Making a Difference Dossier on Community Engagement on Nature

MAKING A DIFFERENCE DOSSIER ON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ON NATURE BASED TOURISM IN INDIA Making a Difference. A dossier on community engagement on nature-based tourism in India EQUATIONS, 2009 This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational, advocacy or not-for-proﬁt purposes. We would appreciate acknowledging us as the source and letting us know of the use. EQUATIONS Research Team Aditi Chanchani Saroop Roy B.R. Shweta Narayan Design www.royandarati.com Printing National Printing Press, Bangalore EQUATIONS (Equitable Tourism Options) #415, 2 C-Cross, 4th Main OMBR Layout, Banaswadi Bangalore 560043, India Telephone: +91-80-25457607/25457659 Fax: +91-80-25457665 E-mail: [email protected] URL: www.equitabletourism.org MAKING A DIFFERENCE Dossier on community engagement on nature based tourism in India Introduction ................................... 1 Section A Case Studies 1. At home in the land of high passes A case study of the Himalayan Homestays, Ladakh by EQUATIONS .................................... 4 2. The pot bellied female cat A case study of the Manas Maozigendri Jungle Camp, Assam by Seema Bhatt ................................ 16 3. Daring to Dream A case study of the Mountain Shepherds Initiative, Uttarakhand by EQUATIONS ................................. 24 CONTEN TS Section B Backgrounder Click on titles to browse document 1. Tourism, trade, and globalisation Impacts on biodiversity A one act play by EQUATIONS ................................. 38 2. The tourist welcomed; the adivasi exiled Unmasked: reflections on tourism’s impacts on indigenous communities in India by EQUATIONS .................................. 48 3. Community-based rural tourism in developing countries Some insights and lessons from the Endogenous Tourism Project in India by EQUATIONS ................................. 62 4. Perspectives on community participation, poverty alleviation and nature tourism by Dr. B Vijayakumar .......................... 69 5. Ecotourism in India Policy and legislative frameworks by EQUATIONS ................................. 74 6. Do we need the International Year of Ecotourism? by Anita Pleumarom ........................... 90 7. Ecotourism An ecological and economic trap for third world countries by Anita Pleumarom ........................... 93 8. Ecotourism a framework for analysing context, outcomes, and impacts by EQUATIONS ................................. 95 In 2008 through a collaborative project coordinated by African Safari Lodge (ASL) Foundation looking at community based eorts in nature based tourism, EQUATIONS got the opportunity to study three very interesting initiatives in India. While each have their unique contexts and histories and are on dierent stages of tourism development, they also have common features. These tourism initiatives are located in some of the most scenic and alluring places – Himalayan Homestays in Ladakh, Mountain Shepherd Initiative in Uttarakhand and Manas Maozigendri Jungle Camp in Assam. The case studies attempted to understand the particular context and history of each of these initiatives – what set of factors led to their genesis and what they set out to achieve. In each case, tourism was seen as a means of providing communities with economic bene!ts in the form of supplementary incomes. In all three cases, perhaps INTRODUCTION not incidental, the element of conservation and care of natural resources was central to their practices. The communities involved, as well as those helping the implementation of these initiatives, were aware that through the process of communities shaping the how and what of tourism they would also feel empowered to charter the course of tourism on their terms. These terms, as the cases clearly show, were not about control, but about visioning principles that were respectful and wise. The process of engagement and implementation was slow and complex. Many dilemmas and challenges came their way. The “balance” between development of the community and running a successful tourism venture was one. In case of the Mountain Shepherd Initiative this is a core issue they are currently grappling with. Another challenge was building the necessary skills and capacities. Marketing, speaking in English, working with computers, management, learning to interpret and guide, adapting to meet the needs of the guest in terms of food, housekeeping – seemingly simple things needed to be learnt painstakingly. With the decision to employ local community members, this was an important aspect of building con!dence as well as attracting tourists. Ensuring widening of local bene!ts and systems of equity have also been present to varying degrees. With increase in tourism came competitiveness within community members. Their traditional