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Whitewater Ecotourism Development in Bhutan: Opportunities and Challenges for Local Communities Kira E University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Graduate School Professional Papers 2019 Whitewater Ecotourism Development In Bhutan: Opportunities And Challenges for Local Communities Kira E. Tenney Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Education Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, and the Nature and Society Relations Commons Recommended Citation Tenney, Kira E., "Whitewater Ecotourism Development In Bhutan: Opportunities And Challenges for Local Communities" (2019). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11440. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11440 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHITEWATER ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN BHUTAN: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES By KIRA ELIZABETH TENNEY B.A. Environmental Studies, Focus: Policy, Middlebury College Middlebury, VT, January 2009 Thesis Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Resource Conservation The University of Montana Missoula, MT Official Graduation Date: August 2019 Approved by: Scott Whittenburg, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. Jennifer Thomsen, Chair W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation Dr. Keith Bosak, Committee Member W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation Dr. Sarah J. Halvorson, Committee Member Department of Geography ABSTRACT Tenney, Kira, M.S., August 2019 Resource Conservation Whitewater Ecotourism Development in Bhutan: Opportunities and Challenges for Local Communities Chairperson: Dr. Jennifer Thomsen Whitewater raft and kayak ecotourism can provide environmental, social-cultural, and economic benefits and opportunities to local communities, but can also result in respective challenges. Globally, adventure ecotourism is seen as a potent win-win strategy for conservation and local community development; however, there is a significant proportion of adventure and whitewater tourism that do not meet ecotourism tenets, and there is a call for incorporating greater investment in local community involvement. Whitewater ecotourism is particularly significant because of the unique opportunities and challenges associated with rivers, the resource upon which the industry directly depends. Clean, free-flowing rivers provide a range of crucial ecosystem services, but are simultaneously experiencing rampant threats to existence, such as widespread large-scale hydropower development and increases in waste. Worldwide there is a call for growing local, national, and international efforts to address these threats. In Bhutan, a Himalayan Buddhist kingdom with a small but growing whitewater ecotourism industry, proposals for large-scale hydropower development and growing amounts of trash are changing Bhutan’s rivers and communities, yet there has been little research conducted on impacts of whitewater ecotourism related to communities and rivers in Bhutan.Through a case study in Panbang, Bhutan with the community-based raft company River Guides of Panbang, this research applies a qualitative methods approach to explore whitewater ecotourism related opportunities and challenges for local communities. The findings offer unique aspects of whitewater ecotourism in Bhutan; perceived opportunities, constraints, and constraint negotiations to increase women’s participation in whitewater ecotourism as river guides; and opportunities for the whitewater ecotourism industry in Panbang to engage in addressing Bhutan’s river threats of hydropower development and waste management. These outcomes provide a foundational understanding for specific benefits and constraints associated with whitewater ecotourism in Panbang, Bhutan that can inform sustainable tourism planning for whitewater ecotourism and river conservation initiatives at the local and national scale. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As they say, “it takes a village”. The exploration and realization of this thesis is the result of the support, time, encouragement, intellect, experience, critical thought, joy, drive, and passion of many, but would simply not be possible without my Dad, Mom, sis, and Boz who encouraged and facilitated the life experiences that culminated in this thesis; my advisor Jenn who somehow turns my scattered passion and ideas into something cohesive and meaningful, turns drafts around in record time, always makes time for her graduate students and makes them feel like they, what they are doing, and what they want to do is important, infuses “love what you do, and do what you love” into every day, and can give anyone a run for their money when it comes to IPAs; Sarah, for the connection with this truly life-changing fieldwork and community in Bhutan, for her intellect, input, laugh, smile, roof over my head, and management of being Wonder Woman- academic, stand-out career woman, mother, wife, and community connector, and for the office drop-bys, phone calls, check ins, and hikes; Keith, for letting me conference crash, and for contributing thought-provoking feedback and input to this project as well as all of his related experience; my committee as whole for their insight, time, and work, it was genuinely one of the most amazing experiences to have such smart people working on this project; my niece Hazely for being the biggest reason to work hard to make the world a better place; my extended family for the enthusiasm for my travels and sporadic geographic locations and endeavors; Team Thomsen for being in it together, from homework questions on Saturday night, to taking a day off work and driving from Glacier to see a defense, to ice cream and walks along the river, to bi-polar rollercoasters of this amazing experience; Kristin, my first grad school friend, who noticed when I wasn’t in class one day and threatened to check ditches around the entire Bonner area just in case, and for providing countless laughs and Thursday nights at Top Hat; Chelsea for being perma-positive and always awesome; Kristin A., Natey, and friends; Jill Belsky for her immense depth of knowledge and passion; and SoCon professors and staff. The best part of this entire thesis was the opportunity to get to know and work with the River Guides of Panbang. I sincerely have no words for their generosity, hospitality, and good- nature, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn so much from them, and to have been brought on as part of the team. Enormous thank yous to all, and to Khenda, for organizing logistics to share Bhutan with me to the fullest, to Choki for all the laughs and lessons and for being brave, strong, and hilarious, to Dorji for asking all of my questions, and Lam for being so passionate about pursuing the environmental efforts of RGP in the future. Thank you to the Bhutan Foundation for the support and connection to this project, and to the Tourism Council of Bhutan. Finally, thank you to National Geographic Society and UM for the support of this research, and the indirect support of the International Conservation and Development program at UM, which, in my opinion, is an enormous asset to building tools within individuals that can make our world better. iii Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………. 1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………. ……………18 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY………………………………………. …………………...56 CHAPTER 4: WHITEWATER ECOTOURISM FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES………….. 68 Results………………………………………. ……………………………………….. 69 Benefits of Whitewater Ecotourism in Panbang, Bhutan……………………....69 Challenges of and Constraints to Whitewater Ecotourism Development ……..89 Discussion………………………………………. ……………………………………102 Benefits of Whitewater Ecotourism to Local Communities…………………..102 Challenges of and Constraints to Whitewater Ecotourism Development …….113 CHAPTER 5. PARTICIPATION OF BHUTANESE WOMEN AS RIVER GUIDES………119 Results…………………………………………………………………………………120 Benefits and Opportunities of Women Working as River Guides…………….120 Constraints and Constraint Negotiations of Women’s Involvement in Whitewater Ecotourism ……………………………………………….122 Discussion……………………………………………………………………………...136 Benefits of Women’s Empowerment…………………………………………..136 Importance of Female-Specific Opportunities…………………………………139 Importance of Female-Mentorship……………………………………………..142 CHAPTER 6. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN ADDRESSING HYDROPOWER AND WASTE MANAGEMENT FOR RIVERS MANAGEMENT………………………………...144 Results………………………………………………………………………………….145 Local Perceptions of Hydropower Development………………………………145 Considerations for Future Hydropower Development and Alternatives……….162 Waste Management……………………………………………………………..167 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………187 Opportunities for Environmental Education……………………………………187 Opportunities for River Stewardship Advocacy………………………………..192 Importance of Infrastructure and Coordination Across Scales…………………197 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………….. 200 APPENDICES ………………………………………. ………………………………………. 206 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………. ……………………………………237 iv CHAPTER 1. Introduction Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy (UNWTO, 2016). Within the tourism sector, adventure
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