Himalayan Mountains
Introduction
The purpose of this study is to assess how mass tourism has impacted the villages of the Himalyan mountains in India. There is an emerging need for this research as the effects of the tourists on the environment and local people receive little or no attention (Karen, 1994). Therefore this research is going to be illustrate the impacts of tourism through the elements of sustainability: economic, social and environmental as well as other case studies to highlight benefits and barriers to this form of tourism. The information gathered will be used to determine recommendations for the future in terms of how sharing of information and working together can help solve the devasting impacts of tourism.
Background
India:
-one of the world's oldest civilizations
-country of Buddha, ashoka, akbar, Gandhi and Nehru, the land of seminal concepts in mathematics and philosophy; of yoga, the mahabharata, the bhagavad gita, the kamasutra, the taj mahal, world famous art, architecture, music and cuisine
Everything: history, nature , culture
Culture, crafts and cuisine
Focus into the Himalayas:
Mountain destination:
-liberizing trade policies (Singh Jodha, 2000)
-fragility
-overexploitation of niche opportunities which little concern for environmental consequences
in the Hindu Kush- Himalayan region this process is quite visible agriculture intensive chemical use and reducing diversification
Environmental
Throughout Asia and the Pacific citizenry organizations are working in innovative ways to reclaim their environment (Rush, 1991 as cited in Karen, 1994).
These environmental movements are an expression of the socioecological effects of narrowly conceived development based on short-term criteria of exploitation (Karen, 1994)
The overall environmental degradation wrought by road construction--the massive erosion and landslides caused by road cuts and blast shocks, the resulting loss of soils, forests, and water sources, and the decimation of firewood and other forest products (Karen, 1994)
-with roads made it more accessible and then came exploitation of agriculture at the expense of the locals (Karen, 1994)
This new form of mass tourism taxed the capacity of the Himalayan environment heavily by populating the pilgrimage routes with hotels, restaurants, shops, and other businesses (Karan and Iijima 1985). At the same time and often on the same routes secular tourism flourished, attracting plainspeople and foreigners alike to areas featuring snow views and wildflowers, trekking, hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing.
The consumption of fuel wood alone is devastating because the demand for fires to cook food for the tourists and to warm their shelters far exceeds that of the local residents.
usual effect of these development activities has been to deplete the forests, to erode the soil, to dry up water sources, to preempt firewood, fodder, and building materials, and to co-opt or destroy much of the viable agricultural land and pastures. As a result, during the past twenty years migration of men to the plains has accelerated. Most of these men become part of an oversupply of urban unskilled and unemployed. In Uttarakhand villages most of the able-bodied men have emigrated, leaving families behind to run farms with depleted work forces and resources. Village life virtually ceases to be a possibility under these conditions.
Social/cultural
-huge problem with this form of development is that it does not benefit the locals and money is outsourced
The beneficiaries of these kinds of development are almost exclusively outside entrepreneurs, their customers, and political patrons. Most of them are absentee landowners from the plains; a few are expatriate mountain people; and a very few are elite, educated, wealthy, plains-oriented residents of the mountains. On the whole local people are not even employed in the enterprises brought to the region by development. If employed, they are at most porters, milkmen, guides, or manual laborers. (Karen, 1994)
-mountain regions get a global concern which turns into a disregard to local perceptions and practices (Singh Jodha, 2000)
mountain people must be able to share gains offered by globalization through opportunities presented by globalization (Singh, J…., 2000)
Economic
The Silent Valley, one of the few remaining undisturbed rain-forest areas in India, lies in the Malabar region, the least-developed section of the state of Kerala, at the southern end of the Western Ghats. Remote from main urban centers or highways, the valley has experienced relatively little timber cutting and almost none of the peasant or tribal farming that characterizes the rest of rural southern India. Many rare species of plants, ferns, and endangered fauna survive in the valley. During the early 1960s the state government began planning a dam for the Kuntipuzha River, which flows through the valley, to generate hydroelectricity as the basis for regional economic development. The project offers a classic example of the dilemma between environment and development.
