Mangrove Ecotourism along the Coasts of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Systematic Review
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Data Collection
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Studies in Relation to Mangrove Extent
3.1.1. Temporal Distribution of Studies
3.1.2. Geographical Distribution of Studies in Relation to Mangrove Extent
3.2. Mangrove Ecotourism Sites, Attractions, and Values
3.2.1. Mangrove Ecotourism Sites and Key Attractions/Activities
Country | Mangrove Ecotourism Sites | Key Ecotourism Attractions/Activities | Reference Examples |
---|---|---|---|
UAE | Jubail mangrove park in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khor, Mangrove National Park in central Abu Dhabi, and Khor Muzahmi in Dubai | Visiting, clean-ups, and planting mangroves, national park visits and tours, corniche walks, bird watching, kayaking, water skiing, seabird and wetland tourism, nature walks, photography, wildlife watching, visits nature protected areas | [8,9,59] |
Qatar | Al Fuwairit mangrove ecosystem in Doha, Al Khor, Al Thakhira, and the East Coast | Visiting, bird watching, corniche walks, coastline and beach activities, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, photography, exploring mangrove forests | [10,11] |
Oman | Al Batinah, Masirah Island, and Muscat | Bird watching, wildlife tourism, angling, locally-guided fishing, spiritual and inspirational purposes, boat tours, camping, trekking | [22,49] |
Bahrain | Tubli Bay and regions on the coastline | Tours and bird watching | [54] |
Saudi Arabia | Red Sea, Jizan, and Al Wajh | Tours, bird watching, fishing, photography | [55] |
Kuwait | NR | NR | NR |
3.2.2. Mangrove Ecotourism Values
3.3. Impacts of Mangrove Ecotourism
3.3.1. Positive Impacts of Mangrove Ecotourism
Category of Positive Impacts (Benefits) | Description of Constitutive Items | Reference Examples |
---|---|---|
Economic benefits | Employment opportunities | [62,66,67] |
Infrastructure and transportation development | [12,57,68] | |
Economic growth and diversification | [62,63,64,65] | |
Environmental benefits | Preserving habitats for local and regional marine and bird species | [59,68,69] |
Fostering mangrove conservation and restoration (reforestation and afforestation) initiatives | [11,63] | |
Regional cooperation enhancement on environmental management | [64] | |
Creation of mangrove protected zones | [57,67] | |
Social/cultural benefits | Immersive nature experiences | [59,68,69] |
Connection with and experience of maritime heritage and traditional livelihoods | [59,68,69] |
3.3.2. Negative Impacts of Mangrove Ecotourism
3.3.3. Anthropogenic Stressors That Negatively Impact Mangrove Ecosystems and Ecotourism
3.4. Existing Mangrove Conservation and Restoration Initiatives for the Growth of Mangrove Ecotourism
4. Potential Market-Based Initiatives for the Growth of Mangrove Ecotourism
4.1. Mangrove-Based Blue Carbon Market Initiatives That Promote Mangrove Ecotourism
4.2. Mangrove-Based Ecopreneurship Initiatives That Promote Mangrove Ecotourism
5. Application of Remote Sensing to Monitor the Impact of Mangrove Ecotourism Activities
6. Limitations of the Study
7. Research Gaps for Future Studies
- The relatively low (N = 55) number of articles, especially peer-reviewed (N = 18) and gray articles (N = 37), focused on mangrove ecotourism in the GCC countries highlights the need for further national and regional scientific research efforts on the topic.
- Mapping of all the key mangrove sites and attractions used for ecotourism activities in more detail in the different GCC countries.
- There is an urgent need to identify the vulnerability of the newly developed mangrove conservation and restoration sites to ecotourism activities and modeling under future anthropogenic (land use projections) and climate change scenarios.
- Use of remote sensing and ensemble machine learning model to improve the assessment and projection of sea level rises, flooding, and coastal erosion hazards and to estimate their combined impacts on ecotourism.
- Quantification in GDP terms per country of the actual contribution of mangrove ecotourism to the overall economic growth of the tourism sector should be researched and included in future studies.
8. Recommendations for Improved Mangrove Conservation and Ecotourism Development
- Sustainable data-driven land use planning and zoning to reduce the risks of anthropogenic stressors and restrict the further development of infrastructure into coastal ecosystems, especially mangrove habitats. This approach is expected to increase significantly through to 2030 in order to protect mangrove ecosystem attractions and ecotourism activities.
- Continuous integration and implementation of the concept of NbS into mangrove conservation and restoration initiatives is crucial to the coastal ecosystem management and sustainability of mangrove ecotourism.
- Expanding the use of high-resolution satellite, UAV, and LiDAR data for the accurate mapping of mangrove ecosystems and ecotourism-related impacts on coastal ecosystems is important for accurate ecological loss/gain and conservation/restoration assessment.
- Leveraging the mangrove-based blue carbon market and ecopreneurship initiatives as potential contributors to sustainable ecotourism development.
9. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Criteria | Search Expression |
---|---|
What | “Mangrove*” |
AND | |
Where | “Gulf Cooperation Council” OR “GCC” OR “Gulf countries” OR “Bahrain” OR “Kuwait” OR “Oman” OR “Qatar” OR “Saudi Arabia” OR “United Arab Emirates” OR “UAE” OR “Arabian Gulf” OR “Persian Gulf” OR “Middle East” OR “MENA” |
AND | |
How | “Ecotourism” OR “Eco-tourism” OR “Tourism” OR “Nature-based tourism” OR “Sustainable tourism” OR “Mangrove tourism” |
FROM | |
When | January 2010 to December 2023 |
GCC Region (Yes/No) | Mangroves (Yes/No) | Ecotourism (Yes/No/Unclear) | Decision |
---|---|---|---|
Yes | Yes | Yes/Unclear | Include |
No | Yes | Yes | Exclude |
Yes | No | Yes | Exclude |
Yes | Yes | No | Exclude |
Anthropogenic Stressors Negatively Impacting Mangrove Ecosystems and Ecotourism Activities | Number of Publications Reporting Each Stressor |
---|---|
Climate change | 16 |
Development and urbanization | 16 |
Pollution and sewage | 8 |
Low water quality | 7 |
Land degradation and LULC | 5 |
Oil spills | 4 |
Coastal erosion | 3 |
Deforestation and grazing | 3 |
Overfishing | 1 |
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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Moussa, L.G.; Mohan, M.; Burmeister, N.; King, S.A.L.; Burt, J.A.; Rog, S.M.; Watt, M.S.; Udagedara, S.; Sujud, L.; Montenegro, J.F.; et al. Mangrove Ecotourism along the Coasts of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Systematic Review. Land 2024, 13, 1351. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091351
Moussa LG, Mohan M, Burmeister N, King SAL, Burt JA, Rog SM, Watt MS, Udagedara S, Sujud L, Montenegro JF, et al. Mangrove Ecotourism along the Coasts of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Systematic Review. Land. 2024; 13(9):1351. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091351
Chicago/Turabian StyleMoussa, Lara G., Midhun Mohan, Nicola Burmeister, Shalini A. L. King, John A. Burt, Stefanie M. Rog, Michael S. Watt, Susantha Udagedara, Lara Sujud, Jorge F. Montenegro, and et al. 2024. "Mangrove Ecotourism along the Coasts of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Systematic Review" Land 13, no. 9: 1351. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091351