Project Description

This matter has happened due to some of the destructive effects of nature based tourism in some areas especially in developing countries where the conservation systems are still weak and fragile (such as costa Rica, Galapagos, Belize, and Iran and ….). Although nature based tourism can have potential positive environmental and social effects, it could also lead to vast harms, if done in improper ways. As a result nature based projects which are done in intact areas and sensitive ecosystems have higher possibilities of destroying the environmental resources (such as different kinds of safari and adventure tourism). Any harm to biodiversity, settlements and wildlife and producing waste and contaminated water in places where there’s no capacity for such waste, are only parts of the concerns related to preserving the Erath.

Given the need for developing ecotourism in our country and existence of amazing natural attractions, the possibility of doing the popular sport of mountain climbing in mount Dena, the climbers’ attraction for reaching the summits (47 summits over 4000 meters) and also given the fact that currently this activity begins from Khafr village and is unplanned and the increasing number of climbers, this unintended development has led to the destruction of Dena protected area and its natural attractions.

Khafr village has constantly been an attraction for climbers since it’s located on the foot of mount Dena and it is one of the important villages on the way to 14 summits over 4000 meters. However, the climbers only go through this village and the local community doesn’t benefit their presence in any way. Since local communities have a great part in developing ecotourism in their own region properly, educating them to enter the ecotourism cycle and providing regulations for Eco tourists and climbers seems essential.

Objectives

Providing tourism regulations, justifying local communities, particularly Dena fellowship CBO raising their awareness about natural attractions, the proper way to introduce these attractions for creating a replacing and constant livelihood for local communities through developing ecotourism and processing products are all objectives of the mentioned project

Time

Start date: October 2006

End date: January 2010

Members

Naghme Naghiloo: project manager, Expert

Negar Ghadimi: ecotourism and environmental law Expert

Ali Habibi Moghadam: Expert

Golasa Taheri: Expert

Mona Hamzapour: Expert

Ali Rafii: Expert

Hamed Moshiri: Financial administrator and Expert

Location and approaches

  • Khafr village: subpart of Samirom city, Isfahan province
  • This village is one of the ways for reaching Dena summit and is located in Dena protected area
  • Collecting information, field observations, verbal interviews with locals, holding workshops and face to face education.

Achievements

  • The locals and heads of Dena fellowship CBO have been familiarized with regulations of constant ecotourism. They are currently capable of performing the project of Khafr ecotourism management.
  • The locals and heads of Dena fellowship CBO have gained enough information about natural and historical attractions, handicrafts and the village’s natural products for presenting to the tourists. Brochures and maps of Eco touristic attractions have also been provided.
  • The ladies of Khafr village have been trained in properly processing natural products (such as apple vinegar, apple tabs, herb and…) and packaging them so their products would enter Tehran in beautiful and suitable packages.
  • Tourism regulations have been provided in the area according to its characteristics and local sensitivities. These regulations are available for tourists as leaflets on behavioral codes and booklets on ecotourism management.
  • The capabilities of the team and locals for holding climbing tours and constant ecotourism (which were arranged by plan for the land and Fars Green Organization experts) were studied.
  • A workgroup for local tourism was formed for following and arrangements related to tourists (especially climbers).
  • Tourism target groups of Khafr were organized according to its natural and social capacities.

An official course for ecotourism leaders and training a group of local leaders was held for 110 hours