Globalisation, Governance & Grassroots The Case of Ecotourism and its Impacts in Tribal Dominated Areas in India EQUATIONS November 2006 The growing popularity of ecotourism in India has paid scant attention to the rights of indigenous people and concerns of civil society organisations that ecotourism at best is yet another form of greenwash. Largely ignored are the core issues that constitute ecotourism: participation and benefits of communities in such tourism and negative impacts of tourism on biodiversity and ecosystems. Currently, there are conflicts over access and use of natural resources (particularly in Scheduled Areas) by indigenous peoples and local communities. These conflicts and contradictions are exacerbated by the government’s push to open up Scheduled Areas under an international trading regime (General Agreement on Trade in Services – GATS). This would make communities living there more vulnerable to impacts of policies that do not benefit them and over which they have little influence. This paper analyses the current state of the National and State Ecotourism Tourism Policies and their links to corporate led globalisation. Introduction Newer biodiversity rich areas, under Protected Area status or otherwise, are being rapidly opened for ecotourism. In the absence of coherent policy, regulation and guidelines, current forms of ecotourism have impacted biodiversity, lives and governance systems of communities. Women are particularly affected as they confront increasing problems of social biases, finding means of supporting basic necessities and shrinking spaces to have a say in matters that affect them. Globalisation and its forces – trade, increasing corporate power, infrastructure requirements and commodification are escalating these crises in forest areas and reducing community rights over their traditional resources and customary spaces. Ecotourism promotion & development in the globalization context In India, many state governments have been exploiting the market 'potential' of tourism by actively promoting “ecotourism” and other variants i.e., the development of tourism in biodiversity-rich areas. National policies and laws like the National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan, Biodiversity Act 2002, National Environment Policy, 2006, and various central and state tourism policies have not been able to engage with or satisfy the concerns of groups raising issues of biodiversity conservation, indigenous people’s rights and sustainability. Recognising the growing importance of ecotourism globally, the United Nations designated the year 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE), and the Commission on Sustainable Development requested international agencies, governments and private sector to undertake supportive activities. Along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO), who were officially designated as coordinating organizations for IYE, The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) was assigned to undertake a series of activities throughout IYE. The IYE has given a boost to ecotourism in India and it has made many of the fears raised by indigenous peoples’ organizations and other civil society organizations come true. First of all, without assessing the environmental impacts of various kinds of tourism in various locations, the IYE ‘opened the doors’ for tourism proponents to target new areas for the sake of promoting ecotourism. Further, different forms of tourism like adventure tourism, wilderness tourism and rural tourism have also begun to be bracketed within the ecotourism segment. At the national level, increased activity of new players like the state forest departments has been seen. This has led to many of the forest areas (national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, reserved forests) under the jurisdiction of the state forest departments to be targeted for ecotourism. The IYE and other green certification processes like the Green Globe certification has provided an opportunity for various tourism projects to lay claims to ecotourism on the basis of a few eco-friendly practices. The reality of ecotourism development in India is that two most critical issues have been ignored – participation and benefits of communities in such tourism and negative impacts of tourism on biodiversity and ecosystems. Moreover, community-owned tourism initiatives are still playing a marginal role compared to the other tourism schemes, which are often labelled as ecotourism and developed by large, often global, tour operators. It is extremely hard for communities to compete in a market that is fiercely competitive and which controlled by financial interests located away from tourist destinations. Also, negative impacts on local communities can be significant as operators 1 are very likely to export their adverse environmental impacts, such as refuse, waste water and sewage, to parts of the surrounding area unlikely to be visited by tourists. Improperly planned tourism projects especially affect women. For instance in a scenario of depleting natural resources, women are made to pay double the price for basic necessities as and further struggle to gain access to potable water. The negative socio-cultural impacts of unplanned tourism, like prostitution, trafficking affect women and children more adversely. India has progressive policies on participation of women in local self-governance institutions. However the reality of the influence they can wield and implementation of the policies leaves much to be desired. There are conflicts over access and use of natural resources by indigenous peoples and local communities with the central and state governments. The areas inhabited by indigenous peoples (Scheduled Areas) have been targeted for large scale development projects, particularly extractive industries like water and power, which bring little benefits to these people and take away more from them – their habitats, resources, cultural traditions and livelihoods. Tourism is being actively considered as another entrant in this arena. Such existing conflicts and contradictions are exacerbated by the government’s keen desire to open up these areas under an international trading regime that makes communities living therein more vulnerable to impacts of policies that do not benefit them and they have little power to influence. The union government’s decision to re-include Scheduled Areas of the Constitution under India’s latest offer on services negotiations of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS Agreement is a case at hand. Commonly held notions of ecotourism & sustainable tourism The term ‘ecotourism’ was coined by a marketing agency that was promoting Costa Rica as a rainforest destination and since then it has been seen as a niche market by the World Tourism Organisation, as it uses resources that are linked to the biodiversity and cultural pluralism of third world societies or countries, which have been forced into tourism as a core competency area by inter-governmental agencies for development. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) defines ecotourism as: "...Is environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features - both past and present) that promotes conservation, has low negative visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations." [ IUCN, Tourism, Ecotourism and Protected Areas, Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996 ] The travel industry defines ecotourism as " purposeful travel that creates an understanding of cultural and natural history, while safeguarding the integrity of the ecosystem and producing economic benefits that encourage conservation . The long-term survival of this special type of travel is inextricably linked to the existence of the natural resources that support it " (Bandy, 1996 quoting: Ryel and Grasse 1991:164). The International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as, “ responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people ”. Sustainable tourism has been conceptualised by the United Nations World Tourism Organization as: “ Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability ”1. According to the World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO] tourism that involves travelling to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the specified objective of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural aspects [both of the past and the present] found in these areas is defined as ecotourism. An optimum number of environment friendly visitor activities, which do not have any serious impact on the ecosystem and the local community and the positive involvement of the local community in maintaining the ecological balance are some of its key elements (UNWTO, 2002 2). With very little consensus between the industry, indigenous and local communities and other government and non- government organizations on the definition of ecotourism, it is being been touted by the industry and as the wonderful antidote to the development problems of hitherto untouched areas in India. Ecotourism is today the unique selling proposition (USP) of the tourism industry and is being used to bring more and more tourists to fragile regions like the forests