Mumbai: On World Tourism Day (WTD) 2010, environmentalists are calling for a re-examination of the claim that tourism and biodiversity are mutually dependent since there are numerous instances of irresponsible development of the sea coast for tourism.
As the host country China celebrates WTD today in the city of Guangzhou with the theme of "Tourism, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development", "the purpose of [perpetrating] these myths is to open the doors to the global tourism industry in ecologically fragile areas and establish tourism as the new patron of conservation by dislodging the role and rights of indigenous people," said Vidya S., programme coordinator of Bangalore-based Equations, an NGO campaigning for coastal protection.
Environmentalists at this organisation say that concepts such as the economic value of biodiversity promote the idea of nature as a tradable commodity.
"Tourism is the only industry that sells a product it does not own — the coasts, rivers, mountains, forests and deserts," she said.
Rampantly violated
The Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 1991 to protect the 7,500km Indian coastline has been rampantly violated and rules relaxed for various purposes.
"There is an urgent need for a new notification," Vidya said.
Research by the NGO reveals that the sorry state of affairs can be seen at places like Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu where uncontrolled tourism development has left no space along the beach and the immediate stretches of land adjoining the sea that are completely occupied by the hotel industry.
This pattern can be seen in Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Pondicherry and Gujarat where violations involve not just construction in no-construction zones but flattening of sand dunes, privatising of beaches and thus pushing out fisherfolk and traditional occupations, letting untreated sewage into the sea and backwaters.
In the Pappinissery Panchayat [council] in Kannur, Kerala, a mangrove theme park, health clubs, watchtower, food court, recreation centre and other facilities are being constructed on tidal flats and mangroves, though the site falls within an ecologically fragile coastal zone.
