Climate change adaptation and implementation barriers: a qualitative exploration of managers of Dana Biosphere Reserve – ecotourism system

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, tourism is negatively impacted by climate change and needs to advance adaptive strategies. This study assessed climate change adaptation measures and barriers to implementation in Dana Biosphere Reserve (DBR), the most important ecotourism destination in Jordan using semi-structured interviews with key informants. It was found that DBR has implemented several adaptation practices, but mostly implicit, including infrastructure development, diversification of tourism products, visitor management, land use management, rainwater collection, environmental monitoring and research, environmental education and collaboration with stakeholders addressing several social, economic and environmental impacts caused by climate change. The results demonstrated that climate change adaptation is closely related to the sustainable development of ecotourism. However, there are considerable barriers that hinder the planning and implementing of climate change adaptation in DBR. Barriers include lack of awareness and concern, insufficient financial and staff resources, uncertainty, and lack of information.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change adaptation
• ecotourism
• Dana Biosphere Reserve
• sustainable development
• adaptation barriers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).