Questions whether sustainability or tourism are better models for community based tourism in today's world. Examples from Malaysia.

1. Community Based Tourism
in Natural Areas:
Sustainability, Life Cycles
& Resilience
Alan A. Lew, Ph.D., AICP
Northern Arizona University
Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Geographies
AlanLew.com
Nanjing University
Nanjing, China
13 November 2012
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

2. PPT Slides
Online
 DocStoc.com
 www.docstoc.com/docs/135960665/Sustainable-Tourism-
Lessons-from-Around-the-World
 v.gd/No6drz
 www.docstoc.com/docs/135960962/NanjingU---Tourism-
Incognita
 v.gd/RxAz1L
 www.slideshare.net/alew

3. Outline
 Defining Sustainability & Sustainable Tourism
 New Global Challenges
 Resilience as an Alternative Approach
 Tourism Area Life Cycles and Persistent Resilience
 Transformational Resilience and Community
Development
 Disaster Resilience
 Concluding Thoughts

4. “ Using resources to meet the needs of contemporary
society while ensuring their availability to meet the
needs of future generations. ”
(Brundtland Report 1987)
Vancouver, BC, Canada

5. Sustainable Development – Definition Issues
= Oxymoron (contradictory concept)
 1- ‘Development’ perspective
 Sustaining economic activity
 Greenwashing
 2- ‘Sustainable’ perspective
 Environmental stewardship
 Ecosystem equilibrium
Green Building:
 Ambiguous - multiple interpretations Marina Barrage
building in
Diversity of Planet Earth Singapore:
 Reason for a flexible definition A green roof
with a large solar
 But, can mean almost anything to anyone = meaningless power array
Is “Sustainable Development” just a distraction?
 Abandonment guarantees unsustainable outcomes
 An “ideal” to work toward -- widely embraced … in principle

6. World’s Most Sustainable Cities
 Abu Dhabi, UAE  London, England
 Austin, Texas, US  Malmö, Sweden
 Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuador  Melbourne, Australia
 Bangkok, Thailand  New York, NY, US
 Barcelona, Spain  Oslo, Norway
 Bogotá, Colombia  Portland, Oregon, US
 Cape Town, South Africa  Reykjavik, Iceland
 Copenhagen, Denmark  Rotterdam, The Netherlands
 Curitiba, Brazil  San Francisco, California, US
 Doha, Qatar  Singapore, Republic of Singapore
 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK  Sydney, Australia
 Frankfurt, Germany  Toronto, Canada
 Helsinki, Finland  Vancouver, BC, Canada
 Hyderabad, India  Victoria, BC, Canada
 Kampala, Uganda  Wellington, New Zealand

7. What Makes A Sustainable City?
(1) Environmental Footprint (MITIGATION)
 Non-carbon Energy Sources: Hydro, Bio-fuels, Wind
 Low/Non-Carbon Transit: Mass, EVs, Bikes, Walkability
 Green Buildings: Codes, Certifications, Retrofitting
 Recycling-based Waste Management

8. (2) Quality of Life / Sense of Place
(ADAPTATION)
 Community-wide Green Goals & Planning
 Open Green Space/Parks
 Healthy Air & Water Quality
 Targeted Benefits to Low Income
 Integrated Land Use & Transportation Planning
 Protected Forests, Agricultural Lands, Waterways, Heritage

Other Indicators: Education, Arts, Culture; Housing; Economy &
Business Strength; Regulatory Framework, Transparency, Governance;
Innovation & Investment; Freedom of Speech & Media

9. 1. Maintaining the Tourism Economy
 Focus of Destination Marketing Organizations
(DMOs) Fair Trade Products
sign in Chinatown
 Avoiding Tourism Industry Decline gift shop, San
Francisco, USA
 Destination Economy’s
Adaptive Capacity & Resilience
2. Environmental Footprint of
Tourism Activities
 Focus of Tourism Businesses
 “Green Certification” programs
3. Tourism’s Contribution to
Quality of Life
 Focus of Community Development
& Social Sciences Research

10. BUT – CONTEMPORARY Threats to Humanity
(2011 & 2012 News Items)
 Extreme Climate & Geologic Events
 2011 - Economic losses last year =$380 billion
 previous record $220 billion in 2005
 Major interruptions to global supply chain & international trade
 Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
 2011 – GHG Reached Highest Levels in past 250 years
 Growing at an accelerated rate
 Population Growth & Migration
 31 Oct 2011 - World Reached 7 Billion People
 Increasing Urbanization, Resource
Pressures, and Income Inequality
 Economic Shock & Change
 Great Recession in the US; Eurozone Crisis;
Cultural & Economic Globalization
 2012 –International Tourists to reach 1 Billion
 up from 674m in 2000; 980m in 2011

