COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM AND ECOTOURISM ARE POTENTIAL MEANS TO FACILITATE THE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE SUNDARBANS – A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

Md. Wasiul  Islam

doi:10.53808/KUS.SI.SESB.2010.127-140-ls

Authors

Md. Wasiul Islam Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna 9208, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.SI.SESB.2010.127-140-ls

Keywords:

Community-based tourism, ecotourism, Sundarbans Reserved Forest, environment, empowerment, local community

Abstract

The prime challenge of the Sundarbans Reserved Forest (SRF) is the conservation of its natural resources. SRF can be conserved from different schools of thought. ‘Community-based Tourism (CBT)’ and ‘Ecotourism’ are some of those options from tourism lens which have immense potentialities to facilitate conservation initiatives of the Sundarbans. This paper deals with some of the theoretical perspectives of such types of alternative tourism to focus its potentiality at SRF and its surrounding villages (within 5 km from the boundary of SRF). The principles of ecotourism development resources are (a) Eco-development, (b) Moderate Development, (c) Naturality, (d) Specialty and (e) Informative Principle. Key issues for the development of CBT are (a) Participation, (b) Markets and Customers, (c) Capacity growth, (d) Impacts and monitoring, (e) Partnerships and collaborations and (f) Policies. Development of systematic and appropriate CBT and ecotourism can generate benefits in seven ways. There are (a) Employment, (b) Supply of goods and services to tourism enterprises, (c) Direct sales of goods and services to tourists, (d) Establishing and running a tourism enterprise, (e) Tax or levy, (f) Voluntary giving and support and (g) Investment in infrastructure. Absence of appropriate government policy on CBT and ecotourism, lack of knowledge, poverty of the local people, lack of environmental consciousness, poor institutional support, etc. hinder the development of CBT and ecotourism in the Sundarbans and its adjacent areas. SRF and its surrounding villages consist of potential resources for CBT and ecotourism which has potentiality to generate considerable benefits to the local people and thereby facilitate the conservation efforts of SRF. It is imperative to undertake adequate scientific research studies related to tourism and to undertake proper initiatives from the government, NGOs and private organizations (tour operators) for the development of CBT and ecotourism in and around the Sundarbans.

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