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Protected Areas and Nature-Based Tourism in the Philippines: Paying to Climb Mount Apo Natural Park

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Nature-Based Tourism in Asia’s Mountainous Protected Areas

Part of the book series: Geographies of Tourism and Global Change ((GTGC))

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Abstract

The Philippines is Southeast Asia’s second biggest archipelago. From coral reefs to tropical, forested mountains, the country is a biodiversity hotspot under threat from the rapid rate of environmental degradation. The establishment and expansion of protected areas (PAs) has been one of the major biodiversity conservation counterstrategies. The National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (NIPAS) Act of 1992 provides the legal framework for PA’s designation and management. NIPAS legislates for 11 categories of PAs that collectively cover about 15% of the country’s total land mass and 1% of marine territory. PAs established under NIPAS are managed by multi-sectoral PA Management Boards (PAMB) representing various stakeholders, but effective administration faces perennial governance and funding challenges. If NIPAS epitomized efforts to conserve biodiversity, the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 legitimized the involvement of indigenous people in PA management, including sensitive issues of ancestral domain. Meanwhile nature-based tourism (NBT) has increased in PAs such as Mount Apo. This chapter investigated Apo climber fees collected using a total economic value framework to show how NBT activities could provide additional funds to make PA management more effective and incentivize a wider range of stakeholders in the PAMB.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, University of the Philippines Mindanao, Davao, Philippines

    Aurelia Luzviminda V. Gomez

  2. College of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), Beppu, Japan

    Thomas E. Jones

Authors
  1. Aurelia Luzviminda V. Gomez
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  2. Thomas E. Jones
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Correspondence to Thomas E. Jones .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environment and Development Cluster, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Japan

    Thomas E. Jones

  2. Tourism and Hospitality Cluster, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Japan

    Huong T. Bui

  3. Department of Tourism and Regional Studies, Pedagogical University of Krakow, Krakow, Poland

    Michal Apollo

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Gomez, A.L.V., Jones, T.E. (2021). Protected Areas and Nature-Based Tourism in the Philippines: Paying to Climb Mount Apo Natural Park. In: Jones, T.E., Bui, H.T., Apollo, M. (eds) Nature-Based Tourism in Asia’s Mountainous Protected Areas. Geographies of Tourism and Global Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76833-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76833-1_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-76832-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-76833-1

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