Challenges for conserving biodiversity and developing sustainable island tourism in North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

Recent conditions in North Sulawesi Province (NSP) have become favorable for the development of tourism. In this paper, we present the recent status of biodiversity and tourism in NSP as a basic consideration towards integrative biodiversity conservation strategy. Overall, biological accounts suggest that NSP is important for the world biodiversity conservation program. NSP`s biodiversity makes the area a major nature-based tourism (ecotourism) site in the world. Development of diverse tourism programs in NSP has provided new opportunities for balancing development and conservation of regional ecosystems. However, the excessive tourism growth in some particular areas in NSP has been identified as the primary factor of environmental degradation. Nowadays, biodiversity of North Sulawesi regions are suffering from the number of tourist impacts and facilities. Based on those conditions, tourism planning and development in NSP is needed to formulate a proper strategy to protect the ecosystem and biodiversity from degradation and extinction. This will be a new challenge of sustainable island tourism development and biodiversity conservation in NSP.