Wildlife and tourism in East Java southern coastal area: challenges for ecologically sustainable tourism

Abstract

The southern coastal area in East Java is known for its biodiversity. There are protected areas stretching from the Blambangan peninsula in the east, with a rich flora and fauna critical for the karst ecosystem in the west in the Pacitan Regency. Visiting the natural area, including the coastal area with great biodiversity, will become the favorite tourism program. This paper has reviewed the recent status of biodiversity, recent and future tourism trends, the effects of tourism infrastructure development to wildlife, and recommendation for future wildlife tourism development in the southern coastal area of the East Java province. From the literature study, direct observation and interviews with local people, environmental activist, and local government, some important findings should be discussed. First, it is clear that the southern coastal area is an area with high biodiversity level and important for the development of future tourism. Second, tourism grows significantly and provides opportunities to support biodiversity conservation in coastal area. Third, it was a phenomenon where recent infrastructure development to trigger economic development and tourism led to potential threats to the future of biodiversity. Fourth, the sustainable wildlife tourism implementation in southern coastal area is crucial. The aspects related to the biodiversity conservation, local coastal dweller socio-cultural development, and local economy development are important to incorporate into sustainable tourism development strategy.