11. Sustainable Tourism?
- Environmental Footprint
- Quality of Life

12. Resilience
& Global
Warming

13. “RESILIENCE” as an Alternative?
 Physics /Engineering
 The property of a material to absorb energy when deformed and not fracture/break;
the maximum energy per unit volume that can be elastically stored.
 Ecology
 The capacity of an ecosystem to absorb or
respond to a disturbance without
permanent damage to the relationships
between populations.
 Psychology
 The tendency to cope with stress and
adversity, including “bouncing back” to
a previous state of normal functioning or
developing an inoculating effect to improve
functioning - “coping strategies”.
 Organizations
 The ability of an organization (company or government) to provide and maintain an
acceptable normal level of service in the face of periodic or catastrophic system faults
and errors.
 e.g., natural disasters, terrorist attacks, supply chain & electrical grid disruptions

14. Creating Climate Change Resilience
 Transportation: Raising roads & runways;
increasing culvert sizes; strengthen bridges
 Agriculture: Shifting to drought resistant
crop varieties; re-training farmers;
emphasizing local agriculture on Pulau Kapas, Terengganu, Malaysia
 Business: Examining and altering supply chains;
increasing transparency and disclosure regarding climate risk
 Water: Increasing protection for wetlands; installing permeable
pavement, green roofs, and rain and water gardens
 Energy: Protecting or moving production & distribution facilities/
vulnerable to flooding, extreme heat, drought or weather events
 Public Health: Identifying ways to reduce urban heat islands; assessing
medical response vulnerabilities to weather/climate extremes
 Ecosystems: Planning for movement of habitat, changes in local plants
and animals, sea level rise
 Land Use: Changing building codes; planning “retreat” from sea level rise

15. Urban Planning’s Shift to Resilience
Topics in a Call For Papers for “The Politics of
Sustainability & Climate Change”
 Urban planning strategies for managing climate change
 Resiliency or adaptability paradigms within urban design
 Urban climate change policy and design
 Climate change denial and anti-climate change legislation
 Grassroots responses to climate change policy
 Effects of climate change on cities
 (Post) political dimensions of sustainability policy
 Sustainable or green architecture
 Disaster Preparation in cities
 Critiques of sustainability
 Artistic engagements with climate change
 Technological innovations for managing climate change

16. Resilience:
Learning & Adaptation
Severity of adverse events is
context dependent
Reduced Severity Quicker Recovery

17. Scale of Social & Environmental Change
(1) Unexpected Large Shocks & Sudden Changes
 Physical
 Typhoon/Hurricane/Cyclone System
 Earthquakes, Tsunamis/Floods, & Droughts
 Social
 Violent Overthrow of a Government
 Massive Famines, Deaths & Migrations
 Economic Collapse
(2) Unpredictable Gradual Shifts & Moderate Change
 Physical
 Biological Ecosystem (flora & fauna) Relocations & Endangerments/Extinctions
 Climate Change / Global Warming
 Social
 Globalization – Economic & Cultural
 Paradigm Shifts – Enlightenment/Science, Industrial, ICT

18. Scale, Change & Resilience Issues
Resilience in Tourism Places
1. Facilities & Service
Maintenance
Tourism/System Scale
3. 4.
Public Public
2. Major Attraction or
Tourism - Tourism - Market Loss
Slow Sudden
Change Shock
3. Climate Change &
1. Globalization
2.
Private Private
Tourism - Tourism - 4. Major Natural &
Slow Sudden
Change Human Disasters
Shock
Change Rate

19. Scale of
Resilience Entities
 Individual
 Family
 Business
 Community
 Society / Country
 Ecosystem / Bioregion Kampung Setiu Lama, Terengganu, Malaysia
 Planet
“Persistent Resilience”:
coping with the mundane
pressures of social &
economic transformation
Vulnerability : the opposite of
resilience

20. Tourism Business Resilience in Cherating, Malaysia
 Cherating Village
 Small, Laid-back Fishing Village
 Nice, wide Surfing Beach; Asia's first Club Med
 Many Guesthouses & Small Hotels (Chalets)
 1973 - residential houses started to be
converted into chalets
 some residence (fishermen) moved away from
tourist areas (beach & highway)
 Also driven out by coastal erosion
– common on East Coast of Malaysia
 Early 1990s – tourism became main source of
income for most in the beach area
 Backpacker Tourism = major income source
 1999 – 42 houses rented rooms to tourists

