Tourism and tropical rainforests: opportunity or threat?

[Extract] Since the publication of the United Nations World Commission for Environment and Development Report (WCED 1987), commonly known as the Brundtland Report, the concept of sustainability has become the fundamental principle in decision making in the twenty-first century and has been adopted by governments throughout the world. The concept requires the integration of ecological, economic, social, and cultural considerations. Sadly, this principle does not appear to have been adopted in many countries with tropical forests where short-term financial gains have been made at the expense of these forests and the biodiversity and ecosystem services they sustain