Case study on specific part
Case studies. Small ones….mountains, pilgrimage, cultural
Initiatives in Place:
Chipko Environmental movement
More than a dozen major and minor incidents of confrontation occurred during the 1970s. Each confrontation was nonviolent and successful. The successes led to increasing national and international publicity and recognition for the movement. Going from village to village, the Chipko activists prepared for each confrontation by informing people of the movement's purpose and inviting their participation. Workshops and training sessions were accompanied by rallies and picketing at auctions held by the forest department. The movement is diversifying its activities: it now sponsors research on issues of forest, mineral, soil, and water conservation and publishes the results. Reforestation and afforestation activities now foreshadow the confrontational practices.
By the late 1980s the movement had splintered into two groups that have broad grassroots support and advocate participatory methods which respond to local issues in the context of local social and cultural traditions. One group pursues a strategy that emphasizes ecologically sound development of forests by local people to meet local needs (Sachs 1984). Activities include small-scale sawmills and other forest industries as part of the program of local cooperatives. This model is based on an acceptance of current modes of resource utilization with a new emphasis on conserving and strengthening the natural-resource base. Technology is viewed as the solution to poverty.
The second group follows the deep-ecology paradigm of environmental management (Devall and Sessions 1985). It advocates that no trees be cut. It follows a more symbolic approach to attain its goals--fastings, ritual marches, pilgrimages--and accentuates its public profile by participating in conferences and mass media. The rebuilding of nature's productivity is seen as the solution to poverty.
(Village to village working with stakeholders, as well as raising awareness through workshops and sharing of information)
Innovative initiatives and recommendations for the future:
Sharing of Information
Workshops
A workshop is a gathering or conference sponsored by a consortium of neighbouring voluntary organizations and agencies and can be an effective way to form together (Wilson, 2003). Through these workshops, agencies and organizations can discuss topics such as: trends, marketing, conflict, stress and time management, power and negotiations, creativity, problem solving and decision making, advocacy, fundraising, budgeting and public relations and communications that can aid or hinder
Workshops emphasize the importance of sharing of information, which according to Plummer and Arai (2005), appear to create opportunities for continuous improvement.
If working together is successful may lead to collaboration, partnership or co-management.
Stakeholder Involvement:
Cooperation:
Consensus:
Therefore management should be directed towards negotiations and achievement of a concensus with others (Gonz, 1997).
Collaboratin under Sustainable Development:
Collaboration:
According to Singh Jodha, (2000), linking local communities to ventures designed to enhance resource management is one of the most effective ways to ensure local participation in external initiatives in mountain areas
Partnerships:
Local partnerships in market driven initiatives can be based on recognition of customary rights (Singh Jodha, 2000).
-Agencies, organizations and local mountain communities work together to deal with policies to enhance opportunities to globalization in mountain regions
-determine a balance between traditional niche markets and development of infrastructure and local structure. (locals and private sector work together) (Singh Jodha, 2000).
-aid in marketing and branding
Co-management
Benefits:
-raise awareness and help locals with issues
-cooperation amongst stakeholders
-working together
-sharing of information
-increased morale
A main aspect of the three movements is their integrative social effect on the regions where they are active. They cut across social and cultural cleavages that might have been expected to be divisive. They unite people who differ by sex, age, religion, ethnicity, caste, class, and region by stressing shared interests in saving the environment. Women have been prominent as leaders and participants. The high status of women in the Himalayan area and among the tribal groups of the Narmada valley, including unusual freedom of action and movement that accompany their role in the subsistence economy, is partially responsible for their prominence in the environmental movement. The women are accustomed to responsibility and leadership for community survival. Their work involves them directly and daily with forests and natural resources. They are alert to environmental changes, and they respond readily and knowledgeably to the need to protect the environment.
(Karen, 19940
Local and women empowerment
resolution of conflicts over natural resources and a strategy for human survival of ecological disaster. (Karen, 1994)
Barriers:
-lack of funding
-
-find out if it's a centralized government and determine policy issues
-may be hard to achieve due to the remoteness of some of the villages
-lack of access and the inaccessibility and to meet up and have group meetings
-lack of awareness
Lack of knowledge may lead to potential problems such
as too much focus on short term,
environment not maintained, etc.
(find references to support this.).
