Tourism, Heritage Forests, and the Rights of Nature: Pathways to Sustainable Development in Iran

Tourism, Heritage Forests, and the Rights of Nature: Pathways to Sustainable Development in Iran is an investigation of economic development AND maintaining cultural values AND stewardship for our earth. Based on global discussions and local experiences in Iran, the book analyses the Hyrcanian and Zagros forests as living heritage landscapes; indispensable cornerstones of national ecology intertwined with Iranian culture. It illustrates the potential for tourism to be both a bane and a boon by demonstrating how uncontrolled visitation can sap biodiversity and undermine cultural originality, whereas properly stewarded ecotourism can jump-start conservation and community economic uplift. With the assistance of the groundbreaking concept of the Rights of Nature, Gisselle Vila Benites proposes reconsidering tourism as an ethically oriented practice of stewardship that accounts for human needs and the rights of ecosystems. Couched in academic analysis but containing down-to-earth solutions, this book is a guide that could not have been more timely: for Iran and beyond, in seeking genuinely sustainable heritage tourism.