The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Halting Sustainable Development in the Colca y Volcanes de Andagua UNESCO Global Geopark in Peru—Prospects and Future

Andrzej Gałaś, Roya Elaine Haghighat-Khah, Piotr Cuber, Melvin Benavente, Denise Gorfinkiel and Slávka Gałaś
Additional contact information
Andrzej Gałaś: Division of Mineral Policy, Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7A, 31-261 Krakow, Poland
Roya Elaine Haghighat-Khah: Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Piotr Cuber: Department of Core Research Laboratories, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
Melvin Benavente: University Office of Informatics and Systems, National University of Saint Augustine, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Denise Gorfinkiel: UNESCO Regional Office for Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay
Slávka Gałaś: Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-20

Abstract: Events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that rapidly impact global communication and travel have significant consequences for the tourism industry, which is one of the pillars of global development. We assess the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the Colca y Volcanes de Andagua UNESCO Global Geopark in Peru. The Colca y Volcanes de Andagua Geopark was established immediately prior to the pandemic in October 2019. The instability of the government in Peru during the pandemic and the difficult living conditions in the high Andes, such as the lack of drinking water, cleaning agents, medical care, and the high levels of poverty, particularly in the geopark region, has contributed to the significantly high COVID-19 infection rates. In addition, detrimental impacts faced by the local community are a direct result of a reduction in travellers to the area due to legislative restrictions, which have had negative consequences on the local tourism industry. There is an urgent need for the recovery of the local tourism industry to prevent the permanent closure of tourism facilities and to minimise poverty rates.

Keywords: geopark; COVID-19; environmental management; Peru (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4043/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4043/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4043-:d:782274

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().