Ecotourism as Tool for Eradicating Rural Poverty in Peninsular Malaysia

Ecotourism is one of the strategies in eradicating rural poverty especially for communities living within and adjacent the forest. These communities depend on forest resources both directly and indirectly to generate household income through ecotourism or any forest-related activities. Ecotourism al...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science 2020-08, Vol.549 (1), p.12091
Main Authors: Abdullah, Mukrimah, Mamat, Mohd Parid, Adnan, Norliyana, Tuan Hussain, Faten Naseha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Community
Conservation
Economics
Ecotourism
Family income
Forest conservation
Forest management
Forest resources
Forestry
Forests
Households
Impact analysis
Income
Local communities
Poverty
Rural areas
Rural poverty
Socioeconomics
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Summary:Ecotourism is one of the strategies in eradicating rural poverty especially for communities living within and adjacent the forest. These communities depend on forest resources both directly and indirectly to generate household income through ecotourism or any forest-related activities. Ecotourism also claimed to be one of conservation strategies which contribute to the long-term conservation of the forest as well as mitigating or reducing conflicts between human and environment. A study was conducted starting from 2016 to 2020 to evaluate socio-economic benefits of forest and its resources towards communities. One of the objectives is to determine whether ecotourism development helps to eradicate rural poverty and improve household income of the local communities in Peninsular Malaysia. However, this paper only focuses on the preliminary result from four states namely Perlis, Kedah, Perak and Negeri Sembilan. A total of 1439 households from 44 villages were successfully interviewed between 2016 and 2018. Data and information were collected through rapid rural appraisal; focus group discussion and household survey guided by structured questionnaire. The impact of ecotourism and forestry related activities towards socio-economic of communities can be assessed through the households' monthly income. The findings showed there are significant economic benefits and the income received from ecotourism and forestry related activities are important in reducing poverty among local households. Hence, forest conservation strategies should pay more attention to balance the needs for conservation and reducing rural poverty.
ISSN:1755-1307
1755-1315
DOI:10.1088/1755-1315/549/1/012091