Eco-Wealth

    India with its geographical diversity has been endowed with a wealth of eco- systems comprising biosphere reserves, mangroves, coral and coral reefs, deserts, mountains and forests, flora and fauna,sea, lake, river and other water bodies.

    These eco-systems form the major resources for ecotourism. Unfortunately , during the last decade or so there has been a mushrooming of concrete buildings in the form of hotels, industries and lodging houses in eco-fragile areas, poaching of rare marine and wild life with little concern for the environment or aesthetics. This unplanned development activty has had an adverse effect on both environment and tourism.
 

Adverse effects

    Take for example, Manali in Himachal Pradesh, an important tourist resort, and a long time favourite with domestic and international tourists. For the past six years, the hill resort has been subjected to unregulated urban expansion which has resulted in the mushrooming of numerous multi-storeyed buildings around the town. The hotels have been discharging sewage into the Beas river causing water pollution. The green area of this township has diminished rapidly, thereby, destroying the natural landscape, and the pedestrian path has become a regular vehicular road causing air and noise pollution.
 

NGO Initiative

    There are several other instances as well where local NGOs and authorities have taken up cudgels to rectify the situation. Mumbai's water fronts which include the Gateway of India, Marine Drive, Chowpatty, Haji Ali, Dadar Beach, Bandrastand and the Juhu Beach, have become mere dumpyards , with garbage and sewerage strewn all over these areas. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage ( INTACH) and the Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation have developed a project for restoration of these water fronts. Work is already underway and will involve construction of a watch tower, installation of appropriate signage, lighting, construction of podiums, pavements, steps and ramps and creation of a beach park.

    The Coral reefs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands were facing threat from unchecked human activities like siltation, logging and blasting. These made the islands extremely vulnerable to erosion. These coral reefs serve as a source of potential genetic and other raw materials and attract economically important tourism. An investigation undertaken to look into the effects of human derived damages to corals, recommended educating the public about the effects of land based practices on marine ecosystems and value the rain forest/mangrove/coral reef relationship. It also suggested that fishing and tourism could save the islands from the continuing ravages of deforestation if managed properly on a sustained basis.

    Supporting 400 million people along its 2, 510 km course, over 29 cities, 70 towns and thousands of villages extending along it's banks, river Ganga receives nearly all their sewage . An estimated 1.3 billion litres of sewage goes directly into the river, along with thousands of animal carcases. Another 260 million litres of industrial waste is added to this by hundreds of factories on the banks each day.` ECO Friends', a Kanpur based NGO is communicating its slogan `Think Green, Talk Green & Act Green' to sensitise and mobilise the support of local citizens, students and children. Ganga camps are being organised during the Kumbh Mela, Dussehra and Kartik Purnima.

    The lake system of Udaipur, a city which thrives on tourism has been threatened due to effluents, sewage and solid waste coming from hotels and industries located mostly at the periphery of the lakes. Incidentally, Udaipur is known as the city of lakes. Similar is the case with the Dal lake in Srinagar, which is receiving effluents from the house boats and hotels in its vicinity.
 

National Policy

    The above scenario is clearly illustrative of the reason for environment having emerged as a topical issue in India. The Department of Tourism has come up with a set of policies and guidelines for the development of ecotourism in pursuance of the Government policy. These have been formulated after analysing the documents of various national and international organisations working in this field. According to the guidelines, a selective approach, scientific planning, effective control and continous monitoring has to be adopted , to help preserve , retain and enrich our world-view and life-style, our cultural expressions and heritage in all its manifestations.

    For integrated development of a eco-fragile area, the local community should be involved and economic development of the area ensured. Development has to be based on an indepth knowhow of local resources, social and economic factors and other characteristics. The tourism management plan should also establish standards for resort development, covering among others, the style and locations of structures, treatment of sewage , control of litter, preservation of open spaces and public use of fragile areas. Physical planning and design should integrate community services including availibilty of potable water, transportation and tourism.
 

Global initiatives

    The concept of environmentally responsible tourism floated by Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA) rests on the basic premise that organised tourism can contribute to the development of areas worthy of conservation as well as determine the level of development. Thus, environmental impact assessment becomes an integral step in the consideration of any site for a tourism project.

    The World Travel and Tourism Council ( WTTC) in its guidelines for systematic and comprehensive environmental programmes gives utmost importance to environmental concerns in design planning, construction and implementation. It also advocates being sensitive to conservation of environmentally protected or threatened areas, species and scenic aesthetics, achieving landscape enhancement where possible, practising energy conservation and reducing and recycling wastes.
 

Creating Awareness

    It is evident fromthe above that all the key players in the ecotourism business including the state governments, local authorities, NGOs, scientific research organisations, travel and hotel associations, tour operators, tourists and the local community has to be sensitive to the environment and local traditions of the site in question and follow a set of guidelines for the successful development of tourism. The various recognised institutions conducting courses in tourism management and administration should make eco- tourism a compulsory part of the syllabus.

Visit India Year

    Though the travel industry is the second highest net foreign exchange earner for the country, India's share of the world tourism market is still a meagre 0.4 per cent. With the Union Tourism Ministry having declared the year 1999 -2000 as "Visit India Year", efforts should be geared towards improving and enhancing the existing tourism infrastructure. Providing better hotel and resort facilities, airline capacity and railways, information and interpretation centres, shopping and recreational facilities while following the eco-environ policies laid by the Government, will help facilitate domestic and foreign tourism. Tourism will thus emerge as a key factor in eco-development in the coming years and can only develop with people's participation.
 

* 27th September is World Tourism Day