Abstract
The traditional conservation approach of designating Protected Areas (PAs) for biodiversity conservation has come under severe criticism in the last few decades. This conservation paradigm worked well where there were no nature-resource dependent communities, but it has done inordinate harm where such communities existed. The challenge has been to seek innovative approaches to conservation, while also taking into consideration community development. Ecotourism has emerged as one such approach. Ecotourism or simply ‘responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people’, is a concept that has grown considerably in the last few decades. It offers possibilities of improving livelihood security in and around ecologically sensitive areas. The benefits of ecotourism can provide necessary incentives to local people for conservation. This paper describes two examples from India where local communities, as a result of being involved in ecotourism, have become partners in conservation, and have benefited from the same. One example is from Ladakh, where community-based homestays have helped reduce the hostility of people towards the snow leopard. The other is from Kachchh, where a similar initiative has helped support conservation of the Banni grasslands. Based on these experiences, the chapter discusses some enabling mechanisms to ensure that ecotourism becomes a viable business.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
Adapted from: Case study is an outcome of the VikalpSangam: documentation and confluence of alternatives in India project initiated by Kalpavriksh and funded by Oxfam, India. http://www.vikalpsangam.org/static/media/uploads/Vikalp%20Sangam%20Case%20Studies/casestudy_shaamesarhad_seema.pdf.
References
Bhatt, S. (2015). Shaam-e-Sarhad, a community-based tourism initiative, Hodka. Pune, India: Kalpavriksh.
Bhatt, S., & Kothari, A. (1997). Protected areas in India: Proposal for an expanded system of categories. In A. Kothari et al. (Eds.), Building bridges for conservation. New Delhi, India: Indian Institute of Public Administration.
Bhatt, S., & Liyakhat, S. (2008). Ecotourism development in India. Communities, capital and conservation, India. New Delhi, India: Centre for Environment Education/Cambridge University Press.
Ceballos-Lascuráin, H. (1996). Tourism, ecotourism and protected areas: The state of nature-based tourism around the world and guidelines for its development (p. 301). Cambridge, UK: IUCN Publications.
Chape, S., Spalding, M., & Jenkins, M. D. (2008). The world’s protected areas. Berkeley, CA: UNEP/World Conservation Monitoring Centre, University of California Press.
Francis, J. (2018). Overtourism- What is it, and how we can avoid it. Responsible travel. Retrieved 12 November, 2019, from https://responsibletravel.com/copy/what-is-overtourism
Honey, M. (1999). Ecotourism and sustainable development. Who owns paradise? Washington, DC: Island Press.
McNeely, J. A. (1998). How protected areas can respond to the changing nature of society. In Protected areas in the 21st century; from islands to networks. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
Merchant, C. (2002). The Columbia guide to American environmental history. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Merrill, M. D. (2003). Yellowstone and the great west: Journals, letters, and images from the 1871 Hayden expedition. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Rogers, A. (1998). A History of Ecodevelopment in India. Paper presented at Ecodevelopment Workshop at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Nov. 24–26.
Sharma, T., Chen, J. S., & Liu, W. Y. (2019). Investigating environmental transgressions at Corbett Tiger Reserve, India. Sustainability, 11(20), 5766. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205766
UNWTO. (2018). Overtourism? Understanding and managing urban tourism growth beyond perceptions. Madrid, Spain: UNWTO.
Vannelli, K., Hampton, M., Namgail, T., & Black, A. (2019). Community participation in ecotourism and its effect on local perceptions of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) conservation. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 24, 180–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2019.1563929
Wells, M. and K. Brandon. (1992). People and Parks. Linking Protected Area Management with Local Communities. The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhatt, S. (2020). Ecotourism: An Innovative Approach to Biodiversity Conservation and Community Development. In: Sharma, R., Watve, A., Pandey, A. (eds) Corporate Biodiversity Management for Sustainable Growth. Environment & Policy, vol 59. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42703-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42703-0_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-42702-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-42703-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)