The Use of Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Comparison Between Locals and Tourists in the Chimborazo Natural Reserve

Abstract

Ecosystem services make human life possible by providing benefits associated with recreation, education, inspiration, and spirituality.
Assessing the perception of the provision of cultural services helps in understanding the value of landscapes and improving their management. However, there are few studies on the relationship between the landscapes and the socio-cultural values that people are getting from them. The present analysis was carried out using a comparative approach to estimate the frequency of use and the perceived capacity of the flow of cultural services in the view of local communities and tourists of the Chimborazo Wildlife Production Reserve, Ecuador. Based on 356 valid questionnaires for locals and 250 questionnaires for tourists, 208 of which were applied to nationals and 42 to foreigners, the results indicate that respondents tend to use and place value on cultural services provided by Chimborazo Mountain. The frequency of use seems to be related to proximity and local beliefs in the case of locals, and to the knowledge of tourism activities in the case of tourists. Out of the 10 selected tourist attractions, the Chimborazo volcano with the surrounding patches of natural forest was perceived to hold the capacity to ensure the flow of cultural services for both locals and tourists. Factors that modified the perception were found to be quite heterogeneous in the cohorts taken into study. The results found could sustain the management and responsible use of the local ecosystems.