NEGLECT OF BIOLOGICAL RICHES - THE ECONOMICS OF NATURE TOURISM IN NEPAL

Nepal's spectacular parks and reserves have attracted dramatically inc reasing numbers of foreign visitors. It might be expected that these p rotected areas would be nurtured as valuable and irreplaceable economi c assets. However they are becoming seriously degraded and the financi al resources provided for their management have been inadequate. This paper explores why - starting with the hypothesis that so little of th e economic value of protected area tourism in Nepal is captured throug h fees and other charges assessed on foreign visitors that the protect ed areas are perceived as being of inconsequential value. It is conser vatively estimated that $27 million of tourists' total expenditure in Nepal were attributable to the protected area network in 1988, when th e costs of managing the parks were less than $5 million but direct fee s collected from tourists visiting the protected areas amounted to les s than $1 million. These figures suggest the parks are a good investme nt. But it could also be argued that the costs of park management were more than five times the revenues collected by the government from pa rk tourists. Policy measures are identified which could help Nepal inc rease the economic as well as environmental benefits from nature touri sm. Case studies of Nepal's most-visited protected areas emphasize tha t the lack of funds for protected area management is not the only cons traint on effective management. Some important economic and institutio nal interests have yet to be effectively reconciled with conservation in the protected areas. Most problematic are local people's economic a spirations and the operating practices of the principal government age ncies involved - the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conserv ation and the Ministry of Tourism. Fortunately there have recently bee n some encouraging signs of change within both of these agencies.