FEATURE - Arctic communities turn to ecotourism
Date: 17-May-02
Country: SWEDEN
Author: Anna Peltola
Paivio is one of Scandinavia's indigenous Sami people who have found that tourism is one way to hold on to their way of life when traditional means are no longer sufficient.
But although tourism may offer a means of survival for the Sami, the Inuit living in Greenland and Canada's far north, as well as other indigenous people in the Arctic, it poses a risk to both the environment and local culture.
The northwest American state of Alaska is unquestionably the most popular destination above the Arctic Circle. Around 1.5 million people visit each year, mostly on cruise ships from where they can spot whales and other wildlife.
The rest of the Arctic region gets only a fraction of the billions spent on international tourism, but Arctic tourism may grow faster because since the September 11 attacks on the United States the region is considered safe.
Conservationists and local people want the best of both worlds through ecotourism, hoping to attract travellers who want to avoid harming nature and respect the local people and their culture.
Paivio still has some reindeer - it would be impolite to ask a Sami the exact number of his animals - and he earns money by arranging sleigh rides, introducing tourists to Sami culture and feeding them local food such as reindeer stew, dried pike and cloudberries.
"We try to show them everything as well as possible. And they have a lot to ask," he said.
ECOLOGICAL
Ecotourism might be a fuzzy concept - tour operators, government representatives and conservationists still don't quite agree whether fishing and hunting or snow-scooter riding and helicopter tours can be labelled under the term.
The United Nations has named 2002 the International Year of Ecotourism, and the U.N. Environment Programme and the WTO will hold a joint summit on the topic in Quebec on May 19-22.
For Paivio, ecotourism is not only a marketing tool.
"Nature is the most important thing. Reindeer herders lived here long before anyone else arrived. The Samis did not disturb the nature, we have lived here for thousands of years," he said.
Few people would say "no" to seeing a polar bear or killer whale in its natural habitat and growing numbers of tourists are heading north to spot icebergs and Arctic wildlife.
But environmentalists are getting worried that hordes of outsiders may pose a risk for the vulnerable ecosystems and small communities living north of the Arctic Circle, saying that the area might be more fragile than other regions.
"It's an area with a very low population density, and probably more than in any other area in the world there are long stretches of nature that pretty much function as they did 2,000-3,000 years ago," said Samantha Smith, head of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Arctic Programme.
The Arctic region, which spreads over eight different countries and across all time zones, is particularly vulnerable to the environmental consequences of tourism because of its short growing season, which means that any wounds take a long time to heal.
On the tundra, snowmobile tracks could take 50 years to erase if the snow layer protecting the ground isn't thick enough, Smith said.
CULTURE
Local communities may suffer from tourism if it is not carried out in a sustainable way.
In Alaska's capital city Juneau, a community of some 31,000 people, the population increases by around 10,000 each summer Wednesday which is the most popular day for cruise ships.
Tourism is big business for Juneau, but some residents say the number of visitors must be cut. The noise from helicopters catering to tourists is a problem that alone infuriates some, said Sarah Leonard, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness Recreation & Tourism Association.
In most areas in the Arctic, tourism is still a modest business and the few jobs created are often seasonal.
But some local communities hope ecotourism may be a way to keep them alive at a time when people flee south in s