Conservation solutions in remote communities

CEPF Managing Director Nina Marshall witnessed some of the improvements first-hand, when she visited projects financed by the organization between 2005 and 2010 in some of Nepal’s most remote regions, such as in the Kanchenjunga-Singalila Complex bordering China.

 

Cabbages are produced for local consumption or sale in an organic garden

Cabbages are produced for local consumption or sale in an organic garden

"We supported the Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal, for instance. They provided training to 714 households in how to cultivate medicinal and aromatic plants," explains Marshall. "These families have better access to some of these medicines that they would have had to otherwise purchase - and then they could also sell them."
Still, isolation and remoteness can be challenging for many communities.
"It's a poor area, there's not a lot of development," says Marshall, who added a lack of roads makes it more difficult for locals to get their goods to market. This also means ecotourism is currently a less viable option.
The process of marketing local products is difficult too, and training is needed here, adds GACF's Pandey.
"When community forestry produces local food or local products, they find it difficult to compete on local and national markets. Big companies dominate over local products," he says.

Making the most of community forestry

 

Nepal's bamboo forests are home to the Red Panda, a threatened species

Nepal's bamboo forests are home to the Red Panda, a threatened species

However, many community forests are not using the resources to their full potential to generate income, and more concrete measures linking conservation to income generation are needed, according to a GACF case study.
The study added that while forest cover had been extended, the "livelihoods of the poor and disadvantaged have not improved as expected."
Pandey, who has been working to conserve Nepal's forests for more than 20 years, says the community forestry program has to be expanded to government-managed forests, which are still characterized by poor management and high deforestation.
Now, the government owns 58 percent of woodlands, according to the land policy reform organization Rights and Resources Initiative.
Many of the communities have cultivated and stewarded the forests for generations, and these are bound to culture and identity adds Pandey, who counts himself among those custodians.
"I am a farmer and I came from the river area," he said. "Forests are a part of my life."

Nepal's community forests fight poverty and destruction

Climate change, deforestation and land grabbing don't only threaten Nepal's rich biodiversity, but the economic wellbeing of millions of its citizens. Could community-managed forests hold the key? 

wood is an essential part of life in Napal village

From low-lying grasslands and steamy subtropical jungles, to soaring snowy peaks and pine forests, Nepal is a country of dramatic extremes. This tiny mountain nation is disproportionately rich in biodiversity - but it is also home to some of the world's poorest communities.
Many of those living in the region rely on Nepal's wealth of plant and animal species for their livelihoods. But climate change, deforestation, development and exploitation are putting these valuable resources at risk.
In a bid to combat the problem, conservation organizations are looking at how to combine protection of Nepal's biodiversity with fighting poverty.

Conservation linked with poverty
"If you really are interested in winning the war of conservation, you have to integrate poverty alleviation," says Olivier Langrand, Executive Director of US-based conservation group Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).
"If you don't, you will not change the global trend that we see: that nature is disappearing and poverty is increasing. And you will realize that both are clearly linked."
While poverty has declined slightly in recent years, Nepal scores low on most development rankings. It places at number 145 out of 187 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index, and has one of the lowest Gross Domestic Products (GDP) per capita in the world.
With around 40 percent of the country covered in forest and shrubland, millions of rural Nepalese rely on forest biodiversity for subsistence, and as a source of income. Agriculture, including forestry, employs around 80 percent of the population.

Government and civil society in Nepal have been working to insure conservation by giving communities a share of the spoils helping steward the land - but more needs to be done, say conservationists.

Wildlife forensic lab to come up at veterinary college

NAGPUR: The wildlife wing of the state forest department and Nagpur Veterinary College under Maharashtra Animal and Fishery Sciences University (Mafsu) are in talks to set up forensic laboratory dedicated to crimes against wildlife.
The idea for a forensic lab was floated for a long time but it gathered steam only now. The first meeting to discuss modalities was held on Thursday between state's principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Sarjan Bhagat, APCCF (ecotourism) N Rambabu and head of the department (HoD) of medicine Dr NP Dakshinkar and assistant professor Dr Gautam Bhojane.
Bhagat said the lab, to be funded by the forest department, will be set up in veterinary college and managed by its experts. "During prima facie discussions, we were told that the set-up will tentatively require Rs 8-9 crore. An MoU between forest department and Mafsu will be signed once modalities are finalized," Bhagat said.
"The veterinary college here has also been included as the thematic area under the Indo-US Wildlife Conservation Cooperation Programme (WCCP). Help to set up the lab can also be a part of this programme," forest officials said.
"We already have a tie-up with MAFSU for veterinary support when it comes to treating endangered animals. The lab will examine, identify, and compare evidence using a wide range of scientific procedures and instruments, in the attempt to link suspect, victim, and crime scene with physical evidence," they told TOI.
There is spurt in wildlife crime in the region. To get forensic results, samples are sent to either Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, or Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. It consumes lot of time to get the results and eventually affects the legal cases. "Hence, focus of the forensic lab at Nagpur will be to foster and promote collaborative programmes to combat wildlife crime," Bhagat said.
Veterinary college sources said the laboratory will strengthen existing research and development facilities and promote more effective exchange of information, technology and standardized common protocols. It will boost better role in sensitizing law enforcement and judiciary systems on the regional scale for higher wildlife crime conviction rates.
"Thrust will be on developing and training towards newer research tools in wildlife forensics and conservation field," they added.

