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Home Community Ecotourismin Action

Changing lives in the East HimalayaWritten by Irene Lane

This post was submitted by Marcus Bauer, a journalist and consultant who hasworked with Help Tourism in India and respect-Institute for Integrative Tourism inVienna. Marcus is an editor of planeta.com - the global journal of practicalecotourism and a trainer for ECPAT Austria on Commercial Sexual Exploitation ofChildren in Tourism. I asked him to provide his perspective about how HelpTourism is specifically helping the local communities in the East Himalaya.

Help Tourism runs community tourism projects in the East Himalaya. That Iknew from their website. But it was only after I had visited some of theirprojects that I fully understood the power of their model, the significance forconservation, and how broad the benefits spread into the communities theywork with.

The dust and noise of Calcutta slowly fades out, when the car makes itsway to the vast river delta of the Ganges. Another two hours by boat toreach the Sunderbans Jungle Camp (pictured above). Decent ambiance,good accommodation in local style and friendly staff.

They are all local people, I learn from Asit. Many of them were engaging inpoaching. We trained them up and provided them with alternatives.

Today the local people run the camp and the entire experience including theexcursions to the village and the National Park, almost independently. Andthey do a good job. It earns enough not only for their livelihood but to investinto a handful of social ventures. A doctor holds a medical camp everyfortnight, a school was set up for the village kids, and a clothing and a bookbank was established to name but a few.

Health care, education, decent income: things we’d take for granted; in thisarea where water is still fetched from the well and electricity has to beproduced with solar panels or generators, it is sheer luxury.

For the Bodo people their triumph of local autonomy did not only bringblessings. How would they live from their land? It is a fragile balance of the

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Join the locals and have funwith this series of free languageguides that contain around 30basic phrases that you candownload onto your iPod.

To play our part in tackling climatechange, we have teamed up withClimateCare to offset thegreenhouse gas emissions fromour business.

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ecosystem in this treasure of nature on the foothills of the Himalayasstretching into Bhutan – with Manas National Park being the jewel. A localyouth movement took the lead to outvote those who claimed fast revenues. And they succeeded.

Partnering with Help Tourism, slowly but steadily tourism became a tool forconservation, local employment and rural development. Battalions ofvolunteers clean patrolling routes, create species checklists and safeguardthe integrity of the protected area.

Only two outstanding examples of what I have seen. I have yet to explore agood dozen: The Great Indian Elephant Safari in Eastern Arunachal, theMishmi Experience, the village trails of West-Sikkim and others.

Help Tourism runs 30 odd projects in East and Northeast of India. Butenough to know: tour-ism can become a religion, preaching peace andmutual respect for humans and nature, and a powerful tool to economicallyand socially uplift those who love their remote areas and want to remain.

Greenloons and RainforestAlliance have established analliance to support bestmanagement practices insustainable tourism.

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Changing lives in the East Himalaya - Ecotourism in Action -... http://www.greenloons.com/ecotourism-in-action/changing-li...

2 von 2 19.10.11 14:40