There is a major environmental degradation to the Chinese natural tourism spots. The discussion examines a few natural features, and how they have undergone degradation due to the poor government’s conservation efforts. Environment and the environmental conservation are very big issues in China today.The prospect and value of environment is slowly degrading in China, and this is expected to escalate even further since people do not see the importance of environmental conservation (Pan Par.7). In other country, there are always some rules to help environment protection and people know they need to keep the environment clean ( National Park Service par.12). People in China have to raise their awareness of environment protection.
As a native person from Beijing, I have been living there for 17 years since my birth. I remember that the sky was blue when I was a kid, but every time when I return to Beijing during summer vacation, the sky was always grey. Haze destroys Beijing and everyone has to gauze mask on the street. Industrial pollution and tourism pollution have almost destroyed this city. There are 20 million people in this small city, and which is the most important reason that makes this city dirty. People never care about the environment they lived. The thesis of my research paper is “People in China have to raise awareness of environment protection.” Because I deeply understand how bad is the environment issue in China and it affect our health. My parents still live in Beijing and they probably will live there their whole life. I really don’t want them live in a city with high level of pollution.
According to the UNEP, “Uncontrolled conventional tourism poses potential threats to many natural areas around the world. (United Nations Environment Programme par. 1).” The conclusion is that uncontrolled conventional tourism poses potential threats to natural areas.
People need to understand the meaning of the term “Environmental degradation” changes over time. “Environmental degradation is a result of socio-economical, technological and institutional activities. Degradation occurs when Earth's natural resources are depleted. These resources which are affected include: water, air and soil. The degradation also impacts our: wildlife, plants, animals and micro-organisms” (Alice, par.2). It is a general definition for environmental degradation. The word here has it own meaning, which is affected by tourism instead of water, air or soil. People’s action bring damage to environment and that’s the reason Environmental degradation happens.
Since the environmental degradation to the Chinese natural, its current state defines the future state of the environment to a country that is overwhelmed with a high population. However, there have been little efforts by either the government or individuals to protect the rare natural scenery that define the country’s beauty and aesthetics. This trend is even expected to worsen in the future, if no proper steps are taken to subvert its course. Thus, the poor effort by the people of value and protect their environment is a major deterrent to the sustainability of the natural environment.
The poor state of environmental conservation has triggered a series of negative impacts to the environment. The first negative impact is due to uncontrolled tourism. A high number of tourists visiting the country’s natural scenery has escalated the damage of these spots, as they are left to arbitrarily visit these places without precautionary measures. This is a major impact associated with an uncontrolled conservationist idea to the country’s natural sites.
The second impact associated with poor tourism laws to the natural sites is the apparent demise of the natural lakes like the Cha-ka Salt Lake. China has a large population, in a country with 13 billion people, and we all know what that meant. People damaged the beautiful lake even they promote lock economy at the same time. The number of tourists visiting per year in 2011 was 26 thousand; in 2012, 54 thousand; in 2013, 160 thousand; in 2014, 481 thousand. And in 2015 this number became over one million, with the highest daily visiting number over 30 thousand people (Pan, par.7). Of course every one wants to take a photo standing on the “sky”. The tourists who step on the crystal clear particles ruined the lake’s attractive features, and transform the status of the lake into dark swamp. Besides, some people take advantage and step on these beautiful particles with their SUV’s, thus contributing to their damage.
The third impact associated with poor environmental conservation efforts is due to damage of natural caves. Indeed, the government has failed to monitor cave tourism, especially in relation to the activities of the cave developers, who insert man-made decorations, which instead lead to the growth of moss that taint the clear surfaces of these caves.
With proper guidance and protection measures from the government, tourists can actually experience the magical Mother Nature without harming the environment. In Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Tourists must follow a guide while visiting the cave and obey to a series of rules during the tour, for example, no flash photography. Tourists even have to step on bio-security mats in order to slow down the spread of a fungal disease affecting bats (National Park Service par.12). This is a perfect case showing with proper protection methods, tourists and the nature can actually stay in harmony.
Sadly, not everybody in this world has realized how precious our nature is. Even if they do, not every one of them knows how to develop and preserve. Cave tourism in China, for example, has not yet found a way to make money and protect the environment at the same time. With lack of supervision or no supervision from the government, developers of caves often put strong neon lightning and all sorts of man-made decoration in the cave in order to attract more people. Some of them do not even know that light will help the growth of moss on stalactites and stalagmites, making them no longer crystal white, while others are just ignorant. Tourists can walk free on themselves and use flashlights. Despite the sign of no touching, most tourists cannot resist their temptation of touching the stalactites and stalagmites. What they do not know is greasy fingers will stop the growth of stalactites and stalagmites for good and turn them black. Cave tourism in China is catastrophic to the natural environment and the eco system in the cave, which took trillions of years to form.
There is need to protect the environment, and as such the current environmental degradation trends must be revoked, lest they risk harming the environmental prospects and status of the country’s natural scenery.
The solution to the constant environmental conservation matrix and protection of beautiful scenery in China can only be undertaken by the government through upholding the standards of the environment by entrenching laws that control such tourist spots, which instead of degrading the value of such spots due to human activities, their esthetics should be improved and protected for the future generation (National Park Service par.12). These policies will ensure that the natural environment in these target zones is protected against arbitrary damages by human factors. And the most important point is that people have to know that the environment need to be protected.