21. The 4 R’s of Resilience
(based on the Emergency Management definition)

22. Cherating, Malaysia

23. Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) Model

24. ENTREPRENURIAL RESILIENCE

25. Decline Factors
 Internal
 Seasonality
 Low tourist arrival
 Location disadvantage due to
new development
 Lack of family support
 Lack of government support
 Old age
 Ill-health
 Death of owner
 External
 Economic Crises
 Iraq war
 September 11th 2001 terrorism
 Diseases and endemics

26. Consistent Stability & Growth Factors
 Support from government
 Partnership with other
organizations
 Property ownership
 Introduction of new activities
 Improves quality of facilities
& services

27. Decline & Bounce Back Factors
 Decline
 Location disadvantage
 Economic crises
 Iraq War
 Seasonality
 Bounce Back
 Offer new activities
 Enhanced promotion
 Collaboration/partnership
 Family support
 Improved & enhance
facilities and services
 Wireless services
 Meeting rooms
 Bars/restaurants
 Mosque

28. Resilience Lessons from the Cherating
1. Tourism area separated from local residential area
 Non-tourism involved residents may be “forced” out by nuisance impacts
2. Need for market/niche development
 New products & continuous marketing
3. Global events influencing local economy
4. Business lifecycle of small enterprises related to the entrepreneur’s life
expectancy & descendents
5. Availability of other options for economic livelihood

29. Three Approaches to Resilience
(1) Engineering Resilience
 Ability of to return to a steady-state
equilibrium after a disturbance
 emphasis on the speed of return to equilibrium
(bounces back); efficiency &predictability
(2) Ecological Resilience
 Ability to learn from a disturbance &
prepare for future stresses Recreational
 acknowledges multiple equilibriums & fisherman in
potential flip into alternative stabilities Singapore
(3) Transformational Resilience
 Ability to evolve, transform and adapt over mixed timeframes and
geographic scales into new models in response to stress
 Whole system changes & Paradigm shifts
 aka Evolutionary Resilience, Socio-ecological Resilience & Persistent Resilience

30. Engineering Resilience
- Return to Equilibrium
Transformational Resilience
- Learn & Create a New Paradigm
Ecological Resilience
- Learn & Return to Equilibrium
• People become resilient in
response to adversity
• Disturbances include both acute
shocks and chronic slow burns
• Tools: institutions, leadership,
social capital & social learning

31. Community Resilience in Batu Puteh, Sabah

32. 1% Fruits 3% Fishing 1% Paddy
Batu Puteh = 4 villages, 1762 villagers 1% Shopkeeper 1% Vegetables
Government Oil Palm
5% 69%
Private Sector
9%
Tourism 10%
Tourism Income: (260 tourism cooperative members)
2007 = RM300,000 (USD $100,000); 2011 = RM1.37 million
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000 Tourism Income
Malaysian Ringgit (RM)
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
32
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

33. Natural attractions
KOPEL Tourism Cooperative
ISSUES: - Retaining youth
- Human resource development

34. Kinabatangan
River Wildlife

35. Tourism Income - Categories
$1,600,000.00 KOPEL River View Café
Crafts
kraftangan
$1,400,000.00 Lain lain
53,386.50
MCG Dance Group 42,643.30
75,075.90
$1,200,000.00
Hammock Camp
44,562.25
Conservation Fees 30,307.80 126,954.40
31,595.50
TREC Camp
Forest 55,981.49
$1,000,000.00 40,892.00 90,235.32
Village Bus Services 85,347.25
128,844.15
KOPEL F&B 70,295.32
$800,000.00
Village Boat Service 93,219.93
194,903.27
Local Guides 151,677.81
$600,000.00 $65,728.40
Miso Walai Homestay Only $38,559.20
186,842.93
$83,704.50 155,065.79
$50,195.81
$28,524.70
$400,000.00 $100,044.69
$58,296.25
$82,031.64
$82,539.12 194,323.61 238,701.31
$79,966.05
$12,698.00 $78,156.07 $69,253.85
$200,000.00 $34,145.75
$63,399.46
$29,927.74 215,878.50
$186,950.00 193,274.30
$130,380.00
$82,850.00
$-
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

36. Miso Walai Homestay

37. Cultural Attractions of the
Orang Sungai (“river people”)

38. Rain Forest Eco Camps
(2007 & 2009)
Tourist Arrival Data
3500 Groups
3000 FIT’s 398
2500 404
465
2000 293
1500 282
2545 2368
1000 1856 2055
500 1314
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

39. Lake
2001 Restoration
2006

40. 2007
Forest Restoration
2010 Tourism = RM 1.3 million in 2011
Forest Restoration = RM 240,000 in 2010

