House Boat Owners pledged to use bio toilets in few houseboats as a pilot project
A two day workshop was organized by the Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) on September 26-27, 2011 in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, Government of Jammu and Kashmir in the summer capital of Srinagar.
There were over 90 registered participants and the workshop was even more significant since it was organized on the eve of the World Tourism Day (September 27, 2011).
To set the context for the workshop, Mr. Mandip Singh Soin President, ESOI in his welcome speech touched upon the fact that ecotourism was becoming significant in the tourism industry and made as much good environment sense as it did good business sense. Mr Atul Duloo, IAS and Commissioner Secretary Tourism to the Jammu and Kashmir Government stressed upon the need to conserve the environment as tourism and other industries are dependent on this very resource.
Mr Farooq A Shah, Director Tourism, Kashmir regarded tourism as a double-edged sword having both positive and negative impacts. He reiterated that the need of the hour was to manage mass tourism without degrading the environment. Ms Seema Bhatt, governing body member of ESOI while speaking on why responsible tourism in the Himalayas was so important, highlighted some of the negative economic, ecological and social impacts of unplanned tourism.
Mr Nawang Rigzin Jora, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism and Culture Government of Jammu & Kashmir. while inaugurating the workshop reiterated the need for responsible tourism and emphasized the role of local communities in ecotourism.
Technical Sessions included:
- Environmental/ Wildlife Law in the Context of Tourism
- Public Private Partnership in Ecotourism
- Conserving Cultural and Natural Heritage
- Towards More Responsible Tourism
- Ecotourism Certification
- Sharing & Learning Best Practices
These were delivered by an array of well known Speakers like Samir Sinha of Traffic WWF India, Jose Dominic of CGH Earth Kerala, Ajoy Bhattacharya CEO of MP Ecotourism Board , Saleem Beg from Intach Srinagar, Ms. Seema Bhatt, Consultant Biodiversity, Mr.Pankaj Chandan, WWF India, etc.
The concluding session was a very charged and passionate panel discussion on house boats in Kashmir that present a unique tourism opportunity but are on a threatened water body, environmentally .
This subsequently led to a discussion on the larger context of the ecology of the Dal lake and its degradation and steps to arrest this. The need for evolving a working relationship between Government and Industry was expressed.
In conclusion, Mr Mandip Singh Soin suggested that on the occasion of the World Tourism Day, it was significant for the participants to pledge for embracing responsible tourism and the first step could perhaps be for the house boat owners themselves to investigate how to make this unique initiative more responsible and sustainable. They pledged to use bio toilets in few houseboats as a pilot project. The honourable Minister said that if all the stakeholders contributed towards this, the government would subsidize these efforts.
Mr Mandip Singh Soin on this occasion also announced the first ESOI state chapter in Jammu and Kashmir.