Samia al - Faqi
Environmental tourism is a growing form of tourism aimed at protecting the environment from the harmful effects of ordinary tourists, and ecotourism includes promoting the protection of wild and marine life and encouraging the visit of early natural spaces; however, many scientists believe that ecotourism is damaging wildlife, and despite the noble aims of ecotourism, some unregulated practices and human pressures in Egyptian natural reserves cause severe damage to wildlife, including the degradation.
1. Destroy natural habitats and vegetation cover: soil erosion and plant degradation, where the operation of quadripartite propellants (safari flights) and parks outside the tracks specified in protected areas such as the White Sahara and the Beauty Valley, destroys the rare green cover, destroys wild odies and destroys coral reefs, causing unsustainable diving shorehouses to be thrown into the reefs.
2. Marine life disorder and coral reefs include: physical damage, and irresponsible diving practices - such as coral kicking or randomly throwing of boat anchors - result in slow destruction of coral reefs in the Red Sea, fishing and assembly where marine life is affected by abuses such as collecting coral parts or feeding fish, altering their natural behaviour.
3. Annoying marine life and adjusting its behaviour: with noise and motor pollution, the increased movement of tourism vehicles on traveling travels is disturbing wild birds and animals, causing them to migrate their areas of reproduction, change their migration lines and change veterinary behaviour. Dependence on tourists to obtain food changes the social composition of animals and makes them dependent on humans, thereby undermining their viability.
4. Exploitation of shrub animals: exhaustion and malnutrition, where animals (e.g. horses and beauty) in archaeological areas are subjected to long periods of work under high temperatures without adequate water or comfort, and the Egyptian Government is currently working to address these violations to reduce the negative effects on those animals in the Jericho archaeological area.
5. Illegal fishing: By using tourism to reach, some cruises in remote areas are used without environmental control as cover for forced fishing and endangered wildlife.
6. To disturb and change the behaviour of animals and birds as an adjustment to migratory paths, where tourism and loud activities in Saharan environments and wet destinations (e.g. Lake Garon and Aswan Reserves) cause harassment of migratory birds, forcing them to alter their migration lines or abandon their reproduction and reproduction sites, and behavioural disturbances, where chronic tourist proximity to wild animals (e.g., earthquakes or sea turtles during eggs) is negatively affected.
7. Environmental pollution and waste accumulation: such as the accumulation of plastic residues, where visitors leave large amounts of garbage in natural reserves, which poses a critical risk where wild animals or marine organisms are mistakenly swallowed, causing poisoning or suffocation, noise pollution and automobiles, where the Safari cars, transport buses release high noises and emissions of air pollution gas, leaving wild animals to the depth of the desert.
Environmental awareness-raising and good governance campaigns, such as Eco Egypt, contribute to environmental awareness-raising among tourists and visitors to natural reserves to mitigate these effects and reduce carbon footprint to preserve the unique biodiversity of Egypt.
وختامًا، على الرغم من أن السياح البيئيين غالبًا ما ينطلقون بنوايا حسنة في رحلاتهم، إلا أنهم يجهلون عادةً عواقب زياراتهم. وقد ثبت علميًا الأثر السلبي للسياحة البيئية على الحياة البرية والبحرية، كما عُرضت حالات تهجير السكان الأصليين في العديد من وسائل الإعلام. لذا، قبل القيام برحلة كهذه، يجب على المرء أن يُمعن النظر في جميع فوائدها وأضرارها مع الرقابة الصارمة وتنفيذ القوانين.
بقلم: ا.د/ عاطف محمد كامل أحمد-سفير النوايا الحسنة- مؤسس كلية الطب البيطرى جامعة عين شمس استاذ ووكيل الكلية لشئون خدمة المجتمع وتنمية البيئة والمشرف على تأسيس ورئيس قسم الحياة البرية وحدائق الحيوان – عضو اللجنة العلمية والإدارية لإتفاقية سايتس- والخبير الدولى في الحياة البرية والمحميات الطبيعية والتنوع البيولوجى باليونسكو وبرنامج الأمم المتحدة للتنمية والإتحاد الدولى لحفظ الطبيعة (IUCN) وخبير البيئة والتغيرات المناخية بوزارة البيئة- مؤسس المركز الإقليمى لأبحاث المحميات الطبيعية ومتحف الحياة البرية –بكلية الطب البيطرى جامعة قناة السويس- المستشار العلمى لحديقة الحيوان بالجيزة ولرئيس الهيئة العامة للخدمات البيطرية لحدائق الحيوان -عضو الجمعية العالمية لحماية الحيوانات -(WSPA) الأمين العام المساعد للحياة البرية بالإتحاد العربى لحماية الحياة البرية والبحرية- جامعة الدول العربية ورئيس لجنة البيئة بالرابطة المغربية المصرية للصداقة بين شعوب العالم.
