INDEV 401 Update: September 24, 2012

Hey everyone.  As per the requirements for my INDEV 401 course, I have been writing and submitting bi-weekly reviews which report on the status of my work and contain some of my thoughts with respect to my placement and to development in general.  In lieu of writing a real blog post, I have decided to post some excerpts from my INDEV 401 updates, which explain a little bit of what I've been up to and some of my questions that have been brought to light as a result of my time in Peru.  Here's the first one:

Dan Root

INDEV 401 Bi-weekly Report

September 24, 2012

One week ago, I began my work with GEA on a rural community tourism project called “Caminando con el Apu Pariacaca”.  This project is an attempt by GEA, a large, well-organized, and experienced NGO promoting sustainable development in Peru, to improve the well-being of those living within the ecological reserve of Nor Yauyos Cochas.  During my first week of work at GEA, I have spent a significant amount of time reviewing the project documents in order to better understand the product which I will be marketing in the coming months.  I have also had the opportunity to travel to two of the villages within the reserve in order to meet the people who stand to be affected by GEA’s initiative, and to experience Nor Yauyos Cochas like a tourist.
My interactions with coworkers and with the locals whom I met in Nor Yauyos Cochas have led me several questions about the role of tourism in development.  Fortunately, my travels to and from the reserve, a trip totaling close to 14 hours, provided me with ample time to reflect on the possibilities, both positive and negative, for tourism as a form of meaningful development, and to reflect on GEA’s approach to rural community tourism.
Admittedly, my first reaction upon hearing of my organization’s project and of my mandate therein was less than euphoric .  Assisting in the development of a marketing strategy for a tourism project seemed to me to be less than that which I had envisioned for myself during my INDEV 401 placement.  Much of the tourism which I have previously experienced bears little resemblance to the ideals of equitable and sustainable human development.  Yet GEA’s approach to rural community tourism seems as if it might offer communities with a practical way to meet pressing economic and social needs, while safeguarding important cultural and environmental resources of these communities.
Few would doubt that things like cultural practices and the natural beauty of the landscape in Nor Yauyos Cochas are of significant intrinsic value to those living in the reserve.  Unfortunately, such intrinsic value is often ignored when evaluating ‘development’ projects through a simple economic cost-benefit analysis. By implementing systems of rural community tourism, however, communities are able to give a market value to those elements of their lives which already carry an important intrinsic value, thereby protecting them from other forms of economic development which would harm these natural and cultural elements. Tourism is therefore able to provide communities with economic benefits including jobs, while providing an economic disincentive for other socially-harmful development practices.
Still, some questions remain in my mind regarding the authenticity of cultural practices once given a market value.  It is also worth considering whether or not any harmful side effects of tourism outweigh the social benefit brought about by economic protection of cultural manifestations?  These and other questions I hope to answer during my 8 months in Peru.


Dan