRYSTAL L. FORTWANGLER, VALENTIN AGBO, MICHAEL SIMSIK, NESTOR SOKPON in its experience “bad policies and practices in ecotourism by far outweigh the good examples” (Third World Network et al. 2000). The Rethinking Tourism Project further argues that many ecotourism projects do not bring the benefits touted, pointing out that projects often increase social, environmental, and other problems in communities (McLaren 2000). In examining the successes and failures of ecotourism, much of the literature overlooks the political economic forces that shape ecotourism and hinder small-scale, local operations (Weaver 1998; Sherman and Dixon 1997). Some sources, however, provide more nuanced examinations of political economy (Bailey 1991; Honey 1999; Woo 1991; Young 1999). Political economic perspectives highlight the considerable barriers to local participation in and ownership of ecotourism as well as the distribution of economic and other benefits within communities. If political economic forces block the delivery of benefits to local people, then the promise of ecotourism as a means of merging conservation and development can easily fail. Unfortunately, the concentration of ecotourism benefits in the hands of a few powerful actors at the expense of the rural poor is more often the rule than the exception. In this chapter we examine a case that illustrates strong domination of ecotourism markets by an international hotel chain operating in and around Pendjari National Park, Benin, West Africa. We argue that excessive concentration of ecotourism benefits detracts from both conservation and community development objectives. This case is examined in comparative perspective with other examples from the literature that explore “exception niche theories” in which certain structural situations allow for local benefits to flow to local people in spite of difficult political economic conditions. We conclude with a discussion of why and how local people can benefit from this type of enterprise. ECOTOURISM AND POLITICAL ECONOMY Political economic forces play a strong role in shaping the success or failure of ecotourism projects. Exploring such forces helps to understand why many local people cannot capture the benefits purportedly offered by ecotourism and why foreign multinationals, wealthy individuals, and large national operators benefit instead. For example, foreign tourism companies and nonlocals own 90 percent of all coastal development in Belize (Munt 1993), 61 percent of hotels near Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal (Bookbinder et al. 1998), 80 percent of Costa Rica’s beachfront property (Honey 1999), and 100 percent of the safari companies near the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana (Hitchcock and Brandenburgh 1990). At the same time, in some places the reverse is true: in Dominica more than 62 percent of facilities and 70 percent of units are fully owned by local people (Esprit 1994). 104 WEST, FORTWANGLER, AGBO, SIMSIK, SOKPON For the purposes of this chapter, the term political economy refers to the struggle over power and influence to monopolize benefits from ecotourism (chapter 3). We use the term powerin a Weberian sense as the ability of powerful actors to impose their will on government policy making in the face of potential resistance (Weber 1978 [1968]; West 1982, 1994). Influence is a broader term that refers to the use of social network contacts by actors to create personal relations with government officials to persuade...