Ecotourism, last nail in the coffin of biodiversity
In recent years several State governments have raised
the curtains for ecotourism in natural reserves. Obviously, ecotourism
gives a chance to people to see plants and animals in their natural
habitats and is a source of income to the locals. On top of that, it
improves the State’s economy. But it also has its deleterious impact.
No
State government has any strict rule adopted inside the declared
ecotourism centres. There is no ban on use of plastic articles such as
carry-bags, water bottles and disposable cups in several ecologically
and biologically sensitive zones of India. It is easy to find the
baneful plastic inside mangroves, tiger reserves and zoos. Also, the
attitude of visitors inside recreational areas is not encouraging. Visit
any of the Indian zoos and, invariably, you will find that people of
all ages and both sexes tease the animals by shouting loudly and
throwing stones, twigs and papers at them. These hostile and awful
attitudes annoy the animals and cause them mental trauma. Especially,
primates and crocodiles suffer a lot and sometimes they lose their life.
It is a common scene in the Chennai Crocodile Park that during basking
the reptiles open their mouths wide, into which our so-called tourists
simply throw stones and pebbles. If swallowed, this would cause loss of
life. Though these parks and zoos are continuously monitored by
employees, damage is caused. Imagine the fate of the wild animals in the
natural reserves when they are opened to ecotourism.
The
use of plastic cups, bags and bottles causes havoc in the natural
system. Paper cups abandoned in and around biosphere reserves might
cause large-scale mortality of worker bees. A recent study by Mr.
Chandrasekaran of Madurai Kamaraj University has shown that the sugary
residue in the discarded cups attracts honeybees on a large scale.
Workerbees swarm them and these cups act as ‘death traps’. The residue
of beverages (coffee/tea/milk/juice) wets their wings and they are
unable to fly. This results in large-scale mortality and the population
of honeybees declines drastically.
Dammar bees or
stingless bees, Melipona irridipennis (Meliporidae), one of the
important pollinators, also get attracted to the disposable cups. Within
10 minutes of my observation, I found nearly 48 dead bees in a single
cup and more than 800 bees in a single dustbin placed before a teashop
in our area. If the trend continues for a few more days or weeks, all
worker bees in a colony will die.
A special mention
has to be made that these kinds of tiny insects play a key role in all
forest and agro ecosystems, and they are the major group which is
interlaced with several ecological functions.
It is
reported that globally 70 per cent of crop plants and 98 per cent of
trees in tropical rain forests are pollinated by tiny insects like bees.
In the Western Ghats, the aphid bees alone contribute to the
pollination of 18 per cent of 86 species of trees, and 22 per cent of
shrubs. So the decline in the population of bees will cause a vicious
circle at the tropic level of an ecosystem. And, finally, the entire
system will crumble like a house of cards.
Carry bags
and plastic water bottles discarded in wetlands cause considerable
damage to the system, to the unique mangrove ecosystem and its fragile
diversity. Carry bags clog the aerial roots, resulting in poor air
circulation and sometimes leading to the death of young mangrove plants.
Likewise, some of the sedentary molluscan species
will lose their life if they are covered by carry bags. Carry bags which
settle on mudflats affect the benthic community. Finally, the mudflats,
which serve as a food basket for fish, prawn and the globally declining
waterbirds, will be demolished.
Also, these bags,
perched on the mangrove tree branches, produce a peculiar sound during
wind flow, annoying and driving away the foraging waterbirds.
Motorboats
used by tourists produce a high decibel sound, which echoes throughout
the mangroves. This noise disturbs all foraging, roosting, nesting and
resting waterbirds. This kind of continuous disturbance may even force
the birds to leave the habitat permanently and, sometimes, abandon their
clutch and brood too.
It is reported that tourist
activity such as sunbathing and collection of plants and animals for
studies also cause damage to the system. Even leisure walks on shores
and other wetlands cause stress to the tiny benthic animals. The walking
events trample the benthic animals and modify the bio-geo nature of the
soil too.
So, a careful assessment has to be made
before an area is declared an ecotourism spot; even after the
declaration, continuous monitoring is needed to assess the impact of
tourism on the ecosystem and its diversity. Biodiversity is the untapped
capital of a country. So it is better to shun the idea of opening hot
diversity spots for public access in the name of ecotourism.
(The
writer is Assistant Professor, PG and Research Department of Wildlife
Biology, A.V.C. College, Mannampandal, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu.
Email: ssandilyan@gmail.com)
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