Merel's part
Kuniyal, 2005
I read it and took the important parts
The increasing self-generated solid waste from the visitors in the hill towns, trails and expedition tops is one of the most adverse forms of human impacts in mountain environments
The direct managing authorities, such as municipalities in the hill spots, have no proper places to dispose of municipal waste nor the other infrastructure required nor adequate funds.
The ultimate aim of the study is to make the concerned local people, visitors and government aware of the need to harness energy from waste.
Most of the world's mountain regions have great potential for promoting human peace, health, and economic opportunity due to their aesthetic beauty, lack of pollution and rich biodiversity
However, the indiscriminate discarding of solid waste by visitors in mountain tourist spots, trekking and expedition areas is causing a major environmental problem
In the name of mountain tourism, eco-tourism or adventure tourism, the number of visitors is increasing rapidly
Consequently, the load of human-induced pollution - solid waste - in these ecologically sensitive and topographically fragile mountain areas is also increasing continuously
Today the waste problem is increasing so fast that certain famous mountain tourist spots in the Indian Himalaya have begun to be overloaded with growing stockpiles of garbage
The sensitive tourist spots and high-altitude locations of the world need to be conserved and protected from these waste management problems
This should be a top priority and will require the coordinated effort of many groups including tourists, local communities, local government and non-governmental organizations (NGO's)
Otherwise, the impact of solid waste pollution will not be limited to the immediate surroundings where it is created but will also spread to other locations such as down-slope regions
Considering the ecological sensitivities and fragilities of these regions of the Indian Himalaya, solid waste mgmt should be a top priority among the environmental problems
The abandoned waste will destroy the major economic values not only in the region concerned but also widely throughout the country
Poor solid waste mgmt can result in the diversion of visitors to other places due to loss in aesthetic values and cleanliness of a region
As a result, the earnings of the local ppl and the local and state government of the area from these recreational and adventure tourism activities will suffer if there is a reduction in the number of visitors
There could be a direct adverse impact in these areas on scarce water resources as a consequence of abandonded waste and its impact on the melting rate of glaciers
The change in water resources, due to the rapid rate of glacier melting, will result in either surplus in one season or a shortfall in another season
This could cause a water crisis in the down-slope areas in terms of both drinking and irrigation water, which collectively would hamper the overall economy of the country.
Suggestion: Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle
Suggestion: Another way to reduce waste at its source of generation is to segregate the waste into two categories: biodegradable and non-biodegradable
Regmi, (n.d.)
Skilfully carved and beautified hundreds of thousand years ago, the Great Himalayas was erected in a geological era by the inthrust of Indian plate into the great Asian landmass and decorated for ever by the unique ecology of the world
Pollution in the Himalayas has been basically generated by expedition, trekking and camping activities of trekkers
Garbage accumulating on the Himalayas includes climbing equipment, foods, plastics, tins, aluminium cans, glass, clothes, papers, tents and dead bodies
"Virtually no matter where you dig, you discover either a pile of buried trash or previously used toilet"
McConell et.al (1991) say, "it was frightening to discover as much as medical waste we did. This included everything from bloody bandages to syringes with needles still attached, to vials of unlabeled injectaible medication."
References
Gonz, G. (1997). Guide to Management of Entrepreneurial Organizations.
Karen, P.P. (1994). Environmental Movements in India. The Geographical Review, 84, 32-42.
Kuniyal, J. C. (2005). Solid waste management techniques for the waste generated and brought down from campsites in the hill spots, trails and expedition tops. Waste Management & Research, 23(3), 182-198.
Plummer, R. & Arai, S. M. (2005). Co-Management of Natural Resources: Opportunities and Barriers to working with Citizen Volunteers. Environmental Practice 7(4), 221-234.
Regmi, P. (n.d.). Himalayas labelled “the highest junkyard in the world.” Retrieved October 25, 2007, from http://www.chhahari.com/Shangri_La/text/ pollution.html
Singh Jodha, N. (2000). Globalization and Fragile Mountain Environments: Policy Challenges and Choices. Mountain Research and Development, 20(4), 296-299.
Wilson, M. (2003). The New Frontier: Volunteer Management Training. Training and Development Journal.