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ECOSS, Ecotourism Conservation
Society of Sikkim is the result of a group
of like-minded people getting together to accomplish a mission. A
mission that seeks to see that there is a thorough and correct
understanding of the concept of 'ECOTOURISM' and that this
cannot be viewed without realizing the very nature of 'CONSERVATION'.
These go hand in hand. This is our shared vision. This is truly a
Sikkimese initiative.
The need for doing this is that in
today's complex world where there are economic considerations, which
are far more complex and impinging on sustainability. Hence this has
created space for organisations like ECOSS to work. Our mission spelt
out in our objectives is proof enough of that space creation. The work
cut out is fundamental in nature. So this is a Sikkimese effort for
Sikkim. Enough of others coming in and telling us what to do! We have
to think through all this ourselves as it involves our destiny and the
future of our children. We need to rely on ourselves for our own
future as no one else has a greater stake in this.
The economic drivers that are being
talked about come in the shape of 'competitive advantage'. What is the
global competitive advantage of Sikkim? There is only one answer to
that. That is SIKKIM itself. This is unique in that we cannot have any
other place in the world like Sikkim. So our recognition of this is
fundamental. When we look further this translates into our natural
capital. Natural Capital as defined by Paul Hawkins is all about our
biodiversity, our people and our customs and our well-honed
traditions. Natural Capital is about our living systems and us. It
gives us much more leverage than just viewing everything in the
context of financial capital and assets. We are what we are today -
and that is what makes us unique. However, we are faced with the
challenge of not only losing our identity but also our very soul. We
are actually losing it all in the name of development. That is the
irony. We could be selling our very competitive advantage to
globalisation - one shoe does not fit all. We have to, therefore,
preserve this advantage and that is where there is a need to have a
fundamental shift in the way we think.
Ideas are powerful. Ideas can move
mountains and create just about anything. Ideas also just die.
Millions of ideas just evaporate daily. An idea is about thinking. So
in today's session we want ideas to flow like never before. Let us
today understand and debate these very ideas that are being sown - not
just as a fad but something that needs institutionalizing - something
that would be at the heart of our work.
If we are able to do this then
perhaps sustainability is not too far off. This is what really would
constitute that 'paradigm shift'.
ECOSS was born because we cannot
leave development of our state to chance or to 'development by
default'. We have an opportunity to actually shape it and we think
that this is fundamental to our mission. Stakeholders and our partners
are all around us. We need to jointly work and make this into a
people's program and then and then only can it fructify into something
which can be called a work of art. |
