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The carrying capacity of the environment refers to the maximum number of individuals or activities an environment can support without causing significant negative impacts. It includes factors like resource availability, habitat space, and the ability to absorb waste and regenerate. **Need forRead more
The carrying capacity of the environment refers to the maximum number of individuals or activities an environment can support without causing significant negative impacts. It includes factors like resource availability, habitat space, and the ability to absorb waste and regenerate.
**Need for Sustainable Tourism in India’s Hilly Areas:**
1. **Environmental Preservation**: Hilly areas like the Himalayas are ecologically sensitive. Sustainable tourism ensures that natural resources, such as forests, water bodies, and wildlife, are protected. Over-tourism can lead to deforestation, water pollution, and habitat destruction.
2. **Cultural Integrity**: Hilly regions often have unique cultures and traditions. Sustainable tourism respects and preserves local customs and heritage, preventing them from being overshadowed by mass tourism.
3. **Economic Benefits**: Sustainable tourism can provide long-term economic benefits to local communities. By promoting eco-friendly practices, locals can engage in tourism without depleting their natural resources, ensuring continued income.
4. **Quality of Life**: Limiting the number of tourists to match the carrying capacity reduces overcrowding and strain on local infrastructure. This improves the quality of life for residents and provides a better experience for visitors.
5. **Climate Change Mitigation**: Sustainable tourism practices, such as reducing carbon footprints and promoting eco-friendly transportation, help mitigate climate change impacts, which are particularly severe in hilly areas.
In conclusion, sustainable tourism is essential for protecting India’s hilly areas, ensuring that these regions can continue to thrive ecologically, culturally, and economically.
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Human activities such as unregulated construction and tourism have heightened the risk of natural calamities in ecologically fragile regions like Kedarnath. Rampant construction without proper appraisal of environmental impact has resulted in deforestation and soil erosion, and has also interfered wRead more
Human activities such as unregulated construction and tourism have heightened the risk of natural calamities in ecologically fragile regions like Kedarnath. Rampant construction without proper appraisal of environmental impact has resulted in deforestation and soil erosion, and has also interfered with natural water drainage systems, increasing the susceptibility of the area to landslides, floods and other natural disasters. The devastating Kedarnath flood disaster in 2013 brought this into focus when haphazard buildings and roads compounded the loss of lives and property.
Tourism though economically beneficial, has caused too much environmental degradation in the region. The inflow of visitors makes it necessary to put up a lot of infrastructure which in turn consumes large tracts of natural habitats and also generates more waste, thus polluting the environment further.
To achieve sustainable development in such regions, it is of primary importance to enforce environmental laws. Construction in general, must be limited and if at all undertaken then only using eco-friendly practices. Similarly, promotion of eco-tourism involves locals and reduces environment impacts. Reforestation should be promoted at construction sites, waste should be properly disposed off and sustainable construction materials should be used.
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