Unfortunately in India, the two words Responsible and ecotourism can be considered as antonyms.

There are hoardes of tourists, wildlife photographers invading the parks everyday. Does that benefit conservation of that wilderness area?

The amount of money raised by the NGOs for investing in our popular national parks is phenomenal. Money is raised in the name of the same community/poachers rehabilitation etc from various corporates. The situation never seems to change. Ofcourse, that is a different point, but I am trying to say that the so called revenue from tourism is not the only source for protecting a wilderness area.

There are a few responsible operators. Unfortunately, in the absence of laws governing ecotourism, there is no incentive or disincentive to be responsible.

As far as forestry activity is concerned, our forest departments still have the colonial mentality of exploiting the forest. I am sure you would agree that the word exploitation denotes that the exploited party - in this case the forest - is never well off.

Ecotourism can help to a certain extent. However, not in the manner it is practiced at the moment. Despite the supposed to be beneficial effects of increasing awareness, the negatives outweigh the positives.

One may refer to the IndiaWilds Newsletter Vol 2 Issue IV ( http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/indi...vol-2-issue-iv ) for a detailed account with best practices from Botswana. Newsletter Vol 2 Issue V details specific examples ( http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/indi...-vol-2-issue-v )

Cheers,
Sabyasachi