Tourism itself is not a bad thing. The key to tourism and environment is the people involved, tourists, developer, government officials, etc. Tourism, on the other hand, is a good way to let people know about the beauty of the nature and make them realize how important it is to protect the environment. However, there are just too many types of people in this world and there is no way to ensure only the “good” ones become tourists and developers. Why is people in China don’t have awareness to make rules to protect the cave but American do? Are they really just hate the environment and wanting to kill it? Of course not, no one does that. The reason is they don’t know how important to protect the environment, they don’t know the earth is dying and they also don’t know that the environment is related to their whole life. People in China have to raise their awareness to respect nature and protect the environment.
Despite all limitations, China is one of the most important tourist destinations in Asia which has a rich cultural heritage and strong international linkage. Admittedly, tourism flow to this beautiful region has been slightly declined for the last few years. Unlike other Asian countries, China has its own unique features that attract thousands of people from all over the world every year. China offers pleasant surprise to the tourists by unveiling its unparalleled treasure of natural and cultural beauty. China scored remarkable improvements in tourism industry even at the peak of recent global economic crisis. Obviously, the unaffordable travel cost in western countries and all other impacts of economic recession on them have compelled people to choose China as the best tourist destination. China offers comparatively low-cost travel, cheap rate hotel pay, and a variety of tour packages. China has become a choice for many western people to spend their whole vacation here to escape from the unbearable living expenses of their own homeland. According to the projections of The World Tourism Organization, “China will become the largest travel destination and the fourth largest source country by 2020.” (Travel China Guide, par. 6).
As the economy is dependent on tourism to some extents, international tourists and their cultures have influenced the host culture. For instance, as an emerging trend, English language and western life style is gaining prominence in every sphere of social life. As stated already, tourism has multifaceted impacts on the environment of the region.
In contrast, there has been a growing environmental concern in China’s tourism industry recently. On the one hand, infrastructural developments have caused negative effects on the natural and cultivated vegetation of the region, and deforestation has become the major threat to wildlife. On the other hand, government today follows very strict conservation programs to ensure the protection of the remaining vegetation. This conservation program is closely associated with the sustainable tourism policy of the nation.
Moreover, several conservation measures have been successfully taken at many tourist spots. For instance, it enacted a logging ban in the Chuanxi forest in 1998. The country has also taken other measures to protect biodiversity and to reduce carbon emissions. The country has defined protected areas like nature reserves and national parks. Parks are becoming the central focus of tourism industry in China. China has already learned that unplanned tourism can adversely affect the economy and the environment. To illustrate, if not applied well, it can destroy the natural and cultural environment of the destinations. However, a well planned eco-tourism strategy can protect the environment while tapping the full potential of tourism. This new, eco-sensitive idea is gaining popularity in China.
Sustainable tourism is a positive approach to the nature, environment, culture and the economy of the sites as a whole. It aims at ensuring a positive development when at the same time showing a concern for the people and the generation to come. People are now increasingly becoming keener to use eco-friendly products, and they avoid even the least chance of harming the nature. Today, China’s tourism industry is paying attention to introducing carbon offset facilities to address issues like greenhouse gas emissions. Another notable improvement is that in the area of mass tourism, the country has learned to use its historical, cultural and natural assets in their own uniqueness. Community based small-scale tourism projects are implemented in its ethnic villages on the belief that indigenous people know the pulse of the environment better. This strategy has improved the all round quality of the village population and preserved the unique culture of their villages. For instance, small-scale resorts like the Red Capital Ranch (The Great Wall) and Yourantai Bed & Breakfast (Xishuangbanna ) promote sustainability by using traditional Dai architecture (Sebag-Montefiore. par. 4).
The growth of both domestic and international tourism has forced the government to design policies and special projects toward tourism planning. Unlike the past, numerous socio-economic and environmental factors are considered in tourism policy formulation these days. The growing concern over environment has contributed to the concept of sustainable ‘ecotourism’ in China. The country has started taking advantage from this concept by maintaining its natural resources to target the tourism market. However, better regional coordination is essential in order to attain the objectives at their anticipated levels. To illustrate, the government has to consider socio-economic, environmental, and religious components when aims at tourism development of a particular region. All the above factors can be assimilated only through the coordination of local governments, stakeholders, and the residents of the locality. Tourism planning is an interactive or collaborative approach that involves various processes like governess between organizations and stakeholders, and interaction between various levels of organization (Bramwell and Lane. 146). However, the kind of development required depends on the geographical feature of an area.
In total, Chinese natural tourism spots have been experiencing serious environmental degradation for decades. The problem could be mainly attributed to poor conservation efforts. Environmental conservation is a potential issue that has strong association with the tourism industry in China today. Anyhow, China has taken several positive steps to confront this issue recently. China’s tourism development program should have a consumer driven focus with clearly defined environment protection strategies that can be implemented in each region. In addition to revenue generation, the plan should aim at enhancing employment opportunities in the region without affecting the nature. Tourism planning should not be limited to certain promotional activities but it should involve other forms of planning which can address the needs of both tourists and the local population.
Works Cited
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Sebag-Montefiore, Clarissa. “China's green shoots of ecotourism”. The Guardian. 16 November 2012. http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/nov/16/naked-reserve-ecolodge-china-zhejiang-province web. Web. 27 April 2016.
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