Profile of Dr. Shinji Yamashita:
Professor of Cultural Anthropology, The University of Tokyo Dr. Yamashita conducts fieldwork in Indonesia and Malaysia, and studies "globalization and formation of culture" from the perspective of tourism and migration. He is the author of "Migration and Ethnography," "Tourism Study and Anthropology" and other books.

Ecotour and Global Society:
From the Case of Sabah, Malaysia
For the past few years, I have been studying ecotourism activities in Sabah at the north end of Malaysian Borneo. The region has the largest rainforest area following the Amazon, but since the 60's, forests have been cut down for lumber exports and oil palm plantations made in the clearings have sustained the economy in Sabah. As a result, forests have diminished considerably, and deforestation has reached its limit in terms of sustainability.

In 1996, the Malaysian government made a 15-year master plan for tourism development in Sabah. It is proposed that tourism shall now become the economic foundation in lieu of forestry. The importance of ecotourism linked to environmental conservation is also emphasized in this plan. The uniqueness of Sabah's case is that tourism is promoted by the Ministry of Tourism, Environment, Development, Science and Technology. This illustrates how tourism is closely related to both environment and regional development.

There are three definitions given to ecotourism in Sabah: 1) responsible travel, 2) conservation of the natural environment, and 3) economic benefit for the local population.

However, it is my observation that ecotourism in this region is filled with various ironies. For example, wildlife obesrvation tours are conducted near Sukau on the east coast, but this is mainly because the animals were actually driven into the small remaining wetland in the forest, after the surrounding forests were cleared.

Also, according to the statistics in 2000, the number of annual foreign visitors to Sabah was 0.4 million, but only the European and Japanese visitors totaling less than 15% of those visitors were interested in ecotourism. The tourism industry is still in its trial and error stage in promoting ecotourism in this market. On the other hand, however, there are places like Sipadan Island popular with divers that must limit visitors to twenty per day due to its carrying capacity. It is another irony of ecotourism that the more popular it gets, the more restrictions become necessary.

With regard to economic benefit to the local community, most of the employees working on an island called Mabul Island resort come from the Philippines. They work hard, speak good English and are suited for this occupation. However in this case, you cannot really say that the local community there is benefiting from ecotourism profit.

Also, a couple of years ago, there was a tourist kidnapping by Islamic fundamentalists connected to Al-Qaeda. Such an incident shows that tourism, including ecotourism, cannot just be a form of entertainment, but must be considered within the broader perspective of world affairs.

As you see in the case of Sabah, the principles of ecotourism, fine as they are, cannot so easily be implemented in practice. However, we must accept and deal with these ironies in order to eventually reach our ideals.

The global environment cannot be sustained unless economic development and environmental conservation are consciously controlled. Ecotourism is one such approach, but still in its infancy being tried and tested in different parts of the world. However, if successful, it could become a new form of tourism and a model for new eco-business. For the future of our global society, we should watch its progress carefully and consider how it could be developed in our own country.