Rural-Upland Rehabilitation Ecotourism Strategies (RURES) Framework: a Rationalized Authentic Ecotourism Activity Planning Framework for Degraded Upland Areas in the Philippines a Case Study of Brgy. Salde, Culasi, Antique

Abstract

Tourism is economically important in the Philippines. Some of the natural destinations are in Protected Areas (PA) under established laws and managed by national government institutions. Some equally beautiful and unique natural areas are not part of PAs. Poor utilization, planning, and management of these areas cause their degradation. This is further exacerbated by climate change and disaster risks. Degradation affects the biophysical, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of the environment, which is detrimental to the survival of communities, especially those living in the rural-upland areas. Ecotourism unites conservation, community needs, and sustainable travel. It is seldom incorporated properly because its principles are sadly overlooked. Current planning methods of sustainable development and environmental rehabilitation typically follow either Top-Down or Bottom-Up Approach. There are disjuncts between involved parties and minimal integration of various theoretically related concepts leading to a more “patchwork” solution than an integrated one. This study formulates a new framework that will lay the groundwork for inventory and analysis of the potential of existing elements and requirements of the site and stakeholders while integrating key concepts such as Ecotourism and Landscape Architectural Approaches to planning. The process of gathering and synthesizing the data will be through a Middle-Out Approach that will incorporate inputs from all actors in all levels – Middle, Top, and Bottom – into a more cohesive ecotourism activity development strategy. A case study of the newly formulated framework was done in Brgy. Salde, Antique, Philippines to address the current issues of environmental degradation, livelihood issues, disaster risk, and their desire to delve into tourism development. However, COVID-19 pandemic constraints caused the case study to halt. The environmental site scanning and focused group discussions stage was not completed. Even with the abrupt end of the data gathering, lack of data synthesis, and solution recommendations, the framework has created a guide for the data needed to be gathered, syntheses needed to be made, and plans that are needed to be formulated. When the researcher can continue the study, there will be no disjunct between the previously gathered data and the continued process of the Ecotourism Activity Planning.