Tourism in Forests of Western Ghats - A case study in Dandeli

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest formed the 14-member Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP)1, to recommend measures and assist the government in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of the environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant regions of the Western Ghats. The panel's mandate is to assess the ecological status of the Western Ghats region, demarcate areas within to be notified as ecologically sensitive zones under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and recommend modalities for the establishment of the Western Ghats Ecology Authority under the Act. EQUATIONS was invited by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) to submit a paper on “Tourism in the forest areas of Western Ghats” and join the consultative process started by the WGEEP.

Commissioned by the Western Ghats Expert Ecology Panel (WGEEP) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India , this paper attempts a rapid assessment of the impact of tourism growth in the Western Ghats. The paper is based on substantive secondary research , by EQUATIONS as well as other academicians and organizations. It also has a set of case studies demonstrative how unregulated tourism has led to significant environmental, social and cultural damage in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats region – one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots of the world.  The three main sections of the paper are one on the trends in tourism development, the legal and policy regime that is flouted more than followed, and case studies. This is followed by a series of recommendations for sustainable tourism in the region.

About EQUATIONS:

Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS) is a research, campaign and advocacy organization. They study the social, cultural, economic and environmental impact of tourism on local Communities. They believe that tourism should be non-exploitative, equitable and sustainable. A question that has been central to their work and directs much of it is 'Who Really Benefits from Tourism?'.

EQUATIONS did case studies of several places in the western ghats including Dandeli also and submitted its report in January 2011.These are some of the facts of tourism and its Pros, Cons in and around Dandeli forests.

Dandeli

Dandeli is a town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka in the Western Ghats, near to Goa. Dandeli is located 117 km from Karwar, 75 km from Hubli, 98 km from Sirsi, and 481 km from Bengaluru. Dandeli is promoted as a tourist spot for nature lovers. It is well known for the Tiger Reserve, paper mills, dams and tourism. A significant part of Dandeli's population consists of economic migrants from all over India. The Kali river which is the main water source, is also one of the most popular white-water rafting destinations in South India.

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve

The Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary along with the Anshi National Park was declared as the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve. Recently, it has also been notified as a Hornbill Reserve. Both Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and its adjacent Anshi National Park house huge tracts of moist-deciduous and evergreen forests. Although a known habitat of the rare black panther, the large size and the density of the forest make spotting them very difficult. The forests of Dandeli and Anshi are home to over 200 species of birds and many large mammal species. The main tourist attractions apart from the safari and white-water rafting are the Kavala Caves, Syntheri Rock, Molangi, Sykes point and the Supa Dam. The reserve has a population of more than 20,000 people living within and on the periphery of its boundaries. There are pockets of revenue land within the reserve boundaries, where agriculture is practiced. The number of revenue settlements is 54. A Tiger Conservation Foundation has been set up in order to facilitate and support the management of the tiger reserve for conservation of tiger and biodiversity and, to take initiatives in eco-development by involvement of people. Tourism in the reserve has increased rapidly over the past 5 years. People visiting the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve alone has increased from 6000 in 2001 to more than 25,000 presently.69 This has also led to increased tourism revenues and the Tiger Conservation Foundation has funds of Rs.22 lakhs allotted for the 24 villages in the reserve. Each of the 24 villages has an Eco Development Committee (EDC) constituted of the local communities. These EDCs are engaged in tourism and forest management activities. The EDC at Syntheri Rocks has been particularly effective in managing the destination and utilizing the tourism revenue.70 However, many of the EDCs have not been functional and some locals allege that some of the office-bearers of the EDCs are influential people who are not bringing any benefits to the local communities.71 The DFO agrees that there are problems, and he is slowly trying to reform the situation and make the EDCs more effective.

Figure : Tourists Visitation data: Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve – 2001-2007

Source: http://www.dandeliwildlife.org/tourism.htm

The Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve has two tourism zones - Kulgi and Anshi camps. At the Kulgi camp, safaris are conducted in the mornings and evenings. Private Jeep taxis and private vehicles are allowed in the safari. The reserve does not own vehicles of its own for conducting the safari. Though, there are rules that the visitors should not disembark during the safari, it is openly flouted by the tourists and the guides. The Forest Department has tried to educate the tourists about this through their website, by asking the tourists to focus on the rich biodiversity of bird species, reptiles, amphibians, insects and trees. But this has not translated on the ground. Spreading the message to the tourists and the tourist establishments in the area has been challenging. The tourists can be regularly heard complaining about how they were not able to sight anything substantial. The manager of the Bison Resort, one of the many popular resorts in the region, when asked about the problems in the Reserve, cited that the “sightings are very poor, and the forest department should take necessary steps so that the situation is improved”, without understanding and appreciating the nature of the forest.

The Tourism Boom and the after-effects

Over the past few years, owing to the increased tourism activity, many resorts and homestays have sprung up around the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary. Many of these establishments are cheek by jowl by the boundaries of the reserve. It was observed that some of the resorts situated in the forest were using noisy and polluting diesel generators for electricity backup. There have also been complaints about night safaris being conducted, where the tourists start either much ahead of the scheduled time at 5.30 a.m or continue late into the night, for a better chance of “sighting”.

Photo : Profusion of resorts jostling for advertising space near Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve

Some of the local people have come together and formed an association of homestays with a common set of guidelines focusing on eco-homestays. They have named it the Kali Parisara Pravasam Samasthana (Kali Eco-Tourism Organization). The homestays are situated at a farm house without the guests staying with the family or home. The basic idea behind this separation is to minimize the exposure of their families to tourists. Local youth have been employed as cooks cum house-keepers of the homestay. Kadumane, a homestay situated around 4 kms away from the Kulgi Nature Camp is run by Mr. Narasimha Chapkhand. He is one of the main persons behind the Kali Eco-Tourism Organisation. He is a farmer by occupation and also conducts street plays and awareness programs on environmental issues. Kadumane was started 2 years ago, with a strict focus on ecotourism. Narasimha accommodates his guests in a small farm-house which is surrounded by his own farm and plantations. He uses most of whatever he produces to prepare food for the guests. He also does bee-keeping and grows many fruit trees to attract the birds and mammals like the Malabar Giant Squirrel. He uses whatever solid and liquid waste generated as manure for his farm. He takes his guests on bird-watching walks, boating (on a raft made by him), treks and wildlife spotting.

Initially, when it started out, Kadumane had a strict no-alcohol policy. But Narasimha says that a very large majority of the tourists who come to Dandeli want to indulge in alcohol and he had to grudgingly tweak his policy and allow consumption to become financially viable. He noted that alcohol consumption and illegal activities like drug abuse were on the rise in the local communities and tourists. This view was vouched for by another local, who’s a jeep owner and driver. He also went on to say that there were stray cases of prostitution.

The DFO noted that tourists’ were being cheated by some of the tourist establishments and drivers. The DFO of Dandeli, Sunil Panwar, has taken a few initiatives to involve the local communities through EDCs and VFCs, and a mechanism to share the revenues generated by tourism with the communities through the Tiger Conservation Foundation. There are plans in place to test this model at the Kulgi Nature Camp. Also, the example set at Syntheri Rocks is planned to be emulated at other tourist destinations in the reserve. It is to be seen whether these plans will be implemented. But the larger issue of unregulated tourism continues unabated.

The Uttara Kannada district, one of the most forested districts in South India, is slowly waking up to both the benefits and negatives of tourism. Tourism around Sirsi has still not developed to the stage of being unmanageable like many other destinations, and it is the right time for policy makers and stakeholders to step in before it is too late.


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