High level respect

Tourism can mean trouble for fragile habitats and traditional cultures. But a new scheme in India’s far north shows that this need not always be the case, says Terry Slavin.

Among the lofty peaks of Ladakh, the Buddhist monks of Korzok Monastery are working to solve an urgent and temporal problem: to save some of the most endangered bird and mammal species in India before they are destroyed by the depredation of modern tourism.

The 16th-century monastery is on the western shores of Lake Tsomoriri [above], one of the highest in the world, perched in barren landscape near the Chinese border. Along with neighbouring Lake Toskar, it’s a breeding ground for rare birds like the black-necked crane and bar-headed goose – and an oasis for the elusive snow leopard, lynx, marmot and kiang (Tibetan wild ass).

But they, and the tent-dwelling Changpa people who have summer pastures around the wetlands, are under threat from the increasing onslaught of tourists. Their numbers have climbed as vertiginously as the surrounding mountains: from less than 100 in 1994 to 27,000 this year. The impact of tourism on the wetlands is magnified by the fact that the short tourism season coincides with the breeding phase of the migratory birds.

A WWF investigation found that unregulated camping by tourists had both degraded the environment and produced a pressing rubbish problem. It has intruded on the local people, exposing them to many of the downsides of Western culture. In response, WWF launched a sustainable tourism programme, involving both local people and the monks in community conservation trusts.

It’s all part of a wider WWF programme to conserve the region’s fragile, but ecologically vital, high altitude wetlands.

The Tsomoriri Trust manages a successful homestay programme, which has the twin benefits of reducing camping pressure near the wetlands and allowing local people to benefit from the tourism economy. This has proved very popular with the tourists in the two years it’s been running, says WWF’s Vidya Soundarrajan. Around half the villagers support homestays, on a rotational basis. And in doing so, says Soundarrajan, they’re reinforcing their own culture. “They provide local food and accommodation and maintain their traditions. That is the whole point.” In doing so, they’re not only helping secure a future for cranes, geese and snow leopards – but for their own livelihoods, as well.

www.wwfindia.org

11 January 2008

Terry Slavin