Criteria and Indicators (C&I) to Monitor and Evaluate the Impact of Ecotourism in Marine Protected Areas - EM C&I

Step-by-Step Tool

For the purpose of this tool, Marine Ecotourism is defined as: A tourism alternative specialized in marine and coastal areas. Its entertainment goal is based on interpretative and educational activities, seeking to satisfy visitors through the observation of organisms and the interaction with seascapes under precautionary principles and adaptive management. It constitutes an opportunity for conservation as it generates sustainable socio-economical alternatives for local actors and financial benefits for the management of the marine areas.

This Step-by step tool is based on a Criteria and Indicator System (C&I) composed by four major aspects. Each one of those aspects is ruled by a principle which drives a hirearchical scale followed by criteria that seek to accomplish the principle or principles in each aspect; indicators, as quantitative measurable conditions that respond to the criteria and verifiers as specific components of the indicators that allow their analysis.

By clicking the Go to criteria and indicators button below you will find questions related to each indicator. We give you a monitoring protocol linked to each question. Its application will allow you to determine the level each indicator accomplishes its LAC (Low, Medium or High). Explanations for each level are given in the Limits of Acceptable Change (Criteria Score definition) link for each of the four aspects.

The application of this tool will allow you to determine the level of accomplishment for each aspect and the quality of the management system in your MPA in terms of its sustainability. This quality is expressed as Ecostars (0 to 5). To see your results press the button Ecostars obtained for your MPA

Aspects and principles are described below.

• Go to Criteria and Indicators
• Ecostars obtained for your MPA

1. Conservation of Biodiversity
   As key elements of tourism development, natural resources must receive an optimal use that allows the maintenance of essential ecological processes and the conservation of the biodiversity in the visit sites.
2. Socio-economical benefits
   To assure feasible and balanced long-term economical activities with benefits to all participants involved, including stable job opportunities, incomes and social services for host communities as alternatives to contribute to poverty reduction.
3. Visitor Experience
   Sustainable tourism must generate a high level of satisfaction in visitors and must represent a significantly positive experience that makes them aware of sustainability problems and encourages them to apply sustainable tourism practices (OMT).
4. Management and administration
   Sustainable development of tourism demands the participation of all key actors and a strong political leadership to achieve a wide collaboration and to establish consensus.

Managers of the protected areas must consider the real and potential effects of their own activities on adjacent ecosystems or ecosystems in general.