SARCE PROCEEDINGS

The South Asia Regional Conference on Ecotourism was held in Gangtok, Sikkim India, from the 21^st January to the 24^th of January 2002. 

The Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim (ECOSS) organised it in collaboration with The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) and The Mountain Institute (TMI). This was one of the six regional conferences to be held as a run up to the World Ecotourism Summit to be held in May 2002 in Quebec, Canada under the auspices of the World Tourism Organisation.

One hundred and seventeen delegates came from around South Asia and the United States. There were also some French, Dutch and Australian delegates. Due to problems related to travel and visa, delegates from Pakistan and Bangladesh could not make it. No representatives from Maldives attended due to Ministerial Conference on Eco-tourism held in Maldives shortly after the Sikkim Conference. 

The definition of ecotourism accepted for the conference was as given by TIES: 

"Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people." 

The four days of deliberations under guidelines provided by TIES and UNEP came up with some interesting outcomes.

Ecotourism Planning - Key Findings

• Conflicting policies and regulations

• Lack of community participation in planning

• Low recognition and value given to ecotourism

• Uncoordinated and arbitrary decision-making

• Centrally controlled policies

• Role of Government departments is not specified.

• Lack of consultation of communities in decision making processes.

Greater attention needs to be paid to the role of local communities in decision making, planning and benefiting from ecotourism activities. Communities are key custodians of natural resources and can play an active and critical role in conservation of valuable biodiversity, Mr. K.T. Gyalsen Hon'ble Minister Tourism, Govt. of Sikkim, Mr. Pawan Chamling Chief Minister, Ms. Megan Eplerwood President, The International Eco-Tourism Society, Mr. PD Rai Chairman ECOSS and at the same time they can derive economic and social benefits from ecotourism if they are included in the decision making and planning process. The local communities need to be consulted and affirmation received from them through institutionalised process like local community institutions (the Panchayati Raj Institutions in India and Nepal) for commencing an ecotourism venture in their regions. In some countries such as Nepal, there are innovative policies such as sharing of protected area entry fees that support communities in ecotourism; others such as India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan are also taking important steps to include people who live in protected and natural areas.

Other Key findings includes

• Developing financial lending policies that encourage environmentally responsible enterprises.

• The need to increase awareness among policy of the potential role of ecotourism in conservation and economic development.

• Supporting regional planning initiatives for ecotourism, e.g. a focus on the Himalaya (including Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and relevant states of India), the Ocean (Sri Lanka, Maldives and states of India) 

• Better coordination between government, private sector and other stakeholders in planning and inclusion of ecotourism in tourism and other policies at the national and state levels.

Ecotourism Product Development - key findings

Several success stories from the region highlighted the innovation that is taking place - Tourindia working with local people who collected an in appropriate quantity of cinnamon bark from the forest that have become guides, Nepal Village Resorts working with villages to provide a unique cultural experience, Ranweli Holidays in Sri Lanka that is working with communities in mangrove areas. Although the region has tremendous natural and cultural assets from mountains to oceans, deserts to forests and rich variety of cultures and cultural attractions, there is a great deal that can be done to develop and promote ecotourism products even further. Amongst a variety of issues, participants discussed the following:

• The need to educate domestic and international visitors before they arrive at destinations as well as providing good interpretation during their visit. At the heart of ecotourism is a unique and quality experience and we must work on improving this through better publicity materials, guide services, visitor centres, pre-departure information, etc.

• Better access to credit and loans that encourage entrepreneurs to take risk to develop ecotourism enterprises especially at the community level and small and medium scale operations.

• Better market research for developing the right products that will be profitable, generate benefits for conservation and host communities and provide visitor satisfaction. As a region and within countries there is a great variability in the quantity and quality of data collection that helps in product development. Government, entrepreneurs and research institutions should be working together to generate relevant and useful information for product development.

• Recognise domestic and regional visitors as an important market in ecotourism.

• Build capacity for ecotourism development at all levels.

• Internationally, it was found that there is very little recognition and hence all must work toward bringing greater focus to ecotourism. One way out was to link it to international pro poor and biodiversity agenda. International funding and finding mechanisms for diverting donor funds was also a key area of interest.

Regulations and Monitoring - key findings

Participants recognised the important roles of regulation and monitoring in ecotourism as critical to ensuring the success of ecotourism. Generally these are the areas that have not received sufficient attention. Amongst a range of issues participants discussed the following:

• The need to develop a variety of regulations - self regulation through codes of conduct, guidelines and so on, and legal regulations that help reduce negative impacts such as restricting number of visitors to the sensitive sites.

• The need to establish and enforce standards for ecotourism facilities (lodges, hotels, etc.) and activities (trekking, rafting, etc.) that are appropriate to the region. Participants recommended that such standards should be established at both regional and national levels by multi-stakeholders bodies that represent government, private sector and NGOs, CBOs and others.

• The need to ease and facilitate movement of international and regional visitors within South Asia. Issues like currency and visa regulations hamper the movement of tourist. This needs to be addressed at multilateral and bilateral levels.

• Ecotourism is an important tool for conservation and development of a region, but there is variable data on its current and potential impact. Those working in ecotourism need to work together to identify useful indicators, other than just visitor numbers that help in planning and management and in making a case for promoting and including ecotourism in national and state policies.

• There was concern on the equitable distribution of benefits to the local community and other stakeholders. There was also a need to understand cultural impact; an assessment of this was necessary if long-term significant contribution of ecotourism as a way forward for both enhancement of equity amongst stakeholders, and conservation of natural areas are to happen effectively.

• The role of local community institutions in regulation and monitoring should be enhanced and a coordinated multi-stakeholder approach needs to be created for effective regulation and monitoring of the impact of ecotourism activities in the area.

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