Step 3: The Advisory Bodies
3.3 Built environment at WHSs
infrastructure mainly for visitors
3.3.1 Changes
WHSs or tourist destinations having a WHS may contain diverse accommodation facilities for tourists (see Section 1.3.3). Their impacts on the natural environment can be immense as in the case of development of large hotel complexes, golf courses or ski resorts. A considerable amount of investment is required for such developments, and domestic and foreign investors may support them financially. However, this type of develop- ment can cause severe damage to the local nat- ural environment, including water pollution, excessive use of clear water and soil pollution. It must be remembered that ‘major visitor accom- modation and associated infrastructure’ are one of the secondary factors under the umbrella of the primary factor ‘Building and development’, which can disturb the OUV of WHSs (WHC, 2017a) (see Section 2.1).
The impact of accommodation develop- ment can affect WHSs in different ways. For example, George Town is part of Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca (cultural WHS in Malaysia). The WHS contains an important sea-facing orientation waterfront; however, it has been off-limits to the public owing to development of a private hotel, marina and buildings where visual and physical
access is prevented (Shamsuddin et al., 2012).
Within Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (cultur- al WHS in the UK), there are several development plans ongoing, and they can distress the OUV of the WHS. For instance, one of the plans intends to convert a historic building to a luxury hotel (The Herald, 2017). Another plan aims to regenerate a neglected site by building a hotel, restaurant, bar and retail space; however, campaigners are pro- testing against this plan (The Guardian, 2016).
Another example is found in Historic Centre of Vienna (cultural WHS in Austria): the WHS was added to the LWHD in 2017 because of high-rise projects in the middle of the WHS (WHC, 2017d).
3.3.2 Local people’s views In local people’s views, overall, positive or neg- ative changes in the built environment chiefly for visitors are not caused by WH status but triggered by tourism that has been advanced by the status. Long’s (2012) study on WHS Ha Long Bay shows that local residents view that tourism has enhanced the quality of tourism
infrastructure, including guesthouses. The study also asks them to what extent they agree or disa- gree with the following statements:
•
Tourism facilities built in and around Ha Long Bay are not in harmony with the natural environment and traditional architecture.•
The construction of hotels and guesthouses in the area has destroyed the natural beauty of the coastline.(Long, 2012, p. 35) Overall, they agree with these statements;
however, this inclination is not so evident. Ac- cording to Jimura’s (2007) study on WHS Ogi- machi, most local people and specialists regard the number of accommodation facilities has de- creased since WHS listing, and it has, although visitor numbers have increased after WHS inscrip- tion. Concerning in and around WHS Saltaire, while both local inhabitants and experts feel that the number of accommodation facilities has in- creased, although official statistics are not avail- able (Jimura, 2007).
Case Study: Natural WHSs in the USA and Japan
The USA has a long history of nature conservation since the late 19th century and comprehensive schemes to conserve and utilize their national parks. Fourteen out of 60 national parks in the USA are WHSs: Mesa Verde is a cultural WHS and the other 13 parks are 12 natural WHSs (Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay are part of the same WHS). All of them were designated more than 20 years ago (1978–1995). This signifies that nature conservation systems of the USA are well-established and thorough enough to maintain the OUV of these WHSs. Regrettably, however, WHS Everglades is on the LWHD, and the current listing is partly because of human activities. The impact of WHS inscription on visitor numbers is not clear; however, it attracts around 1 million visitors annually. Therefore, a large number of visitors and their activities may have affected the WHS negatively, together with natural threats.
Japan’s national parks have a shorter history than those of the USA. Their history started in 1934 when three national parks were designated. Three out of 28 national parks in Japan are natural WHSs (Ogasawara Islands, Shiretoko and Yakushima); and part of WHS Shirakami-Sanchi also belongs to a quasi-national park. Of these, Shirakami-Sanchi has policy issues. The WHS extends over Aomori and Akita prefectures and is managed by three different national agencies and two prefectural govern- ments. This makes WHS management and conservation complicated. For example, policies towards visitor entry are different by prefecture: Aomori’s policy is much less strict than Akita’s, as the former believes that conservation and utilization of the WHS and national park are equally important.
On the other hand, Yakushima has struggled more with visitor matters. Most visitors explore only limited areas and this accelerates deterioration of flora and fauna in these areas. How to control visitor inflow has been a major issue, and there are mainly two approaches: limiting visitor numbers or charg- ing entrance fees. At the moment, the latter seems to be more widely accepted by local communities, because its negative impacts on tourism would be rather limited and the money raised through entrance fees can be reinvested for nature conservation at the WHS.
(Sources: National Park Service, 2015; Shikura, 2017; WHC, 2017e; Aomori Prefecture, n.d.)
4 Conclusion
Compared to economic and sociocultural im- pacts of WHS listing on local communities, its environmental impact, particularly direct im- pact, seems to be limited. That is because envi- ronmental changes in local communities tend to be caused or enhanced by tourism activities that are advanced by WH status. Hence it is particu- larly crucial to examine environmental impacts of WHS listing and tourism together. The west has a longer history of nature conservation than the east. However, there are no prominent differences in environmental issues with WHSs and local people’s views of the issues between the east and the west.
This chapter has looked at both natural and built environments of tourist destinations and WHSs. Of various types of built environment, the chapter focuses on infrastructure that can be categorized into three sub-groups, depending on the people they serve: basic infrastructure for lo- cal residents’ lives, infrastructure for both local people and visitors; and infrastructure mainly for visitors. Section 1 discusses both advantageous and disadvantageous impacts of tourism on nat- ural and built environments. Overall, tourism is more likely to produce negative changes rather than positive ones for the natural environment, while tourism can cause positive rather than negative changes in the built environment, in- cluding infrastructure. However, local communi- ties may face a difficulty with basic infrastructure
vital for daily life, if the demand for such infra- structure rises due to tourism, whilst the supply does not increase enough to meet the increased demand.
Section 2 switches to issues more peculiar to WHSs. The impact of WH status and tourism is argued, focusing on the factors that can ( negatively) affect the natural environment at WHSs. WHC (2017a) recites 14 primary factors influencing the OUV of WHSs. Of these, climate change included in the primary factor, ‘Climate change and severe weather events’, is regarded as the most worrying threat to WHS conserva- tion, and human actions would be one of the major causes of this problem. Natural changes such as earthquakes and tsunamis can influence all types of WHSs; however, human actions would be associated with most of the aforemen- tioned 14 primary factors.
Section 3 explores environmental changes in the natural and built environments of WHSs caused by WH status and/or tourism since WHS inscription. Furthermore, local communities’
views towards these changes are examined. Re- garding the natural environment, the changes directly caused by WH status seem to be limited, but these changes are viewed as positive ones.
Concerning the changes in the built environ- ment (infrastructure), in local inhabitants’ views, WH status tends to work indirectly for them.
In other words, WH status can advance tour- ism at WHSs or destinations with a WHS, and advanced tourism can invite positive rather than WH Status
Tourism
Extrinsic factors Impacts
Views towards Environmental Changes
Impacts
Intrinsic factors Environmental Changes in Local Community
Impacts
Local community
Each local resident
Views towards Environmental Changes
Fig. 8.1. WH status, tourism and local people’s views towards environmental changes. (From: the author)
negative changes in infrastructure in and around WHSs or destinations encompassing a WHS.
The impacts of WH status and those of tourism since WHS listing on the changes in infrastruc- ture are sometimes obscure for local residents.
At the end of this chapter, the author pre- sents a model that describes the significant inter- relationships between WH status, tourism and local inhabitants’ views towards environmental changes in local communities (see Fig. 8.1).
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