Hi Viswajit,

This is what I am doing now.

The Andaman administration is most open to constructive changes with local
peoples and stakeholders participation.

Though it would be a generalisation to some extent but unfortunately its
true to a great exntent that we Indians are very very good in discussing a
topic or an idea to its death. As one of my friend Durgesh use to say -
Analysis, Analysis and than Paralysis or What in the earlier era, a wise man
summed up as "Much Ado about nothing".

Our group has been instrumental in getting not one but two santuaries
declared in the western ghats of Goa. Came as a surprise to us as we
commenced the idea of getting an incredible area in the forest of Karnataka
called Bhimgad much before we did Goa. We got the sanctuaries in Goa in 2002
and we are still trying for the proposed Bhimgad Wildlife Santuary even now.

The difference is that we happenstance to liaison with the governor of Goa
Mr. EVR Jacobs and Mr. D'Souza and Mr. Parab and other hundreds visionaries
and people like you and me but in position of the authority who went along
with us and saved the forest from utter destruction to merely neglected. I
dont what kind of win we had in getting the area declared as santuaries as
in the end of the day, by virtue of a reserve forest being a santuary or a
national park does not guarantee conservation or protection; it merely makes
the ravager's life difficult. Look at the pathetic condition of the some of
the most famous natural heritage of this amazing country called India and
you will understand what I mean.

Consequently we realised that legal protection on the natural heritage of
India merely prolongs the death of an area but not save it for ever. Combine
that with our belief that nothing which is not sustainable and that can
create revenues to not only save itself but contribute to the coffers of the
Government of India, the locals, the business commnuity and the service
utilisers; namely in that order will survive.

The territorial wings of the forest department use to contribute billions to
the government and local community kitty (the complete supply chain) in
which you and we are also a direct big time beneficiary.

Again if you look holistically, even so called other alternative material,
synthetic chemicals, petroleum products, metal; in other words whatever you
are holding, can see, touch, eat, hear, everything comes from this planet we
call Earth. So if you use that, you are still contributing directly towards
ravaging planet Earth and damaging it in the process.

Also at the cost of sounding politically incorrect but being brutually
honest; who are you and me to decide the fate of the Jarawas, Onges and
other tribal and suggest that the march of time should make them a part of
the so called progress that we are experiencing - touch and the light is on,
call and the ambulance comes to take you to ICU and save your life using
miracle drugs, write andread this email on a computer, wear clothes, eat
oranges and other fruits, live in super comfortable houses made of RCC and
cement and steel and paint, preserve food in refrigerator, wash clothese in
washing machine and if you are hungry dial a pizza. Please go and live like
them in the forest and understand first hand whether you can llive the rest
of your life like this (arguments that they are use to living like this are
off as we use to live like them a few millenium back and have been
effectively integrated in the civilised world as they would in time to come
- its only a question of how soon).

So I cannot comprehend the ATR closure drive. Suggest something, anything if
you have a doable alternative means of travel at the same cost as ATR. Sea
travel and heli travel uses much much higher fuel (again contributing to
ravaging nature). It would be penny wise and pound foolish.

To combine the above ideas together, what I am effectively saying is that
Whatever is going to happen will happen. Lets flow with the living world and
not ideate who should live his/her life how but definitely come together to
construct a framework of how we can integrate tourism - the largest, biggest
employer and the fastest growing business in the world is tourism of which
ecoourism is growing at 25% per year in India to 45% per year in countries
like Malaysia that is exponentially higher than our gross economy growth
rate.

Lets regulate and create a benchmark that will conserve nature, not only for
our future generation but because it makes economic sense to the present
generation, right now.

I am in the process of preparing a rough draft based on our experiences of
doing genuine sustainable ecotourism for the past 5 years. I will share the
same with everybody.

Please read, think, sleep over it, contribute, refine, add, delete and I
will combine it all together and pass on the same to all the stake holders
and administration followed by people who want to be more invollve in
andaman and rest of India to see for themselves and contribute personally to
the process that will take atleast 5 years of practical working, refinement,
to create multi level multi region yet easy to follow guidelines that
actually works.

Warm regards,

Ravi Goel



>I think the concern for the tourist boost and degrees of sensitivity
>(present or absent). I think a constructive move would be to get bunch
>of individuals of different backgrounds and concern to make concrete
>suggestion about what alternative possibilities could be developed
>within the domain of tourism on the island's. It is hopeless to just
>argue for the negation of various plans that have been drawn up and are
>in the pipelines. We perhaps need to assert alternatives otherwise
>tourism would become an issue like ATR- polarized between for and
>against while the road continues and so do the polemics.
>Vishvajit Pandya.
>
>On 29-Nov-06, at 9:21 AM, Ravi Goel wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Genuine Ecotourism - Responsible, sustainable, participative with
> > entire
> > community is the only way tourism must happen in Andaman.
> >
> > Its also the only other industry (other than agri and fisheries) that
> > Andaman has as an option and the only one that can create employment,
> > contribute to the local people and provide revenues to the government
> > for
> > its growth and some more.
> >
> > I was in Andaman for over 3 weeks and was sorely disappointed and
> > shocked by
> > the irresponsible and mass LTC tourism being rampantly encouraged that
> > is a
> > severe and ravaging strain on the delicate eco systems and the
> > infrastructure of the islands, while contributing nothing to the local
> > economy except seedy third grade hotels and taxi/bus operators.
> >
> > We run EcoMantra Nature Awareness and Travel, a genuine ecotourism and
> > community tourism based project near Mumbai and after 5 years of
> > operations
> > have a rudimentary understanding of the model of ecotourism and eco
> > guidelines that India must adopt and practise to unlock the tremendous
> > value
> > of India as a travel destination for the sensitive nature lovers. And
> > not
> > drug addicts Isaerali and European backpackers that is flocking to and
> > have
> > ruined Himachal Pradesh and will ruin Andaman with Wandoor already a
> > serious
> > drug centre.
> >
> > We look forward to your and all members in reading's opinions and
> > ideas on
> > the guidelines and eco practises i.e kind of tourist, how will they be
> > oriented, the restrictions on the numbers etc.
> >
> > We will than include these ideas and prepare a guideline which will
> > than be
> > submitted to the Indian Tourism Ministry and administration of the
> > islands
> > as a model and draft which they can use as a framework to prepare an
> > official guidelines with the consensus of the local people and the
> > ecotourism services providers.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Ravi Goel
> >
> > __________________________________________________________
> > Connect with your friends who use Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Click!
> > http://www.msnspecials.in/wlmyahoo/index.asp
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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