Turning a Deaf ear to Himalayas

Tourism in Himalayas:

As per the NITI Aayog report, the growth of tourism in Indian Himalayan Region is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 7.9% from 2013 to 2023.

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR):

1. The Himalayan landscapes spans across three regions – Western Himalayas, Sikkim and Western Arunachal Pradesh.
2. IHR extends from the Indus River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east.

Advantages of Tourism in IHR:

1. Valuable economic and business opportunities and jobs
2. State governments and private entrepreneurs it brings revenues and profits.
3. Economic development and employment generation, particularly in remote and backward areas
4. Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP):
   1. Contributes up to 10% of GDP to states such as Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Meghalaya.
   2. Arunachal Pradesh (3-4%), Sikkim (2-3%) and Nagaland (3-4%)
5. Gives fresh stimulus to multi-sectoral investments in the NER (North Eastern Regions)

Challenges:

1. Illegal mining
2. Construction of ill-planned Infrastructures such as roads and railways to facilitate connectivity to tourist destinations.
   • inadequate solid waste management
3. Deforestation
   • The state of Uttarakhand has Tourism in the highest contribution to its state GDP but on contrary, the state lost 268 sq.km of forest in a span of two years.
   • Afforestation efforts are linked mostly to monocultures while natural forest cover and dense canopy forest having higher value has been decreasing.
4. Land degradation and overexploitation
5. Natural disasters like floods, cloudbursts, landslides, etc.,
6. Inadequate solid waste management
7. Loss of natural resources, impacting biodiversity and ecosystem services
8. Growing impacts of climate change
9. Loss of indigenous culture

Sustainable tourism in the Himalayas:

Steps taken so far:

1. Helping locals in Ladakh to set up homestays, eco-cafes and Community-based Tourism (CBT) in the Eastern Himalayas.
2. Bhutan Climate Summit, 2011: shared vision for conservation and sustainable development in the Eastern Himalayas between the countries of Bhutan, India and Nepal.
3. Waste Warriors" in Dharamsala Town

Way Forward:

1. Elaborate and inclusive policy and plan documents have to be formulated for the entire IHR, as currently only western Himalayan states have such a policy.
2. Forest policies have to be made holistic rather than sector-centric policies.
3. Optimal use of environmental resources foe ensuring a balance between tourism development and maintaining essential ecological processes

An integrated approach for biodiversity conservation, livelihood enhancement, and addressing the impacts of climate change for conservation of Himalayan landscapes