41. KOPEL Tourism Cooperative - 260 members – since 2003
Treasurer & Vice Chairman & Vice Secretary & Vice
Treasurer Chairman Secretary
Boat Promotion Conserva-
Home Stay Cultural Tour Guide F&B Transport
Service & PR tion
Bureau Bureau Bureau Bureau Bureau
Bureau Bureau Bureau
Outdoor Experiences Partners
Boat Trips Sabah Forestry Department - forest restoration; 2009 Eco-Camp
Wildlife Observation LEAP Conservancy: sourcing funds; capacity building
Tree Planting Alexander Abraham Foundation: lake & forest restoration
Forest Camps & Camping American Forests: Orang-utan habitat restoration; forest restoration
Forest Interpretation Arcus Foundation; Shell Oil Malaysia: 2007 Eco-Camp
Limestone Caving Volunteer Organisations & High Schools: Rakuno Gakuen
University, International School Brunei, Global Vision International
Homestay & Culture (GVI) , plus independent volunteers
Cooking Lessons Adventure Tour Companies: Outlook Expeditions (school groups),
Traditional Games Exodus Travel, Intrepid Travel, Geckos Travel, Imaginative Traveller
Traditional Music & Dance - “responsible tourism” adventure holidays

42. Resilience Lessons from Batu Puteh
 Diversification of both tourism product and other economic activities
 Early planning to enhance community buy in for cooperative approach
 Long term commitment to capacity building by local and external leaders
 Entrepreneurial approach to partnerships building and external funding
 Sensitivity of international market conditions and opportunities
Terrapuri Heritage Village Resort,
Kg Setiu, Terengganu
Borneo Nature Lodge,
Sandakan, Sabah

43. Summary & Conclusions
 Sustainable Development (SD)
 Major Shortcomings: Oxymoron & Culturally constructed
 Focus on Engineering Mitigations & Certifications
 New Global Challenges
 Climate, Economy, Governance Issues – Overwhelming SD
 The ‘Resilience’ Alternative
 Focus on Adaptation to Change
 Big Resilience (Disasters) & Small Resilience (Persistence)
 Resilience in Tourism Development
 Tourism Area Life Cycle & Entrepreneurial Resilience
 Community-Based Tourism & Transformational Resilience

44. Tourism & Disaster Resilience in Taiwan

45. Tourism Resilience in Taiwan

46. The 4 R’s of Resilience
(based on the Emergency Management definition)
Resilience = “adaptive capacity”
KPI = key performance indicators

47. Resilience Planning &
Sustainable Planning
 Planning after a Disaster
 Same as before – But Time is Compressed
 Much more to do - at a much faster pace
 Due to High Change Rate
 Process flexibility varies
 Information flows, Development of social capital
 Demolition and debris removal
 Commerce
 A Sustainable City
is a Resilient City

48. Scale, Change & Resilience Issues
Resilience in Tourism Places
1. Facilities & Service
Maintenance
Tourism/System Scale
3. 4.
Public Public
2. Major Attraction or
Tourism - Tourism - Market Loss
Slow Sudden
Change Shock
3. Climate Change &
1. Globalization
2.
Private Private
Tourism - Tourism - 4. Major Natural &
Slow Sudden
Change Human Disasters
Shock
Change Rate

49. Small/Private Tourism - Small/Private Tourism -
Slow Change Resilience Sudden Shock Resilience
Facilities & Service Quality Major Attraction or Market Loss
Tourism as a distinct economic Infrastructure Planning: Indentify
activity in a diversified economy Vulnerabilities to Diversify & Change
Delivery Systems for Transportation,
Need for market development; new Food & Water Supply, Public Health
products & continuous marketing; & Basic Needs, Energy &
Entrepreneurial approach to Communication, and Business
partnerships building and external Supply Chain
funding; Awareness of how global Land Use Policies & Planning: Support
market conditions events Natural Ecosystem Planning &
influencing local economic Conservation; Mitigation planning to
opportunities avoid disaster prone areas (e.g.,
Business lifecycle of small floodplains & active fault zones;
enterprises related to the Adaptive construction & design
entrepreneur’s life expectancy &
descendents
Early planning to enhance community
buy in for cooperative approach;
Long term commitment to capacity
building by local and external
leaders

50. Tourism as a Highly Resilient Industry

51. Outline
 Defining Sustainability & Sustainable Tourism
 New Global Challenges
 Resilience as an Alternative Approach
 Tourism Area Life Cycles and Persistent Resilience
 Transformational Resilience and Community
Development
 Disaster Resilience
 Concluding Thoughts