Natural protected areas are often required to concurrently support conservation and tourism development. Estimating the ecosystem's carrying capacity and setting up visitor access limitations is a common approach in maximising resource use to avoid environmental degradation. Our research used a case study strategy and a political ecology approach to analyse the conflict surrounding a carrying capacity-based management plan implemented in a Mediterranean marine protected area under severe pressure from scuba diving. A mixed documental and discourse analysis method based on fieldwork, grey literature and 16 semi-structured interviews with representatives of seven groups of stakeholders was used. Results indicate that although the carrying capacity approach was instrumentally supported by all groups, conventional scientific ecological knowledge played only a specious role in decision-making. Factors related to path dependency, neoliberal governance frameworks, uneven distribution of power among stakeholders and regulatory weaknesses were found to be the most influential in facilitating increased visitor pressure in the reserve. We conclude that, in order to be effective and mitigate social conflict, natural resource management strategies based on the carrying capacity concept must be complemented with a precursory assessment of the biopolitical context to align the goals of planning with the possibilities of the socially constructed environment.

中文翻译：

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海洋保护区的旅游管理能力承载力：政治生态学分析

通常需要自然保护区同时支持保护和旅游业发展。估算生态系统的承载能力并设置访问者访问限制是最大化利用资源以避免环境恶化的一种常用方法。我们的研究使用案例研究策略和政治生态学方法来分析围绕水肺潜水的巨大压力在地中海海洋保护区实施的基于承载能力的管理计划周围的冲突。使用了基于实地调查，灰色文献和七个利益相关者群体的代表进行的16次半结构化访谈的混合文献和话语分析方法。结果表明，尽管承载能力方法得到了所有群体的有力支持，常规的科学生态知识在决策中仅起到了很小的作用。人们发现，与路径依赖，新自由主义治理框架，利益相关方之间权力分配不均以及监管薄弱有关的因素对促进保护区游客压力的增加最具影响力。我们得出结论，为了有效并减轻社会冲突，必须以对生物政治环境的先验评估为基础，对基于承载力概念的自然资源管理战略进行补充，以使规划目标与社会建构环境的可能性保持一致。利益相关者之间的权力分配不均以及监管方面的弱点被认为是在增加保护区游客压力方面最有影响力的。我们得出结论，为了有效并减轻社会冲突，必须以对生物政治环境的先验评估为基础，对基于承载能力概念的自然资源管理战略进行补充，以使规划目标与社会建构环境的可能性保持一致。利益相关者之间的权力分配不均以及监管方面的弱点被认为是在增加保护区游客压力方面最有影响力的。我们得出结论，为了有效并减轻社会冲突，必须以对生物政治环境的先验评估为基础，对基于承载力概念的自然资源管理战略进行补充，以使规划目标与社会建构环境的可能性保持一致。