Wildlife experts oppose blind promotion of eco-tourism

With pressure mounting on forest land and the government keen on promoting eco-tourism, wildlife experts and forest department officials say that there is an urgent need to review the 2008 report on carrying capacity in national parks and sanctuaries.

Conservationists point out that many of the recommendations made in the report under the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) are yet to be implemented.

The government, on its part, wants to promote eco-tourism to increase its revenue and also to make people aware of conservation. Resorts are  mushrooming in forest fringes and more tourists are visiting national parks and sanctuaries.

A senior forest department official requesting anonymity told DNA that the Appayya Committee report submitted to the government is still to be implemented. And looking at the present scenario, there is urgent need to revise the report and make it more concise.

A proposal in this regard will be sent to the government soon since the report on the carrying capacity of forests was prepared three to four years back.

Director of Wildlife Institute of India, PR Sinha, said that although tourism had increased with the rising population, nothing was being done to review the report.

Noted tiger scientist and senior conservationist at Wildlife Conservation Society, K Ullas Karanth, said there were directions from NTCA to phase out tourism from all wildlife habitats, which have shrunk to less than 3% of the land. National parks and sanctuaries cannot be made recreational grounds, he added.

“While there is tourism budget for the masses, high-end tourism should be phased out. I oppose the idea of eco-tourism and it should be frozen at the current level. The government has to think of how fragile the eco-system is,” he said.

“If the government is keen on promoting eco-tourism like in African countries, it should opt for change in land use outside this 3% area and increase wildlife tourism. It can either purchase land or encourage agriculturists to opt for tourism as it is for profit-making venture,” he said.

Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee of Wildlife First, said that in 2008, they had sent a series of suggestions to the government on formulation of a policy to regulate commercial wildlife tourism in and around protected areas in Karnataka, which still holds good.

He pointed out that all commercial wildlife tourism projects must not be labelled as ‘eco-tourism’. A separate set of strict norms and evaluation parameters approved by an independent panel of ecologists and conservationists should be evolved for classifying genuine eco-tourism projects.

“It also appears that the tourism department and tour operators are attempting to import the African wildlife tourism model of intensive vehicle-borne wildlife safaris. This is a matter of serious concern. While the Serengeti-Masai Mara-Ngorongoro reserves in Africa are spread over 30,000 sq km, our scattered wildlife reserves are limited to 500-800 sq km. Our reserves have hard edges that abut villages and they are fragmented by highways, dams and mines. They do not have large buffer areas and migratory corridors for wildlife to range freely over several reserves,” Bhargav said.

An objective impact assessment of commercial wildlife tourism based on scientific data must be conducted in all protected areas by an independent panel of qualified ecologists, he said.