ECO-TOURISM: REALITY CHECK IN COORG -1 By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC What is the exact definition of eco-tourism ? Government, special interest groups, environmentalists and other concerned have their own definitions of this brand of tourism. For instance, if a swanky resort is being built in the middle of a forest, the tourism authorities would call it a product of eco-tourism since they feel that infrastructure development in an eco-sensitive place is also part of eco-tourism. However, environmentalists would call it eco-disaster. Different people, different perceptions. The international eco-tourism society defines eco-tourism as “responsible travel to natural area that conserves the environment and improves the well being of local people.” This means that those who implement and participate in eco-tourism activities should follow the following principles: 1. Minimise impact: Minimal construction as much as required. 2. Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect. 3. Provide positive experience for visitors and hosts. 4. Direct financial benefits for conservation. 5. Employment benefits for the local people. 6. As far as possible preserve and nurture local sources. 7. Though profit is a necessity, greed should not take over. Eco-tourism is one of the fastest growing markets in the tourism industry. According to the wto, the growth is about 5 percent worldwide. With most of the cities becoming a concrete jungle, people want to get out to the nature and thus they rush to these eco-friendly places to breathe non-polluted air and relax. Coming back to my original subject of discussion, construction of a concrete building in a jungle/ small hillock, does it really help? The answer is a big “no.” Obviously when a big resort is built, road connections have to be done. That means, displacement of locals, cutting of trees, depletion of water sources etc. Apart from this, locals who do not have the skills required to work in these projects also do not get any employment. So ultimately, whom does these projects benefit? Another aspect of these projects is that they do not want to spend money on capital intensive equipment like waste water treatment plants or waste disposal. After a few years it is noticed that the soil of that area gets degraded. The forestry and plants start to wither and the area becomes another Kudremukh. The entry of motor vehicles and the sound pollution ensures that the wildlife present in that area gradually moves out to deeper parts of the jungle or park. This particular problem is present in Mysore also. Every day we hear news of leopards coming into the city, getting trapped or killed and again released into the jungle. As the jungles are shrinking, where will these animals go? The policy of “live and let live” does not exist any more. The answer lies in ensuring that smaller resorts are built, using local materials which merge with the nature and are less intrusive. One can have ten such resorts spread over an area which will ensure that the degradation and destruction is minimised and can easily be controlled. Kerala, again has taken the lead in this matter. If you ever travel to Kerala you will notice that all the resorts are built in local style, using local materials and using local labour. Even now, the State does not have large hotels or resorts in any parks or forests. Even the upmarket resorts merge beautifully with the nature and the surroundings. The first integrated eco-tourism project “Thenmala Project” was conceived in Kerala and is an example of how such projects should be executed. Also the laws must be so strict to ensure that the solid waste and water treatment and recycling plants must be in place before the resort is given permission to start its operation. All over the world, projects which conform to this view have been encouraged. In US, I have visited quite a few parks and have noticed that hotels which use local materials are encouraged and no fancy buildings are built. Inside the rooms, all top class facilities are provided but outside the buildings are sparse and merge with the nature. They have also put a moratorium on the number of resorts inside the forests and new ones are given permission outside the forest areas only. What uncontrolled tourism activity can do was observed at the recent disaster at Kedarnath in Uttarakhand. Hotels and resorts were built without any permission or approval on the river beds and when the floods came, they stood no chance of survival. This State with a population of 10 million gets about 20 million visitors every year and tourism is the main economic activity of the State. But if it had been controlled, the death toll could have been reduced. For many countries, eco- tourism is not a simple activity but the main bread and butter activity and the main driver of their economy. For example, Costa Rica, Ecuador, parts of Nepal, parts of South Africa and even in places like Antarctica, eco-tourism represents a significant portion of the gdp and economic activity. So striking a balance between the economic activity and at the same time taking care of the nature is a herculean task. But after the initial euphoria, these countries have realised that killing the golden goose is not the solution but nurturing it is a better option. Hence, they have put in lots of new guidelines and restrictions in place to ensure that both tourists as well as the locals are happy and at the same time nature is also not disturbed. Negative impacts of eco-tourism It has been observed that many a projects are not meeting the guidelines imposed by the authorities and this affects the local communities. Sometimes some projects are planned without any concern for the local sentiment which causes lot of heartburn and resentment. Take for example, the recent decision to lay power cables in Coorg. The cable is meant to provide power from Tamil Nadu to Kerala and the brunt of the destruction is faced by the people in Karnataka; thousands of trees are to be cut. Does it make any sense that a project has been conceived, which does not benefit the local population and forest is being destroyed in the name of development? Cost of laying overhead cables is definitely more expensive but not more than the effect of eco-damages if thousands of trees are cut for underground cable-laying. But with the political pressure, who bothers about felling a few thousand trees ? South Africa is one of the countries reaping economic benefits from eco-tourism but the negative effects including forcing people to leave their homes, gross violation of fundamental rights and environmental hazards are being felt. Eco-tourism system has tremendous financial and political influence. Most of the products of eco-tourism, the resorts are owned by big Corporations and foreign investors, who wield power through their connections with the political bosses. Profit is the only motive and local communities do not benefit from such huge ventures. When one area becomes popular, over-exploitation takes place resulting in eco-disaster in that area over a period of time. Coorg district is in that position now. As it is only a four hours drive from Bangalore, the IT capital of India, where the middle class aspirations have become high, this region is slowly but steadily seeing a tremendous increase in tourists, uncontrolled, which is destroying the local fabric and local sentiments. Coorg has the typical problem of many a mountainous region, that is the shortage of water. The birth place of the mighty River Cauvery, this region gets copious rains but unfortunately the carrying and storing capacity is so poor that the region has acute water problems in summer just like Cherrapunji, the land of highest rainfall in the world. The crowds from Bangalore are swarming all over the place to get away from the concrete jungle the city has become and this has lured many a hotel chains to open resorts in this pristine land. I have been given to understand that there are as many as 30 to 40 applications pending with the Department of Tourism for new resorts/hotels in that small district. Imagine what would happen to the place if all these resorts come up in such a small district? Utter chaos? [To be continued] [e-mail: ananthballal@ yahoo] -Star of Mysore
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 14:23:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015