Life as Commerce - India Case Study on Ecotourism as a Market-based Conservation Mechanism

This case study from the Global Forest Coalition (GFC), an international coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and indigenous peoples' organisations involved in international forest policy, documents a study undertaken to understand how a rights-based approach to ecotourism might be applied in 4 states in India: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand (formerly, Uttaranchal). Opening sections note that there is very little consensus between the industry, indigenous and local communities, government, and NGOs on the definition of ecotourism. In this context, GFC wonders, how can we read the industry's touting of ecotourism as "the wonderful antidote to the development problems of hitherto untouched areas in India"?

Sources of data for the research included: interviews with the government and local community representatives, focus group discussions with community members, field observation, participant observation, and review of official websites of the respective state governments and the national government of India, as well as promotional material and information provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

After delineating areas in the 4 states that have been opened for ecotourism, the report examines the status of ecotourism-related laws, policy, and guidelines. One communication-related element highlighted in the latter section concerns the 1998 Ecotourism Policy & Guidelines, which - according to the researchers - reduces the role of communities to "protecting environmental resources and providing services to tourism in the role of 'hosts'....Indigenous and local communities become important 'stakeholders' thereby becoming subservient to a process where environmental protection is vested from their control and is being pursued for the sake of supporting economic enterprise. What the policy fails to realise is the cross linkages between ecotourism and the social, cultural, economic and institutional processes of indigenous and local communities. Their lives are very closely linked to the environment they live in and their customs and traditions bear strong linkages to it."

The next section analyses the impacts of ecotourism on community governance in the 4 states studied. For example, the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) empowers the gram sabha (all men and women in the village who are above 18 years of age) to approve plans, programmes for social and economic development, identify beneficiaries under poverty alleviation programmes, certify utilisation of funds by gram panchayats (local governments), protect common property resources, and be consulted prior to land acquisition. Also, the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution recognise the principle of participatory democracy; under the section "Empowerment of Institutions of Local Government", Article 243-G "directs the Central and State government machinery to endow panchayats and municipalities with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government..." However, as the research found, certain factors have constrained the ability of panchayats to function effectively - for example, non-representation of women and weaker and marginalised sections in elected bodies have handicapped the institutions.

Examining ecotourism as a market-based conservation mechanism in India, the authors cite the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) - parties to which subsequently embarked on a process to elaborate voluntary guidelines for Biodiversity and Tourism Development. The need to involve indigenous peoples and local communities in tourism development is mentioned in these guidelines, but only as a voluntary measure.

The study finds "no space in the present governance structure for discussing issues such as tourism between the panchayats and bureaucracy; there have been no attempts made so far to create such a space. Tourism, being a cross-cutting issue that touches upon the social, economic, environmental, cultural and institutional aspects, is complex and hence sharing of information and a space for dialogue between panchayats and tourism and forest departments is essential. The panchayats are not consulted when tourism projects or plans are prepared by the governments or by any other party....[T]here is an absolute deficit of information and consultation required in democratic decision making on ecotourism development."

In conclusion, the report stresses that "[t]he local self government institutions need to be involved in all level of ecotourism development from approval of the project, to planning, implementing, development, marketing, evaluating, monitoring, and research." Women's participation in decision-making in all levels of the 3-tier governance system is noted here as important in charting the course of tourism development in accordance with community aspirations and needs. In order to address inclusion of potentially marginalised indigenous groups, the Indian Parliament passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act in December 2006. "The implementation of this Act may help in reiterating the role of communities in protecting and managing forests, and to ensure benefits arising from the use of biodiversity."