occupations had encouraged more collaborative and interdependent ways of living which were exposed to new ways of behaving and thinking that tourism brought in. Was greater commercialisation that tourism brought in, a bad thing? What did communities feel about the change in traditions 2 and cultural practices – that may privilege what the tourist valued? In the case studies, communities became aware of the need for designing their own systems of review, checks and balances so that they could decide if a trend was worrying and if there was some way to address it. Another issue for consideration was - how does one develop tourism that is not necessarily ambitious in size and scale, but is holistic and sustainable. In the case studies clear systems of long term sustainability have not been thought through – but it seemed clear to them that the bridge would need to be crossed at some point. However each of these case studies was clearly about the desire to Make a Dierence - to envision forms of tourism that would leave both the visitor and visited enhanced by the encounter. In this dossier, in addition to the case studies, we have provided some articles (by EQUATIONS as well as other researchers) that serve as a backgrounder to the issues. We also have included framework for analysis that may be useful for anyone who wishes to investigate ecotourism / nature based tourism development issues. We thank several people in Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Manas who have helped us in the !eld visits and interactions with the local communities. 1. Himalayan Homestays, Ladakh – Team members at Snow Leopard Conservancy – India Trust and community members at villages Rumbak and Ulley. 2. Maozigendri Jungle Camp, Manas – Team members at Help Tourism and members of the Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society and the Bodo Territorial Council. 3. Mountain Shepherd Initiative, Uttarakhand – Team members at Mountain Shepherds Initiative and community members at villages Lata and Tolma. Seema Bhatt as an independent researcher wrote the Manas case study and we are grateful for her contribution We would like to acknowledge African Safari Lodge Foundation and Ford Foundation, India for providing us the valuable opportunity to document these stories and learn from the exchange. EQUATIONS Team April 2009 SECTION A CASE STUDIES 1. AT HOME IN THE LAND OF HIGH PASSES A case study of the Himalayan Home Stays By EQUATIONS Ladakh Introduction through tourism while protecting their rich natural and cultural heritage for future generations. Ladakh ‘the land of high passes’ is located on the The communities at the villages of Hemis eastern side of the Indian state of Jammu and National Park have been provided opportunity Kashmir spread over 96,701 Sq. km. Ladakh lies to develop homestays to get an additional between the Kunlun mountain range in the north source of income to compensate the livestock and the great Himalayas in the south. Ladakh is that have been killed by predatory animals. a cold desert region subject to extreme climatic conditions that include severe winters and is. It History remains land locked for almost seven months in a year due to the long winters 1 . Ladakh is The Himalayan Homestays were !rst established divided into two districts - Kargil and Leh. at the Hemis National Park in 2002 by the SLC-IT. Within the Hemis National Park, which The high altitude cold desert type of climate of consists of twelve hamlets & villages, homestays Ladakh supports diverse "ora and fauna, being were !rst set up in Rumbak, an important snow home to a few of the endangered species such leopard habitat, with visitors coming through 2 as the snow leopard . The Hemis High Altitude tour operators in Leh. Subsequently, the homestay National Park covering 3,350 sq. kms, situated in programme was expanded to other villages in eastern part of Ladakh, is one of the prime habitats National park as well as other regions. Today, of the snow leopard and the only national park in over 100 homestays have been established along the district of Leh. The area is representative of three trekking routes – Hemis, Sham and Zanskar. the trans-Himalayan ecosystem that is sparsely populated and has rocky terrain with a poor The SLC-IT was established in 2000 to promote vegetative growth. The park was established in community based conservation of the snow leopard 1981 by protecting the catchments of the Markha and its prey and habitats and support community and Zanskar valley in the south and Rumbak valley development. The initiative of Himalayan Homestays in the east 3. About 1,600 people live in the park was an outcome of discussions SLC-IT had with the in more than a dozen settlements. Though the villagers of Hemis National Park in a year to reduce Markha valley had

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