Natural resource management in cities: a key to sustain people and places through ecotourism

Abstract

Although the 21st century is the “Century of the Cities”, the crucial importance of natural resources like urban wetlands often goes unacknowledged. There are synergistic examples of urban environments that actually foster vibrant wetlands, which are disappearing due to rapid urbanization. The IPCC fourth assessment report has identified urban areas as hotspots in terms of vulnerability to climate change. Wetlands, within or on the periphery of cities, are life supporting ecosystems. Their role in being “flood cushions” for cities, water purification, nutrient retention, carbon sequestration and maintaining climate stability, which are the plethora of functions they perform. While harbouring a rich biological diversity, their role in waste water/storm water treatment of the city and providing sources of livelihood has also been widely acknowledged. However, their present state of degradation calls for efficient management interventions. Ecotourism is now being considered as a tool for sustainable development in natural resource management. Recently, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 2012 has also recognized the value of sustainable tourism and recreation in and around wetlands for development, poverty alleviation, local empowerment, conservation and wise use, and a meaningful visitors’ experience while achieving the targets of the Millennium Development Goals, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation and the Conservation of Global Biodiversity. This article examines the salient features of ecotourism development from case studies in developing countries like Costa Rica, Kenya and India. Through a literature review, the article tries to identify the major and critical issues embedded in ecotourism development, and from the lessons learnt, it tries to identify some of the key elements for developing an approach towards building a model of sustainable ecotourism development for the East Kolkata Wetlands, a threatened, but an internationally recognized Ramsar site in India. The article further argues that this could also be replicated in other Indian cities, for the survival of their threatened wetlands, along with the sustenance of livelihoods of the marginal population depending on them.