DHANI’ AND ‘MANGALAJODI’: TWO RARE AND UNIQUE SITES
CPSW in association with Wild Orissa initiated a project at Dhani about 55 kms away from Bhubaneswar. Dhani and Mangalajodi are two unique sites in terms of the bio-diversity they represent, the wilderness its offers to the outsiders and the potential to generate a harmonious co-existence between humans and nature. One is a tropical forests with grown up tree species, animals and birds where as the other is located in Chilika Lagoon, Asia’s largest estuarine eco-systems experiencing water and migratory birds. This has caught the fancy of many people including wild life lovers, researchers and tourists. In both places the Government is keen for conservation and the communities are playing a key role in protection and management for quite sometime now. These initiatives and partnerships offer excellent opportunities for development of eco-tourism in the area. |
WILD LIFE CONSERVATION AND COMMUNITY BASED ECO-TOURISM:
Today, eco-tourism is universally recognized as defining a very specific type of nature based tourism, in which small groups of people are taken to experience various aspects of nature and participate in wildlife viewing, nature trekking, educational tours, and so on. Special care is taken to prevent negative impacts on the ecosystem, and tourist education in matters related to the environment is given high priority. “The distinguishing feature of eco-tourism is that it emphasizes the ecological fragility, carrying capacity and biodiversity conservation of the region, while acting as a liaison between local communities and the tourism industry.”
The major underlying assumption of successful eco-tourism is that visitors can provide the necessary economic incentives to achieve local conservation and development. In theory, eco-tourism generates revenue which will be used to protect and conserve the existing biodiversity and natural environment that draw visitors to a particular site. Eco-tourism's objectives, therefore, include visitor education, non-alteration of ecosystems, and local economic benefits.
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