Organised by
Funded by
 

Environ-
mental Carrying Capacity

Environmental carrying capacity is the maximum load that an ecosystem can support without being destroyed.

Tourism carrying capacity refers to 'the maximum number of people that a tourist destination can support, without causing any destruction of the environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction.'

As more people spend time outdoors, or when there is a weak awareness of environmental conservation, increased harassment or negative impact would be caused to ecologies, habitats, landscapes, historic sites, etc. Once the carrying capacity is exceeded, destruction or degradation of the environment may be resulted. Examples include:

 

Overuse of trails

Accelerating soil erosion

Over-intensive camping activities

Self-repairing of vegetation becomes very hard, resulting in patches of bare soil

Excessive clam harvesting

Impacting reproductive output of clams, weakening the natural water filtration system of sand flats, even affecting food source of migratory birds

 

Inappropriate behaviours in countryside

 

Littering

 

Tree climbing

 

Graffiti

 

Illegal motocross riding

 

Leaving fire unattended

 

Leaving a large amount of waste

 

Damaging plants