Ecosphere
Developing an Ecological & Cultural Conscience
This is Himachal
Spiti is Here
Spiti lies in the Trans-Himalayan
belt of Himachal Pradesh, India,
bordering Tibet in the east and
Ladakh in the north
This is Spiti…..Stark, Beautiful & A Challenge
Altitude: Avg.13000 ft Temperature: -30°C to +30°C Vegetation: Cold Desert
…A Unique Haven of Architectural,
Environmental and Spiritual Integrity
Spiti is home to a purely homogenous Buddhist community of a little over
10,500 inhabitants, spread over an area of 7500 sq Kms.
It is one of the least densely populated areas in the country.
Spiti ...a world within a world…
Habitat of the endangered Snow Leopard,
Himalayan Wolf (said to be the oldest
surviving species of wolf in the world)
apart from other wildlife such as the
Ibex, Blue Sheep, etc.
Home to over a 1000
year old Buddhist
living heritage
Unique landscapes &
geological relics
The Right Ingredients
for the making of a Great
Travel Destination
! Pristine Environs and unique back country landscape
! Well preserved Buddhist heritage dating back to over 1000 years.
! Friendly people
! Geological history dating back to over half a billion years
! Rare and endangered flora and fauna
! A trekkers paradise
! Stunning high altitude turquoise lakes
! Seasonal & tough accessibility with relative isolation during the 6
month long winter
Last but not the least………A little known destination…..
…issues & threats
Tourist types and impacts
Threat to flora, fauna
& geological heritage
Loss of cultural heritage
& identity
Environmental
impacts
Limited benefits to
local communities
The Ecosphere Experience …
Ecosphere is a social enterprise the aims
Ecosphere’s mandate is to establish thatcrucial
link between local economies, conservation & of
at establishing the triple bottom line linkage
development. conservation and development.
livelihoods,
Ecosphere’s initiatives in Spiti
• Livelihood generation from local surpluses such as Seabuckthorn & Eco-
Tourism and linking them to nature and culture conservation.
• Promotion of Green Houses as a means of providing fresh vegetables to
the local populace through out the year, besides providing an additional
income source.
• Providing energy efficient housing solutions through the development of
Solar Passive Houses which in turn contribute to mitigating global
warming
• Revival and promotion of local Handicrafts aiding in their conservation
as well assisting the local women with an additional income source.
• The Dhankhar Initiative – Restoration of the Dhankhar Monastery
structure, frescos and thangkas.
The mandate of the above initiatives
is to re-establish the crucial link between
local economies, conservation & development.
Making tourism profitable
for the
community, culture, ecology & visitors
• Generate alternate & sustainable livelihoods for the local community
from the regions natural & cultural assets
• Create community stewardship towards conservation of their
environment & cultural heritage.
• Ensure minimum impact and preservation of the natural environment,
wildlife, cultural heritage & identity.
• Enhance visitor experience
• Sensitize visitors and enable their participation and contribution
towards the development and conservation of the region.
…the process
Choosing
the Right Product & the Right Market
• Minimising Impacts, Maximising Gains -- • Identify target market
Identifying conservation based products or • Determine best media
products with little or no impact on natural & for reaching the target
cultural environment and benefits to the local market
community
• Partnerships/
• Developing a diverse product range networking with tour
• Niche products – not blind replication operators & eco-tourism
agencies
• Involve stakeholders in Product planning &
development– community, tour operator, tourist
Market research
Better insight into
product design, potential customers
Pricing
Preference for local, traditional & eco-
friendly facilities (highest priority) Low prices High prices
90 High volumes Low volumes
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Local Food Local Toilet Solar Wildlife Homestays Handicrafts
electricity Viewing
Participatory planning, evaluation & re-planning with stakeholders
Community Tour operators
Meetings, trainings/ role plays, Tourists Meetings
workshops Potential for other products
Sensitise & Monitor through
• Equitable benefit sharing
Interpretation & Visitor Category Host service Food Overall ranking
• Conflict resolution feedback forms Excellent 230 (91%) 198 (78%) 184 (73%)
• Quality of Service Good 0 (0%) 46 (18%) 59 (23%)
• Conservation linkages
• Source of travel information
Average 20 (8%) 5 (2%) 7 (3%)
Poor 1 (0.3%) 1 (0.3%) 1 (0.3%)
• Profession of tourist – insight No Response 1 (0.3%) 2 (0.7%) 1 (0.3%)
into audience to be targeted Totals 252 252 252
Source of Information
Profession of Visitors
19.05% 19.44%
16.27%
12.70%
7.94% 7.14%6.75% 5.95% 37.1%
3.17%
0.40% 0.40%0.79% 21.9%
18.7%
12.0%
4.4% 5.6%
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Surreal Spiti
Discover the Magic of Spiti…
be a part of Preserving it
…travel with
HIMALAYAN HOMESTAYS
…..the concept
“A traditional village based
Himalayan Homestay would
maintain and share a
traditional way of life and its
values, provide traditional
food, be based on eco-friendly
concepts and require small
amounts of investment for
renovation not building”
A collaborative initiative of Spiti, Ladakh & Sikkim supported
by UNESCO
www.himalayan-homestays.com
… key features
Homestay accommodations give a first hand experience of traditional lifestyles,
offering one a clean & comfortable room in a local home along with the
opportunity to savour the wholesome & organic traditional cuisine .
