Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 2237–2252, 2004. # 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Socio-economic and ecological consequences of the ban on adventure tourism in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, western Himalaya CHANDRA SHEKHAR SILORI The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Darbari Seth Block, Habitat Place, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 001, India; (e-mail: [email protected]) Received 9 May 2003; accepted in revised form 29 July 2003 Key words: Adventure tourism, Biotic pressure, Eco-tourism, Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, - Peoples’ participation, Sustainable development Abstract. Prior to 1982, the uncontrolled mountaineering activities to the Nanda Devi peak led to the heavy destruction of the biological resources of the region in the form of poaching of wild animals, tree felling by expedition parties, collection of medicinal herbs and accumulation of garbage. To curb the biotic interference, the area was declared as Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) and adventure tourism was stopped in 1982. Further in 1988, an area of 2236.74 km2 was designated as Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) with an inner core zone (NDNP) surrounded by a buffer zone. A ban on tourism activities, followed by the designation of NDBR directly helped in a significant improvement in forest cover and density. The better status of wild animals, including rare and endangered species such as musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) and blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur), is an indicator of such improvements. However, from a socio-economic point of view the loss of income from adventure tourism forced local people to migrate from the area, a phenomenon that was reflected in the human population trends, registering 15% decline between 1981 and 1991 and another 13% between 1991 and 1996. In the absence of alternative income sources, marginal agriculture and animal husbandry became the major sources of income for the locals. Nonetheless, the low density of human population kept the level of biotic pressure under control in NDBR. Promotion of eco-tourism and natural resource based employ- ment generation schemes are suggested to compensate for the economic loss to the local people and to maintain the biodiversity of NDBR. Introduction Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR), designated in 1988, is reputedly one of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the whole of the western Himalaya (Green 1993). It is known for thick forests of blue pines, oaks and cedrus, vast alpine meadows and tough hilly terrain with snow-laden peaks. Large altitudinal variation (1800–7817 m) with some of the highest peaks of the country and rich biological and cultural resources made NDBR one of the hotspots of adventure tourism and it remained so until 1982. Prior to 1982, Nanda Devi peak (7817 m), the second highest peak in India, was the most popular among mountaineers and trekkers, after Mount Everest (Kandari 1982). The first recorded attempt to enter the Nanda Devi basin was by W.W. Graham in 1883 (Green 1993), but he was unable to proceed beyond the gorge of the Rishi Ganga river. Subsequently, T.G. Longstaff in 1907, 2238 Figure 1. Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in the western Himalaya, showing the location of trekking routes to Nanda Devi peak and proposed trekking routes for promotion of eco-tourism in the buffer zone. 2239 and Hugh Rutledge in 1926, 1927 and 1932 also met with failures. Finally in 1934, Eric Shipton and W.H. Tilman pioneered a 52 km long route to Nanda Devi basin through the steep and narrow Rishi Ganga river gorge, which takes nearly 10 days (Tak and Kumar 1983). There are only two entry points to the route leading to the Nanda Devi peak from Chamoli district. The first one is at the point of confluence of the rivers Rishi Ganga and Dhauli Ganga, near Reni village through the Rishi Ganga river gorge, while the other one originates at Lata village about 3 km further north to Reni village (Figure 1). Both these treks meet at Debru Gheta and continue as the main route to the base of Nanda Devi peak. As in most of the Himalayan areas, unplanned tourism (Singh 1989) also affected the ecology of the Nanda Devi region. In the case of NDBR, uncontrolled tourism caused deforestation (especially along the trekking routes and near the timber line), poaching of wild animals, collection of medicinal herbs, accumulation of garbage (polythene bags, toilet paper and tin containers), forest fires, soil erosion, and erosion of cultural values (Khacher 1978; Kandari 1982; Mehta and Kapadia 1990). To curb the anthropogenic pressure, the catchment of Rishi Ganga river was de- signated as Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP), and human activities, including adventure tourism, were banned in 1982. This article is based on a study conducted in NDBR during 1994–1997 and attempts to evaluate the impact of a ban on adventure tourism