The Case of Rio Blanco/Planeta.com

The Case of Rio Blanco, Ecuador
by David T. Schaller November/Noviembre 1996

Ecotourism has attracted increasing attention in recent years, not only as an alternative to mass tourism, but as a means of economic development and environmental conservation. Institutions and individuals at all levels, from international development and conservation organizations to national governments to communities, are promoting it as a form of sustainable development.

In the Ecuadorian Amazon, a growing number of indigenous people are turning to ecotourism as an alternative to expanded commercial agriculture. In Napo Province, over a dozen Quichua communities have formed an ecotourism network to support and promote their projects. This article summarizes a recent study of one of these communities.

The Community of Rio Blanco, Ecuador

Rio Blanco was founded in 1971 by Quichua migrants from the Andean foothills, where, as a result of population growth and inmigration of mestizo agricultural colonists, the supply of land was becoming short. Since 1971, the economy of Rio Blanco has shifted from one based almost entirely on subsistence agriculture and hunting to one reliant on cash crops such as coffee, cacao, rice and maize.

Rio Blanco has experienced high population growth in the past twenty years which, along with a rising cost of living, has driven the people of the community to expand greatly the amount of land under cultivation. As a result, the amount of primary tropical forest has decreased until, in 1995, it accounted for less than half of the community's main block of land. Facing continued population growth, the community has developed an ecotourism project as an alternative economic activity which may protect the forest rather than clear it.

Rio Blanco's ecotourism project

Two main tenets of Rio Blanco's project are communal control and small scale. Work is assigned equitably so all member-families contribute to and benefit from ecotourism. In the project's first year (1994-95), 150 tourists visited. Each family earned about $100 in the first year, or about one-fifth of their income for the year. Most members would like to receive about 300 tourists in 1996, thus maintaining the project's small scale.

Tourists visiting Rio Blanco range from small groups of independent tourists to students and teachers in groups of ten or twenty who come on a tour run by Jatun Sacha, a nearby biological field station. A group of fifteen students interviewed after their visit expressed satisfaction with their experience in Rio Blanco, though evidence suggests that their visit did not give them an accurate portrayal of contemporary Quichua life. Whereas the people of Rio Blanco rarely spend time in primary forest, owing to their agricultural obligations, tourists spend virtually all their time in primary forest. Few tourists interviewed believed that commercial agriculture was a significant part of the community's economy, implying that they had learned little about a central aspect of community life.

However, many tourist-respondents were confused and even upset by the cultural program, in which the people of the community wore the traditional grass skirts and red body paint of their ancestors and performed traditional Quichua music and dances. Many tourist-respondents questioned the authenticity of these performances, since they appeared incongruent with contemporary Quichua life. These concerns echoed scholarly research into tourism and authenticity, which postulate both a touristic need for authenticity and the ubiquity of "staged authenticity," which may only frustrate the earnest seeker of true authenticity. Ironically, in Rio Blanco the rediscovery of traditional music and dance for tourism purposes may well lead to its reincorporation into community festivals, increasing its authenticity in the tourism program.

The project's potential as sustainable development

The potential of Rio Blanco's ecotourism project as sustainable, appropriate development currently appears strong. While not all Quichua respondents indicated that they saw the connection between tourism development and forest preservation, a growing conservationist ethic among members suggests that such a linkage may be evolving. It remains unclear, however, how this ethic will affect agricultural activity. Most respondents reported that they would rather increase tourism than agricultural production, but nearly half also said they intended to clear more forest for cultivation. Many members may have difficulty accepting the opportunity costs of further ecotourism development. Until the community decides how much trust it can place in ecotourism as a reliable and sustainable economic activity, agriculture will probably continue to expand.

In the evaluation of development schemes, what is of prime importance for both community members and the coordinators of Quichua ecotourism projects is the survival of Quichua culture. If Rio Blanco's ecotourism project does not disrupt established social and political structures of the community, it may qualify as appropriate development even though it is not a traditional form of development.

Furthermore, the project may serve as a tool to help rural Quichua learn business skills which are crucial if they are to succeed in dealings with mestizo residents of the area as well as with other Ecuadorian and foreign parties. In this way, ecotourism may not be an end in itself but merely a bridge to the future. The sustainability of a particular ecotourism project may be irrelevant in the long run. What matters is its impact on the local people and environment, and how well it serves them against the challenges ahead.

The author is a doctoral student in geography at the University of Minnesota.

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