Calling to Account-Image and Ethics in Corporate Accountability
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CONTENTS Acronyms & Abbreviations 03 Introduction 05 Taj Safaris Pvt. Ltd. ~ The Return of the Raj 07 Accountable to Whom? ~ Corporate Social Responsibility of Multinational Hotels in Goa 37 Sustainable Tourism Certification in India ~ Prospects for local community participation and benefits 59 1 Acronyms & Abbreviations AGFCA All Goa Fishermen’s Cooperative Association BoD Biological oxygen Demand CAGR Compounded Annual Growth Rate CAMPA Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority CBE Community-based Enterprise CBODS Cutbona Boat Owners Development Society CBT Community-based Tourism CCA/CC Africa Conservation Corporation Africa CCP Corporation of the City of Panjim CESD Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (now CREST) CFC Chlorofluorocarbon CHOGM Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CREST Center for Responsible Travel CRZ Coastal Regulation Zone CSR Corporate Social Responsibility CSS Central Sponsoring Scheme CST Certification for Sustainable Tourism, Costa Rica CZM Coastal Zone Management ECB External Commercial Borrowing EDCs Eco-Development Committees ESAs Eco Sensitive Areas FCA Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 FHRAI Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India FLO Fairtrade Labelling Organisation FOSAM Federation of Small and Medium Hotels The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest FRA Rights) Act, 2006 FTCs Fixed Term Contracts FTTSA Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa GCZMA Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority GM General Manager GRI Global Reporting Initiative’s GSPCB Goa State Pollution Control Board GSTC Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria GSTC Partnership for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria Partnership GTBS Green Tourism Business Scheme HDPB Hospitality Development and Promotion Board HLGSS High-Level Group on Services Sector HRACC Hotel and Restaurant Approval & Classification Committee HSD High Speed Diesel HTL High Tide Line ICRT International Centre for Responsible Tourism IHCL Indian Hotels Company Ltd ILO International Labour Organisation ISO International Organisation for Standardisation ITRI Indigenous Tourism Rights International IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature JV Joint Venture 3 LEED Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas MINARS Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources MoEF Ministry of Environment and Forests MoT Ministry of Tourism MPEDB Madhya Pradesh Ecotourism Development Board MPFD Madhya Pradesh Forest Department NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NGPDA North Goa Public Development Authority NOC No Objection Certificate NRIs Non-Resident Indians NSRT National Standard for Responsible Tourism NTCA National Tiger Conservation Authority NTFP Non-Timber Forest Produce ODP Outline Development Plan PESA Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 PUG Practices Under Guidelines (TOFT) PWD Public Works Department RTDC Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation RTI Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 SME Small and Medium Scale Enterprises STC Sustainable Tourism Certification STP Sewage Treatment Plant STSC Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council TIES The International Ecotourism Society TOFT Tour Operators for Tigers TSC Tourism Sustainability Council TSPL Taj Safaris Pvt. Ltd. TTF Tiger Task Force UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNWTO United Nations World Tourism Organisation WLPA The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 WRD Water Resources Department WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development WWF World Wildlife Fund 4 Calling to Account Image and Ethics in Corporate Accountability in Tourism Case studies of Multinational Corporations in India Introduction Recently, the Asia Monitor Resource centre, an independent non-governmental organisation that focuses on Asian Labour released a position statement on Corporate Social Responsibility. They noted that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is generally understood as being no more than corporate-run community development projects. At the moment, they observe, CSR has won the battle of ideas and serves the neoliberal agenda of a reduced role for the state in favour of an expanded role for the corporate sector. There are many actors involved in CSR activities: NGOs, government, and international institutions, which eventually make CSR an emerging industry itself, valued at US$ 31.7 billion in 2007. What is worrying about many examples of CSR is that it provides a kind of smokescreen for corporations to project the image of responsible social actors and detracts from the multifarious ways in which the power and hegemony of corporations is increasing as well as their lack of any real accountability towards communities and people they impact. Corporations believe that if they can promise returns to their investors then they are exempt from all other obligations to society in their drive for profits above all else. EQUATIONS has relentlessly pursued the question “Who Really Benefits from Tourism”. It is easy to answer that question from the perspective of some of tourism’s stakeholders - viz large corporations, tourists themselves, and governments. But when this question is posed from the perspective of local “host” communities, from small and marginal players eking out a livelihood from tourism, from those forced to deal with tourism’s negative impacts – the answers are different. They do not necessarily say they want more of tourism! The last few years has seen the beginnings of a discourse on Responsible Tourism in India. The champions of the discourse are in high level committees and conclaves and represent the high end tourism sector and those focussing on niche and elite markets. The discourse is mostly about going green or about responsible luxury. Most proclamations are about voluntary measures and ratings or certifications. However this is only the tip of the iceberg and there is little or no confrontation of the real problems associated with tourism in India and the lack of accountability that corporations get away with. This publication is a set of research studies that EQUATIONS has done focusing on different dimensions of Corporate Accountability. We have used the case study method to demonstrate the nuances involved in understanding corporate accountability beyond the limited definitions that corporations like to circumscribe themselves in. The view that we have taken is clearly from the stakeholders who are not in the room and whose voices are not sought when policies are made and regulations are diluted – such as the forest dwellers and adivasis, the local residents, the small shopkeepers, and the crafts persons. In our accounts the context setting is deliberately elaborate - as an indication that it is often contexts and histories that decide if behaviour and action is socially, culturally and economically just or sensitive. We hope that these accounts will help spark off a deeper and more authentic and inclusive debate about the futures we are shaping in tourism - where those with great power amass even more with lesser and lesser responsibility and almost no accountability. EQUATIONS Team April 2011 5 TAJ SAFARIS PVT. LTD. - THE RETURN OF THE RAJ 01. Introduction Wildlife tourism, in the past 10 – 15 years has received a boost both from the government as well as the tourism industry. The Ministry of Tourism issued its first set of guidelines for ecotourism in 1998. An activity which was once limited to naturalists, wildlifers and researchers has over the past 5-7 years, started seeing an increasing number of excursionists and picnickers visiting wildlife sanctuaries, interest being especially in the big animals like the Lion, Tiger, Rhino and the Elephant. Around the same time, the state forest departments started getting actively involved in tourism in the forest areas. Today most of the state’s ecotourism policies are written by the forest department and management of tourism in the forest is retained by them. 1.1. Tiger Tourism Within wildlife tourism, the tiger has been an important over to the state tourism department and the Rajasthan pull to tourists. Kanha was one of the first nine National Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) in 2004, Parks to be declared a critical tiger habitat under the which due to improper management has negatively Project Tiger in 1973. Along with Corbett National Park, impacted the habitat. Due to the non-regulation of Uttarakhand, Kanha was also one of the first to see tourism infrastructure, there have been large amounts large scale tourism development. Madhya Pradesh, also of private investment especially in high-end tourism known as the Tiger State owing to the fact that it holds establishments. It is reported that the annual turnover 19% of the country’s and 10% of world tiger population is 21.81 crores across top 21 elite hotels (there are 33 has therefore seen high tourist visitations consistently recorded hotels around the Park). A result of this is the over the years. feeling of alienation of villagers living around the park as they do not receive any benefits from the high-end At the turn of the 20th century, there were 40,000 tigers tourism that has been promoted in Ranthambore. In in the country, which had come down to 4,000 in 1965 fact the money earned by the hotels includes park and fell to an abysmal 1800 in 1972. It was when this entry fees which should rightly be handed over to the alarming fact came to light in 1972, that Project Tiger state