Community Based Tourism Model for Conservation: A Case Study of Arunachal Pradesh, Part of Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot

Abstract

The protected areas (PA) of western Arunachal Pradesh of India are less explored by tourism and urbanization, but high dependency on forest resources by the indigenous Monpa communities is a threat to Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. Institutional initiatives for the conservation of the forests in this PA led to community-based conservation model of Community Conserved Areas (CCA). Spontaneous participation of the stakeholders in CCA was lacking because conservation objectives was conflicting with traditional livelihood practices. To create new livelihood opportunities, the village institutions mobilised community-based tourism (CBT) and aligned the livelihood generation objective with ecological conservation. The CBT initiative faced challenges of bureaucratic restrictions, accessibility from Bhutan, government promotion and threat of large hydroelectric dam project. Internal challenges to CBT and CCA were limited customer integration, skewed societal acceptance of leisure-based livelihood, and, upgrading homestay facilities. Marketing of Thembang and Zemithang of the PA as nature tourism destination requires all-weather road, CCA funding, and distribution linkages. Research hypothesis indicates that the community-based biodiversity conservation is supported by a participatory form of tourism. The case study method discusses the critical success factor of Zemithang as an expanding CA and limitations of Thembang CCA in mobilizing primary stakeholder’s support.