環境保全と観光振興のジレンマ : 屋久島を事例として

In this research, we examined what needs to be regarded in order to establish the eco-tourism, which aims to preserve the environment in the world national heritage sites, using the example of Yakushima Island.The reason for starting this research is the fact that the legislature of Yakushima townunanimously voted down the bill of "regulation on protection and usage of natural tourism resources in Yakushima town." Every time we think about this situation through mass media and field study, I realize the necessity to face the dilemma of environmental protection andtourism promotion in order to establish the eco-tourism which aims for the purpose of world natural heritage and to preserve the environment. In other words, many people agree that restricting the access will lead to a decrease in burdens on the environment, but when the loss, such as decrease of tourists, is presented in number many people are concerned about the effect on the local economy. And these are completely opposite theories. It is suspected that the reason for this is related to the fact that the true meaning and the role of world natural heritage and eco-tourism are not widely shared by the local community. Since eco-tourism developed in Yaskushima Island is subjecting the world natural heritage sitebased on the registration and certification system of guides as occupation, the system design, which reflect the opinion of the guides if it necessitates some sort of argument, is required. In the meantime, what we cannot forget as a premise is that among the 4 element that makes up the tourism including eco-tourism (local residents, tourists, tourism resources, and tourismcapital) local residents are the ones who put on the effort to preserve the nature and culture in the attractive condition as tourism resources for people who visit.Tourism in Yakushima Island is already the biggest scale of industry, and the accessrestriction is expected to cause at least a small decrease in sales at one point. However, can we say that the current condition is sustainable?Even if the burden on nature is increasing gradually, it has the danger of aggravating rapidly after it started to be apparent. As long as the ecotourism is advocated and world natural heritage site is being the subject of tourism, there is a necessity to deeply discuss the way of tourism promotion based on this philosophy