Illicit tourism extracts its cost from nature

On January 23, a 26-year-old tourist camping out in a tent at a resort in Kerala’s picturesque Wayanad district was killed following an attack by wild elephants. Shahana, a native of Kannur, was staying in a tent close to the forest when the wild elephants reached the spot.

. Just a few days earlier, a gut-wrenching video from Masinagudi — an important elephant corridor along the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Tamil Nadu that is a tourist hotspot — went viral on social media. The video showed men driving away an elephant from a resort by throwing a flaming cloth. The tusker died of burn injuries.

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. These incidents have put the focus on the mushrooming of resorts and homestays along with protected forest areas and wildlife reserves and their adverse effects on the environment.

. One area where this trend is clearly visible is the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve — a 5,500 sq km tract of land which straddles Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — which includes the Bandipur, Nagarahole and Mudumalai Tiger Reserves and stretches from the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in the east, to the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in the west.

. Take Meppadi in Kerala, where the young woman died. The gram panchayat authorities say that only 17 homestays were functioning with proper permits within the panchayat limits, while the actual number of such houses could number well over a hundred.

. Environmental activists estimate that there are at least 300 illegal homestays across Wayanad district.

. Some of these homestays are run deep inside the forest areas or right in the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), with the valleys of Vythiri, Banasura, Tollayiramkandi and Chembra hills being particularly popular.

. Wayanad District Tourism Promotion Council secretary B Anand says that after the financial crunches caused due to Covid-19, there was a higher demand for tents as it was a cheaper alternative to resort rooms.

. In October last year, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of 39 resorts from Masinagudi considering its ecological importance.

. In Karnataka, the eco-sensitive zones around the Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves have recently emerged as hotspots for eco-tourism and seem to be heading the way of Wayanad and Masinagudi.

. Unauthorised structures

. In the Mangala gram panchayat, a notified eco-sensitive zone adjacent to the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, locals and government officials estimates that there are at least 20 illegal homestays that are functioning. Fourteen ‘illegal constructions’ were served notices in April last year. There are similar estimates for illegal homestays functioning along the Kabini backwaters on the fringes of Nagarahole National Park, causing pollution in this sensitive region.

. A 2017 report in Karnataka showed that just seven of the 51 resorts functioning around national parks were approved by the Forest Department. Around the Bandipur TR, just four homestays and two resorts have the requisite permissions.

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. Since 2016, the Forest Department has served 38 notices for violations in Bandipur alone, with 25 of these notices being served just this year. In the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, the Nilgiris district administration has identified 821 illegal buildings, including resorts and homestays. Closure notices have been issued to 55 such places.

. Officials in the Nilgiris district administration say they are collecting details of unauthorised tourist cottages, lodges, homestays, and resorts in the sensitive region.

. But how did these resorts come up in the first place?

. Along the road from Mangala to Yelchatti village in Gundlupet taluk near Bandipur, big houses with extensive solar fences, compound walls and even air conditioning units are increasingly common.

. Praveen (name changed), who works as a forest guard in Bandipur, says his family owns more than 23 acres of land that is lying idle. “Because of the constant animal raids on crops, a lot of people who used to cultivate the land left it idle,” he says.

. This is a major reason for villagers to sell their land. “Now, at least 20% of the land here is in the hand of outsiders,” says Praveen.

. “People from Bengaluru and other places are constructing lavish houses there. They don’t put a homestay board. Some run homestays and others build a house and get their friends and relatives,” says T Balachandra, former director of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

. Umesh, a resident of Mangala, describes how the road to the village sees a cavalcade of SUVs and cars over the weekend, indicating the presence of these homestays in the area. Most people come to homestays through word-of-mouth publicity or after asking the locals, who take them there.

. “Bandipur is a hotspot for tourism. The legal resorts here are too expensive and it is hard to get rooms there. So the tourists ask around and go for local homestays, where they are charged Rs 1,500 per day for their stay and food,” says an official in the gram panchayat. The rise in the use of plastic and unscientific disposal of waste, which is expressly prohibited under the ESZ rules, could spell a death knell for this buffer zone.

. No clarity on laws

. Pointing out to several instances of “lavish buildings” being constructed without permissions, a former principal chief conservator of forests says, “The forest department has completely absolved itself of any responsibility.”

. He blames lack of proactive action from the Forest Department in implementing the ESZ laws for the current state of affairs.

. Speaking to officials, it becomes apparent that there is little coordination between the revenue, panchayat and forest departments in implementing the laws, which leaves scope for their misinterpretation and illegal constructions to crop up.

. “There is a committee for the Eco-sensitive zone. Whatever complaints that have come to the committee have been addressed and closure orders have been issued,” says S R Natesh, the Director of Bandipur Project Tiger.

. Regarding the construction of buildings that happen without permissions from the Forest Department, he says, “Earlier it was happening when it was an offline system. Now land conversions requests happen online and they have to come to all departments concerned.”

. Malavika Solanki, a conservationist who has constructed a farmhouse near Lokkere village, is one of the several new residents in the village who have received notices for illegal construction. “The Deputy Commissioner has issued notices selectively for dwellings in the region. They themselves have no clarity on what is permissible and under what conditions,” she says.

. “If you do have restrictions, why do you allow the sale of revenue land? Can’t they have clear guidelines to ensure there is no ambiguity?” she asks.

. Political pressure

. In Kerala, Forest Minister K Raju told the Assembly recently that political pressure and pressure from various religious organisations was a major hindrance in evicting encroachers, apart from pending court cases.

. A recent notification from the Central government, declaring 34 km around the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary as an ecologically sensitive zone has triggered resentment.

. “The tahsildar goes and conducts an enquiry, submits a report to the Gram Panchayat and Revenue authorities who provide the licenses. There is a nexus here,” says Balachandra. He says that influential local leaders often get involved and ignore rules or circumvent permissions required from the Forest Department for the conversion of the land.

. He also stresses that all the departments in eco-sensitive zones need to act together and ensure that permissions are in place before any structure comes up.

. Ecological disturbance

. “The question is the gravity of disturbance to the animals. Mudumalai to Bandipur is an important elephant corridor. Now the elephants are finding other routes and going helter-skelter. This creates scope for more loss of life and property,” says Balachandra.

. “This will cause a lot of turmoil in the days to come. It will increase conflicts with wildlife and we will reach a stage where the forest department will be helpless,” he adds.

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. In Tamil Nadu for instance, 219 people have lost their lives in conflict with elephants from 2014 to 2019 and the majority of these deaths are from areas near Coimbatore, Pollachi and the Nilgiris. These are districts adjoining Mudumalai and an increase in the presence of resorts in this region is likely to add to the human-animal conflict.

. Excess tourism

. Kodagu is estimated to have 800 - 900 registered homestays. “Many homestays are unregistered to avoid taxes and are more like guesthouses or hotels,” says C P Muthanna, the former president of the Coorg Wildlife Society

. “In 2019, there was an 18 lakh footfall of tourists, against a population of 6 lakh in the district. There is a need to regulate tourism, not promote it. Hill stations like Kodagu have a fragile ecology and we need to take care,” Muthanna says.

. The rapid bloom of resorts and homestays in sensitive zones adds an unwelcome dimension — the tourist — to a landscape already fraught with human-animal conflicts. Unless checked, it could have serious ecological ramifications in the future.

. (With inputs from E T B Sivapriyan)

Illicit tourism extracts its cost from nature

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