Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

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TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■developing the skills of people in tourism,park management and impact monitoring. The groupecodevelopment committees that have been createdhere work professionally and have been able togenerate a regular monthly income fromthe park itself. There are four professionalcommittees — the former-cinnamon bark collectorscommittee, Tribal Trekkers, the Tribal Heritageecodevelopment committee and the Periyar TigerSamrakshan Samiti. All four ecodevelopmentcommittees are involved in ecotourism activitiessuch as border hiking, jungle rafting and bamboorafting.The Tribal Trekkers ecodevelopment committeewas constituted by recruiting young menfrom amongst the Mannas and thePaliyan tribes living in settlements of the fringes ofthe tiger reserve. The men, earlier involved infishing, collecting honey, thatching grass andcollecting firewood, were trained to guidetourists through a nature walk. From their traditionalknowledge of terrain, flora, faunasprang one of the most successful ecotourismenterprises at the tiger reserve. This committee wasset up with a fund of Rs 3.5 lakh; it today has Rs4,26,490 in its community development fund. It hasgiven other ecodevelopment committees loans of Rs2 lakh. It has given loans to its own members, to thetune of Rs 3,63,202, for medical and educationalpurposes.The trekkers take back a monthly salary of Rs3,800. From their funds, 10 per cent is contributed topark welfare, 5 per cent to park maintenance and 10per cent to their own ecodevelopment committees.The rest goes to their community development fund,from which salaries are paid.The impact of involving groups of people whoearlier engaged in destructive activities with the parkis obvious.However, much like Ranthambhore, tourism inand around the park is high revenue as well. But inrecent years, there has been a conscious effort topromote homestead tourism — so that people can‘experience’ life in cardamom and tiger country. IfPeriyar can continue to innovate on these measures,it will sustain its success and local interests will beenjoined with the park. 13Tourism with equityTourism must therefore have a purpose, whichpromotes conservation and livelihood security. RSukumar of the Centre for Ecological Sciences atBangalore has been studying elephant ecology foryears; and in his submission to the Task Force hasnoted with concern that “a new wave of luxurytourism now threatens to unleash across ourprotected areas”. The problems are manifold. Inmany protected areas there has been relocation oftribals and cultivators from within to outside theparks. The virtual take-over of protected areas byluxury tourism would open fresh wounds in the yetto-healconflict between parks and people. The issueof profits from tourism being ploughed back into thelocal economy as well as park management also hasto be seriously addressed, says Sukumar. In addition,there is a need to ensure that critical corridors andecologically important areas are not used for touristactivities. 14At the same time the impacts of tourism in thetiger reserve must be studied carefully so that baseline data on carrying capacity is used to monitorchange. Thereafter periodic review studies of thedifferent impacts of tourism must be carried out.Again, as these periodic monitoring either by expertsor under their guidance shall require resources, it isessential that the park dedicate some of the revenuegenerated by tourism into the tourism impactmonitoring mechanism.Tourism has a large potential for involvingpeople in the forests and it is also a way of payingback people the value of the ecological services theforests provide to the society. While other forms ofpayments to the community for protection of forests— joint forest management and other mechanisms —are also explored today across the world, the bestform of payment for ecological security can onlycome from a rights-based approach. In this, peopleget preferential chances to earn money from anactivity that not only generates enough revenue tokeep them from being alienated, but also helps fostera relationship between the forests, the forestdepartment and the people inside and along fringes.The Pilgrim floodAnother facet to tourism in India’s tiger reservestoday is the pilgrim tourist, visiting shrines insideprotected areas. While this is a tradition in manyreserves, under present circumstances pilgrimagehas become a challenge for the park authorities inmanaging the deluge of devotees in reserves such asSariska or Periyar.Perched on a hill in the western division of thePeriyar tiger reserve, surrounded by evergreen forestsreligiously called poongavanam, is Sabrimala, theshrine of the Hindu deity Lord Ayappa. The shrinedraws five million pilgrims annually. Pilgrims fastfor days; attired in black they take a holy dip at theriver Pampa before trekking up to Sabrimala. Themost propitious time to visit the shrine is during theMakkaravalaku season; its 60 days, from midNovember to January, attract the bulk of the pilgrims.The passage of thousands of people through theThe way ahead 137
■ JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORTInnovating in Tourism by involving local communities: some successful examplesAnnapurna Conservation Area Project, NepalManaged by the King Mahendra Trust for NatureConservation, Annapurna Conservation Area inneighbouring Nepal has created a system whereby allelements of tourism are today taken care of by peopleliving in the area. Ghazala Shahabuddin from the NewDelhi-based Council for Social Development hasstudied this approach and says that the government hasensured that benefits accrue to local people —managing homesteads, trekking routes and eateriesalong trekking routes, people earn at each stage of thebusiness.The Annapurna Conservation Area comprises ofspectacular landscape, that of the 8,000-metre plusHimalayan ranges of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. Thearea is extremely biodiversity rich as it straddles a verylarge gradient. The programme, initiated in 1986,covers an area of 7,600 sq km spread over five districts.Fifty-five village development committees form theanchor of the programme. A total of 1,00,000 peoplelive in the area and about 1,16,000 tourists visit the areaannually. The area now has one of the most famoustrekking routes in Nepal. The project has createdConservation and Management committees in eachvillage to manage tourism. 15The area’s management has ensured local peopleare able to create small tourist lodges to earn fromtourists. Most lodges, equipped with solar hot showersand other facilities, are extensions of people’s homes.When mineral water bottles, adding to litter, became aproblem, villagers started ‘safe drinking water stations’in every village along the route, using advancedtechnology for water cleaning. The revenue of thiswater sale goes back to the village.In other words, the benefits of tourism go back tolocal communities and build a stake in the protection ofthe reserve. As a result, there is much less garbage andwaste in the area. The cause of conservation isadvanced. It is a lesson to learn from.Costa RicaIn Costa Rica, nature is a tourism factory. Tourism wasthis small Central American country’s top foreignexchange earner, till the computer giant Intel set up itsmicroprocessing plant there. In 1995 in Costa Rica,the industry generated over US $650 million per annum— 7.5 per cent of the country’s GDP. Tourism has beenbuilt on the development of national parks — in 1996,of the 781,000 visitors from abroad, nearly 270,000visited national parks. With this economic interestassured, as much as 31 per cent of the country isunder the protected area system and now privateindividuals are finding that it pays to conservebiodiversity for tourists.The tourism value chain is still in favour of theairlines and large and international operators. Butnevertheless, a substantial proportion stays within thecountry and is shared. This has led to increaseddependence and so a vested interest in the trade and,therefore, also an interest in protecting theenvironment. Interestingly, over 70 per cent of thehotels in the country have less than 20 rooms. Thismeans that the small lodges near national parks domore than their bit to conserve the environmentalresources around.Ecotourism — built on remote and small-scalenature reserves — is an opportunity to provide localemployment and local economic growth. In thisforest poses a huge challenge for the forestdepartment of the tiger reserve. Pilgrims travel up tothe Pampa river in vehicles. Hundreds of shopsmushroom along the routes, tonnes of firewood arecut from the forest and the hills turn into a nightmareof plastic. During the season, villagers complain, thePampa gets highly polluted.Over the years, efforts have been made by theKerala government and the forest department tominimise impact. A sewage treatment plant has beenset up, toilets have been made and buildingsregulated. But the fact is that the impact remainsbecause of the large numbers of pilgrims.It is clear that while uncontrolled visitors tothese pilgrim sites are bound to impact the forests,one must remember that these sites can also be used138 The way ahead
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THE REPORT OF THE TIGER TASK FORCEJ
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ContentsIntroductionExecutive summa
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IntroductionThe Tiger Task Force wa
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TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE
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Wildlife research has been facing s
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