on the socio-eco- nomic and ecological aspects of the Nanda Devi region. Study area Geographical description and climate NDBR was the second biosphere reserve of the country, designated in January 1988. The geographical area of the reserve spreads over 2236 km2 with two distinct zones, namely, the core zone and around this the outer buffer zone (Figure 1). The human habitation is distributed in 19 villages of the buffer zone while the core zone is free from human habitation. The core zone of the reserve comprises the catch- ment of the Rishi Ganga and eastern tributary of Dhauli Ganga river, which joins the Alaknanda river at Reni village in district Chamoli. The boundary of the core zone is formed by a series of high peaks such as Dunagiri (7066 m), Changbang (6864 m), Kalanka (6934 m), Nanda Devi East (7434 m), Trishul (7120 m) and Nanda Ghungti (6368 m), while Nanda Devi West peak (7817 m) is located within the core zone (Figure 1). The entire area has distinctive micro-climates owing to the varied topography. The annual rainfall ranges from 750 to 2000 mm with a declining trend from south to north. The annual temperature varies between below 08 C (December–January) and 358 C (June–July). The higher reaches of the reserve (above 4500 m), which make up about 81% of the core zone and 60% of the buffer zone, remain snow covered round the year (Sahai and Kimothi 1996). 2240 Biological and cultural richness of the area The entire Nanda Devi region is rich in its biological wealth. A total of 793 plant species have been recorded within the bounds of the biosphere reserve (Hajra and Balodi 1995) including 76 rare and endangered species. Six of these are classified as endemic to the area and 36 as near endemic (Samant et al. 1993). Of these, eight species are also listed in the Red Data Book of Indian Plants (Nayar and Sastry 1990). Of the total forest cover of the reserve, about 47% has dense forest cover (>40% crown cover), 35% with open cover (10–40% crown cover), and 17% is in the miscellaneous and degraded forest categories (<10% crown cover) (Sahai and Kimothi 1996). The forest composition shows a clear pattern along the altitudinal gradient, starting from dry deciduous forest types in the lower altitude areas to the alpine meadows above the timber line. These meadows exhibit a high range of diversity of flowering plants such as Primula, Potentila, Anemone, Geranium, Pedicularis, and Saussurea, while some other species such as Rheum australe, Aconitum heterophyllum, Arnebia benthamii and Dactylorhiza hatageirea also have very high medicinal value (Hajra and Balodi 1995). The inventory of faunal composition of the region lists 17 mammals, including endangered species such as snow leopard (Uncia uncia), Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus), Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos), Himalayan musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster), blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur), serow (Capricornis sumatrensis)and Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) (Lamba 1987; Sathyakumar 1993). About 141 species of birds have also been reported from the reserve and adjoining areas (Shankaran 1993), besides about 28 species of butterfly (Baindure 1993). The human habitation in the region is largely restricted to the buffer zone, whereas the core zone, centre of tourism activities prior to the ban, is free from human presence. Of the 19 villages of the buffer zone, 12 are located in district Chamoli, two in district Almora, and the remaining five are in district Bageshwar sector of the reserve (Figure 1). The findings presented in this article are based on a study conducted in the 12 villages of district Chamoli, where tourism activities were in operation prior to the ban. The area, being close to the Tibetan border, is rich in its ethnic diversity. The human population of the region is dominated by a tribal community known as Bhotiya, who are Hindu Rajputs, with Indo-mongoloid features (Silori and Badola 1995). They have settlements at two places and practice seasonal and altitudinal migration to adjust to the harsh environmental conditions especially during the winter season (October–April). Human and livestock popu- lations of the area migrate to the winter settlements at lower altitudes, mostly outside the buffer zone in October and return to summer settlements at higher altitudes in May. Prior to 1962, the major occupation of Bhotiyas was international barter trade with Tibet. After the Indo-China war of 1962, trade was stopped and the economy of the area was totally shattered. People shifted to adventure tourism and took up agriculture, animal husbandry and wool-based handicrafts as subsidiary occupations. The ban on tourism in 1982 was another major blow to the economy of this region, forcing people to depend on the marginal agriculture and animal husbandry for their subsistence. 2241 Methods Impact of tourism The major objective of the study was to understand the impact of the ban on adventure tourism on socio-economic and ecological aspects of the Nanda Devi region.