Socio-economic and ecological consequences of the ban on adventure tourism in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, western Himalaya

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Prior to 1982, the uncontrolled mountaineering activities to the Nanda Devi peak led to the heavy destruction of the biological resources of the region in the form of poaching of wild animals, tree felling by expedition parties, collection of medicinal herbs and accumulation of garbage. To curb the biotic interference, the area was declared as Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) and adventure tourism was stopped in 1982. Further in 1988, an area of 2236.74 km 2 was designated as Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) with an inner core zone (NDNP) surrounded by a buffer zone. A ban on tourism activities, followed by the designation of NDBR directly helped in a significant improvement in forest cover and density. The better status of wild animals, including rare and endangered species such as musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) and blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur), is an indicator of such improvements. However, from a socio-economic point of view the loss of income from adventure tourism forced local people to migrate from the area, a phenomenon that was reflected in the human population trends, registering 15% decline between 1981 and 1991 and another 13% between 1991 and 1996. In the absence of alternative income sources, marginal agriculture and animal husbandry became the major sources of income for the locals. Nonetheless, the low density of human population kept the level of biotic pressure under control in NDBR. Promotion of eco-tourism and natural resource based employ- ment generation schemes are suggested to compensate for the economic loss to the local people and to maintain the biodiversity of NDBR.