Module 6

6. Estimate of ecological impact

a. Ecological estimate is being used frequently for evaluation of all possible forms of development. This technique is a useful tool is a viable tool to support sustainable principals in everyday life. Ecological evaluation gives an opportunity for extension of decision making. Ecological evaluation, as the title suggests, is concerned with foreseeable effects to the natural habitat. Likewise, it provides the decision makers with necessary information.

b. Basic examples of ecological impact are:

  • evaluation must identify character, purpose, effect of the planed projects;
  • evaluation must acknowledge elements of the natural habitat which it will impact;
  • evaluation must mark the character and level of primary influences and those items that shall probably be achieved through secondary influences;
  • evaluation must suggest management strategy for quality control and enabling the utmost capacity of the given developing project.

c. There are no accepted models for evaluation of ecological impact. They might involve use of control list of key influences, cartographic analysis of spatial influences, simulation models or predictions models. Its force is recognized in a judgment that if in the right way integrated in the phase of project planning, they should help in predicting ecological effects, enable more efficient consent with ecological standards and decrease the need for expensive, revision of projects. Prevention in ecological sense is easier and less expensive than ecological correction, even when such penalty is allowed.

d. Ecological evaluation is necessary to increase the level of awareness to ecological issues. Future development should not be assessed, in a business sense only, but in a holistic way that involves effects on the local area.

e. Even though one might say that EPU is a good concept, there is a collision with great number of problems in the application process. One of which is the expense of preparing the statement of ecological impact, which will require many specialists including a hydrologist, geographer, ecologist and probably sociologist and anthropologist, if the analysis needs to be included in the communal impact. Therefore it is necessary to recognize impacts which will appear during construction, effects that will appear during the construction, during the working and closing of certain tourist complex.

f. It is important to determine ecological factors that are connected to the tourist development in its early phase, for two reasons:

-it is easier to avoid ecological damage with making changes or by rejecting development (the project, that is), than to try and mitigate the ecological damage once the project has already been launched;

-the projects that heavily rely on the fields of exquisite beauty and value can easily become unsustainable if that kind of development causes harm to the environment.

g.Impacts of tourism in relation to the environment and biological diversity may include:

•Use of land and resources for accommodation, tourism facilities and other infrastructure provision, including road networks, airports and seaports;

•Extraction and use of building materials (e.g., use of sand from beaches, reef limestone and wood);

•Damage to or destruction of ecosystems and habitats, including deforestation, draining of wetlands, and intensified or unsustainable use of land;

•Increased risk of erosion;

•Disturbance of wild species, disrupting normal behaviour and potentially affecting mortality and reproductive success;

•Alterations to habitats and ecosystems;

•Increased risk of fires;

•Unsustainable consumption of flora and fauna by tourists (e.g., through picking of plants; or purchase of souvenirs manufactured from wildlife, in particular such endangered species as corals and turtle shells; or through unregulated hunting, shooting and fishing);

•Increased risk of introduction of alien species;

•Intensive water demand from tourism;

•Extraction of groundwater;

•Deterioration in water quality (freshwater, coastal waters) and sewage pollution;

•Eutrophication of aquatic habitats;

•Introduction of pathogens;

•Generation, handling and disposal of sewage and waste-water;

•Chemical wastes, toxic substances and pollutants;

•Solid waste (garbage or rubbish);

•Contamination of land, freshwater and seawater resources;

•Pollution and production of greenhouse gases, resulting from travel by air, road, rail, or sea, at local, national and global levels;

•Noise.