This book takes a critical look at the role of ecotourism in bringing about sustainable development in the developing world. Ecotourism is often advocated as a sustainable option as it combines development with an emphasis on preserving wildlife and cultures. However, as argued in this book, it also ties the development prospects for rural communities to a ‘nature first’ outlook that severely limits the prospects for substantial economic development. Ecotourism has been initiated by a range of non-governmental organisations as exemplary sustainable development in the rural developing world. This book looks at the way these NGOs advocate ecotourism, and identifies key features of this advocacy. These features – the emphasis on local community participation and on the role of local tradition, the assumption of environmental fragility and the emphasis on preserving natural capital, and the overarching assumption that development should integrate conservation and development on a local level – are critically evaluated. It is argued that ecotourism’s popularity as a development option devalues human development by tying the latter to an externally imposed conservation priority.