La diffusion au sein d’un réseau d’acteurs hétérogènes des innovations sociales générées par l’écotourisme : le cas d’un parc national du Gabon

This article is not about ecotourism but about the social innovations it generates in the specific context of protected territories. Previous research has considerably improved the understanding of the role played by social innovations in the fight against poverty, the degradation of natural resources or even socio-demographic changes, leaving open the question of the dissemination of social innovations emanating from ecotourism activity in protected areas. To answer it, we rely on the content analysis of 45 semistructured interviews conducted in a Gabon national park. Our results highlight the major role of cooptation strategies in dealing with controversies between stakeholders that block the spread of social innovations generated by ecotourism. The results are discussed and allow to present the translation process at work in the case studied. Recommendations for practitioners are also made. Our study leads to future research avenues including deepening the contribution of cooptation strategies in the dissemination of social innovations from ecotourism to reluctant stakeholders.