The Potential of Tourism Benefits to Reduce Forest Dependence Behavior of Impoverished Residents Adjacent to Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda

The relationship between protected forested areas and neighboring residents in developing countries has been one of conflict. Tourism has both direct and indirect benefits to residents neighboring protected areas, and it can be one of the most innovative ways to resolve human-wildlife conflicts and achieve long-term conservation goals. However, the effectiveness of direct and indirect benefits of tourism has not been settled in the literature. In this paper, the case of the Volcanoes national park is used to empirically examine the conservation effectiveness of direct and indirect tourism benefits for poor residents neighboring the park. Results indicate that direct tourism benefits have more potential to influence change in forest-dependent behavior when the behavior is driven by food security constraints. Additionally, the results suggest that the potential to reduce forest dependence is possible if both direct and indirect tourism benefits are aimed to address health, education and food security risks of poor households in proximity to VNP.