The Importance of Marketing in Tourism

A country might be beautiful, but without marketing, people might not visit.

Whether you are running a state, winery, amusement park or even a whole country, you can't afford to simply sit back and hope people come and visit. You've got to take the matter into your own hands and employ a marketing strategy to maintain and develop tourism. After all, no one will visit you if they've never heard you.

Other People Are Reading

• Importance of Tourism Research
• Tourism Marketing Strategies

1.   Raising Awareness

o    Marketing can be used to bring a consumer's attention to a particular aspect of a state, region, or whatever kind of site or area you are marketing. For example, there might be a unique aspect of your state that is often forgotten about, such as a park of great beauty that's off the beaten track. Alternatively, the area you are marketing may have a limited period promotion going on that can attract people.

Motivating Consumers

o    Once a consumer has heard of a particular state or site, you'll then need to convince him he wants to go there. Marketing taps into what a consumer wants. For example, if a state can boast of its green credentials, its marketing can reflect this to appeal to tourists who want to travel "green."

Promoting Image

o    While some countries maintain a positive image to the outside world, for others their established image may be incorrect or outdated. Clever marketing can manipulate how tourists view that country, altering their perceptions in order to persuade them to visit. Hosting the soccer World Cup or the Olympics can persuade people to visit, long after the competition is over.

Convincing Consumers Of Hospitality

o    When it comes to selecting a product, people look for certain qualities. In a car, consumers might value reliability over other factors, for example. In the tourism sector, many consumers are going to look for high-quality hospitality. One job for marketing in tourism is to show outsiders that a particular site can deliver the standard of hospitality they expect and to convince them that they should give that site a try.

Generating Buzz

o    In 2009, the Queensland tourist board in Australia hosted the Best Job in the World competition. The board offered a salaried job as a caretaker on an idyllic island to one lucky applicant. There were so many applicants that at one point the website crashed because of the amount of people logging on to apply. The upshot was that people were talking about the competition, neatly demonstrating the ability of marketing to generate buzz around an area.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/about_6584954_importance-marketing-tourism.html

Rainforest eco-tourism

Ecotourism is already a very lucrative industry and is often mentioned as an activity which can help save rainforests (see below), but this is not always the case. In Kenya, national parks generate $40 per hectare per year from tourism (as opposed to $0.80 per hectare for agriculture). Each lion is worth about $20,000 annually (Dobson, 1995)! Yet, ecotourism can be problematic, since the profits from it often go to a few wealthy individuals and not to local people; thus the incentive to the latter to preserve the park or resource is absent. The incursion of agriculture and pastures and illegal logging, fishing and hunting are often the result. In addition, ecotourism is not an unmixed blessing, as a large number of tourists is not entirely benign. Overuse of roads and waterways, disturbance of animals, disruption of migration patterns, littering, and pollution coincident upon the use of motorized vehicles (including boats) are frequent. Moreover, ecotourism can have unexpected consequences. In Nepal, rapid growth in the tourist industry has promoted deforestation. Since tourists arrived in large numbers, there has been an increased demand for dairy products. The result – forests cut to provide cattle pasture to meet this demand. Tourists also require a great deal of water, which can stress local supplies. About 15,000 m³ of water are required to irrigate one hectare of high-yield rice for a year, or to supply 100 nomads and 450 cattle for three years, and 100 urban families for two years, but this amount of water will supply 100 guests at a luxury hotel for only 55 days (Dobson, 1995)! Food supply – type of food and quantity – can be another problem. And the capriciousness of tourism creates “boom and bust” cycles for local inhabitants.

In general, park entry fees (if any) are too low to cover the costs of damages tourists do and to provide incentives for local inhabitants to preserve rainforests (or other ecosystems). Often, the revenues from ecotourism are not reflected back to the resource. A non-forest example of this is in Kenya, which receives $40 million annually from tourism, but gives only $13 million to the wildlife service. Only $20 of the thousands of dollars spent by a tourist on a “safari” goes for conservation (Dobson, 1995).