Unique cultural experience
for visitors …
…an incentive for local
communities to preserve culture
… key features
Direct benefits to low
income families… ….generating alternate &
sustainable livelihoods
…empowering women
Rotational mechanism
adopted to ensure
equitable benefit
distribution in village …
Based on eco-friendly
technologies, e.g - local
dry composting toilets,
solar energy
…the outcome…
! A standardised quality niche product
! Enhanced visitor experience
! Conservation of natural & cultural
resources
!Direct and increased benefits to
communities
2005
34000
2006
55920
2007
41200
Learnings…
Need for a diversified range of products & activities
• To ensure greater and more equitable benefit
distribution to the local communities.
• To enhance visitor experience and provide
diversified options for responsible eco-travel
in the region.
• To further link community livelihoods to
conservation.
• To address larger conservation and
development issues in the Spiti valley.
Nature & Wildlife trails…
… linking livelihoods to local
flora & fauna
1500
Nature guides … …capacity enhancement
& additional livelihood
9600
opportunities for rural
youth, thereby
preventing rural to
urban migration
76000
…building local
stewards for
monitoring wildlife
movements & numbers 2005 2006 2007
Addressing the Human-Wildlife Conflict…
Issue:
Retaliatory killings by local
communities due to livestock
depredation by the Himalayan
Wolf & Snow Leopard
Aim:
To bring about a positive
attitudinal shift towards these
endangered wildlife.
Develop better mechanisms of
livestock management.
Tracking the Himalayan Wolf….
…developing livelihood linkages of
the hunters with the wildlife.
Attitudinal shifts..
‘It is strange how the village youth are now suddenly talking in
terms of not killing the Wolf. Just a year back we had
meetings to make arrangements to find the cubs of the wildlife and
cause as much harm to them at an early age as possible. This is
largely due to the economic gains from the increase in the number of
tourist coming to the area. We will not be having these meetings now’.
…. Nawang Tandup (Village Co-ordinator Komic village)
Better livestock management practices…
Additional revenues have provided
the community with a greater
paying capacity to hire herders for
their livestock
Conserving Spiti’s Geological Heritage…
Fossil Centre …
…to prevent
depletion of Spiti’s
geological wealth Fossils dating back to half a
billion years are found in
Spiti
… visitor & community
sensitisation about
Spiti’s unique
geological wealth and
history
… additional revenue
generation for local Fossil Excursions…
youth
Promoting environment friendly
modes of tourist travel in Spiti …
Yak Safaris …
Mountain Biking …
… a truly different mode of transport -
providing an alternate income to the
locals from yaks thus enhancing its
value and preserving their dwindling
populations
Pack animals…
… enabling tourists to reduce
their carbon footprint
Preserving the different facets of Vajrayana
Buddhism by promoting..
Culture
Interpretation …
…providing revenues
Monastery festivals … to Monasteries
The Dhankhar Initiative
www.dhankar.com
Restoration of the 1000 year old
Dhankhar Monastery …
Thangkas &
Murals
The Bhuchens…
…are a rare sect of Tibetan
Buddhist wandering mystics
found now only in Spiti
after dying out completely
in other parts of the world.
…Preserving this unique cultural heritage by providing
an additional income source for the practitioners of
this unique and dying performing art form
Local legends & folklore…
Documentation &
Folklore trails
Promoting village cultural troupes, art
forms & traditional musicians …
…boosting the status of
traditional musicians by giving
them an additional audience
…Conservation of traditional song,
dance & art forms
… additional revenue generation for
individuals belonging to the lower
castes & women.
……other linkages to conservation
Conservation Kitty: All the stakeholders contribute towards a conservation
fund
A conservation
tax is charged Ecosphere contributes all
The local community
from tourist as contributes a revenues towards
an in-built percentage of their conservation &
charge. earnings. development activities in
the Spiti Valley
This fund is used to support other conservation & developmental
activities:-
• Garbage cleanliness drives in villages and the towns of Spiti
• Minimizing garbage generation from mineral water bottles by
providing alternate drinking water facilities to tourists to refill their
bottles
• Visitor sensitisation
• Capacity enhancement of the local community.
Enabling tourists to offset their Carbon Emissions
Through social forestry of
Seabuckthorn plantations…
Solar parabolic cookers
Reducing fuelwood consumption
by investing in renewable
energy options…
Solar passive houses – reduce
3.5 tons of CO2
emissions/household/annum
……future steps
Assessing Spiti’s carrying capacity
– how many tourists can Spiti
actually accommodate?
Offsetting tourist impacts – social
& ecological
Adequate & sustained sensitisation
of tourists, tour operators,
government & community for
minimizing impacts
Advocacy for contextual policy for
Spiti
Ensuring sustained conservation
linkages & their continuous
monitoring
Finding the
Middle Path in the
Land of the Buddha
THANK YOU
Ishita Khanna
Muse
Creative Initiatives for Sustainable Development