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Abstract |
Countries with abundant natural environments have recently attracted growing number of tourists motivated mainly by the variety of nature-based activities and attractions. The nature is the core resource in nature-based tourism and hence quality of nature as well as its accessibility are essential for service providers (e.g. Fredman & Tyrväinen, 2010). Although tourism industry benefits directly or indirectly from nature and landscape conservation, it is not usually actively engaged in or contributing to these targets. One reason for this is the lack of diverse incentives and models that enable the contribution easily (Konu & Tyrväinen, 2020). Therefore, new instruments, such as Payments of Ecosystem Services (PES) models, are needed in nature-based tourism areas to secure the natural environments and enhance the quality of forest landscapes (e.g. Tyrväinen et al. 2014, Mäntymaa et al., 2019). The PES policies compensate communities or individuals for taking actions that support and increase the provision of ecosystem services (Jack et al., 2008). It is noted that to be efficient and generally accepted a PES scheme should be both socially and environmentally robust and fulfil the needs of stakeholders involved (Reed et al., 2017). Hence the participatory approach and mapping stakeholder perceptions have a central role in developing PES models. This case study introduces a tourism-related PES model that will be funded by tourism sector to support landscape and recreational values of forests in Ruka-Kuusamo tourism area in northern Finland. |
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