Wilderness: an international community knocking on Asia’s door

• Main Authors: Alan Watson, Vance Martin, Chau Chin Lin
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Kamchatka Peninsula; Kamchatka
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.631.1276; http://leopold.wilderness.net/pubs/691.pdf

ABSTRACT The concept of wilderness may trace its roots to the U.S., but a worldwide wilderness community has developed and is growing in strength, though with limited representation from Asia. With the primary purpose of protecting nature, wilderness designation can occur through legislation or policy development, but with similar outcomes of providing long-term protection and benefits for relatively intact ecosystems and the relationships people have with these places. In the Far East of Russia, the Kamchatka Peninsula is emerging as a nature-based vacation destination with federal and regional protected areas attracting and hosting a growing number of Russian and international tourists. Similar to recent changes in China and elsewhere in Asia, this part of Russia is experiencing particularly rapid economic, social and political change with anticipated significant international influences on personal income, consumption and leisure travel patterns. Current and anticipated spending patterns of discretionary income among Russians and a growing Asian population could greatly influence transition of this relatively low density frontier in