Ecotourism

Ecotourism aims to give the standing rainforest an economic value. Visitors come to experience its wildlife and environment, creating jobs for guides and accommodation providers. Using local food, materials and employees helps money reach the surrounding community.

In Malaysia, political decisions about how forests are governed work alongside economic incentives from timber and ecotourism. The important question is whether these activities make keeping a functioning forest worthwhile, rather than encouraging its clearance.

Ecotourism and sustainable farming work in different ways. Ecotourism can make an intact forest economically valuable, while sustainable farming can reduce the need to clear additional forest for agriculture. Neither automatically succeeds; the details of management matter.

Sungai Yu Forest Reserve provides a local example of an attempt to achieve this through ecotourism involving the Batek indigenous community, who are semi-nomadic.