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Natural Capital and the Advocacy of Ecotourism as Sustainable Development

This paper critically considers the role of the concept of natural capital (a term originating in the field of ecological economics) in the advocacy of ecotourism as sustainable tourism in the rural developing world. Natural capital is defined, and the sense in which it is employed to underpin the claim that ecotourism can constitute exemplary sustainable development is examined. In order to achieve the latter, the paper draws upon five case studies featuring NGOs that have been at the forefront of developing and commenting upon ecotourism as a strategy for integrating conservation and development. The paper concludes that, despite important differences within the advocacy of ecotourism as sustainable development, there is a shared ‘strong sustainability’ approach to the issue – one that assumes a very limited capacity for natural capital to be substituted by human created capital. Moreover, it is argued that this approach to sustainability is itself limited and limiting with regard to the prospects for development in some of the poorest areas on the planet.