%0 Journal Article
%T Application of Earth Observation Technology to Site Selection and Development of Ecotourism Management Plans in Rural Ghana
%A Selase Kofi Adanu
%A Foster Kwami Mensah
%A Sesime Kofi Adanu
%A Dziwornu Kwami Adanu
%A Kabila Abass
%J ISRN Forestry
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/924506
%X Production of development plans is vital for sustainable ecotourism development given the increasing competition for land to satisfy various human needs including agriculture, timber, and wood energy. Such human activities cause rapid destruction of wildlife habitat and loss of indigenous tree species. To enhance sustainable use of the flora and fauna to promote rural tourism in Ghana, seven eco-tourism sites have been surveyed to produce data for management plans to be developed for these sites. The survey focused on the status of flora and fauna at the sites, infrastructure, cultural dynamics, cross-border issues, and revenue mobilization. Key findings indicate lack of infrastructure at the sites and substantial loss of forest cover over seventeen years covered by the survey. 1. Background Ecotourism is becoming a leading world industry especially in developing countries so far as provision of employment opportunities is concerned [1, 2]. Expansion in this sector has brought to the fore the role of ecotourism in poverty alleviation in developing countries [3¨C7]. Even though ecotourism is expanding, lack of adequate planning and management of sites poses a challenge to sustainable ecotourism. For example, failure to plan and introduce encroachment buffers in tourism development around the Bohorok river in Indonesia resulted in encroachment of the ecotourist sites by housing development [8]. Nature based tourism involves the enjoyment of wildlife and plants at undeveloped natural areas [9]. Sustaining benefit flows is however heavily dependent on proper planning and management of tourism sites. This calls for the development and implementation of comprehensive plans. Such plans must provide management with detailed site-specific guidelines to tourism development and respond to pressure on tourism infrastructure and the environment [10]. In addition to the existence of pristine forests and diverse wildlife, some sites in Ghana are also characterized by the presence of cultural resources like missionary buildings, slave markets, and caves. Development plans in Ghana therefore require an integrated approach that accounts for such cultural resources and involve private-public sector partnerships, interagency coordination, and community involvement. Unfortunately, the history of tourism management in Ghana reveals the absence of any comprehensive tourism development plan. Tourism resource management in Ghana has followed a very unsystematic approach that involves occasional short-term studies and implementation of programs that are incoherent and ineffective
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.forestry/2013/924506/