Livelihood Empowerment through Ecological ...

American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities (ISSN: 2276 - 6928) Vol.2(6) pp. 368-374 November. 2012 Available online http://www.ajsih.org ©2012 American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities

Livelihood Empowerment through Ecological Rationalization and Commodification in Natural Area Destinations Nikhil K Sachan*1, S.K. Ghosh2, Anupam K Sachan3, Sandeep K Singh4 1

University Institute of Pharmacy, C.S.J.M. University, Kanpur - 208 024 2 Dept. of Pharm. Sciences, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh – 786 004 3 Dayanand Dinanath College, Ramaipur, Kanpur – 209 214 4 Dept. of ACEE, C.S.J.M. University, Kanpur - 208 024

Abstract: The contemporary global economy has become characterized by an intensity and sophistication of the processes of commodification of consumption where production is increasingly aestheticized, attaching meanings and symbolic associations to material objects. The tourism industry could not remain untouched from this reality. The northeast India is having the natural gift of splendorous beauty, fauna and flora and cultural diversity. It is having huge potentialities for the new forms of tourism like eco-tourism and heritage tourism. The need is for reorganizing self and identity in the contemporary world. The ecological rationalization and cultural commodification suggests entanglement of natural landscape and traditional cultures and cultural practices through the integration with global tourism. This article presented a discursive analysis about the management and use of green beauty and cultural diversity especially in northeast India for tourism development. Key words: Livelihood, commodification, ecological modernization, nature tourism, tourist commodities Introduction: Tourism is undoubtedly a powerful agent of economic development driven in part by the search for cultural diversity, ethnic identity and the geophysics of the ‗destination‘ (INTACH, 2010; Quinn, 2003; Allcock, et al. 1995). The mass movement to some destination depends on underlying motivation impelling them to travel (Gregory, 2001; Honey, 1998; Wood and House, 1991; and Zurick 1995). From a strategic point of view, tourist destinations can be regarded as the amalgam of consumers‘ space and tourism products, offering a holistic content that is tourism (Buhalis 2000, 1997). Therefore the commodification and ecological rationalization serves as powerful strategic tools to get accredited in the process of destination benchmarking. The aim is to expose the richness of cultural context within which ethnicity and sociocultural identities of difference and the splendorous geographical beauty that can be presented and consumed through tourism (Ateljevic and Doorde, 2003). The North-Eastern India is the land of Blue Mountains, Green Valleys and Red River. Nestled in the Eastern Himalayas this region is abundant in natural Beauty, Wild life, Flora & Fauna and its colourful peoples. A blend of which makes it the most beautiful Eco-Tourism destination in South Asia. The land of majestic mountains, crowned with peaks of sapphire blue, the North-East happens to be the region where the sun rises first in the entire country. The first rays of the sun in every fresh morning in India incidentally fall on Dong, a pristine small village in the easternmost corner of the Northeast (Northeast India Diary); and we were heading towards the Sun Rise country. Viewing these natural areas as performance spaces helps to show how the multiplicity of discourses plays out and how nature and tourists are performatively engaged in these spaces (Jamal et al. 2003) We 368 | S a c h a n ,

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©AJSIH Vol.2 No.6. (November 2012) 368-374

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begin by exposing the theoretical coordinates of this article through a discussion of the broader context of ecological rationalization and thereafter we‘ll go through the commodification and culture of consumption. Following this, we embed this contextual framework within the structural complex of contemporary northeast tourism. Livelihood Issues in Natural Areas Destinations: The Socio-economic status of local community in natural touristic destinations is not satisfactory. Despite of rich endowment of natural and human resources, most of the country is poor. Northeast India being rich in natural beauty and natural resources as such warrants many of the areas declared as protected areas by government (Wangkheirakpam and Yumnam, 2006; Baruah, 2004). It has been called both the greatest biodiversity conservation planning exercise and the largest illegitimate taking of private property and resources in the history of the world. Looking at literature, the global protected area network now exceeds 100,000 sites and covers 12% of the world‘s land surface (Redford and Fearn, 2007). The costs of protecting biodiversity, enforcing their management regulations have been responsible for diminishing the livelihood prospects of people living in and near them. The north-eastern India however have plenty of natural resources including coal, bamboos, medicinal plants, minerals and crude oil. For decades the country has struggled to improve socioeconomic conditions of people in this region, which have declined despite increasing revenue from crude oil. In this context, ―livelihood” if defined as comprising ―…the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base‖ (Krentz, 2001; DFID 1999). The opportunities created by markets, particularly new markets created by environmental valuation—carbon sink funds, certification, ecotourism—represent an increasingly important element in sustainable livelihoods. The ecotourism is sustainable tourism, which is nature based and incorporates a desire to minimize negative social and environmental impacts (Swarbrooke, 1999) and embrace economic, environmental, social, community and visitor benefit. It is defined as the tourism that involves travelling to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural aspects (both past and present) found in these areas. Ecotourism implies a scientific, aesthetic or philosophical approach, although the ‗ecotourist‘ is not required to be a professional scientist, artist or philosopher. This person will eventually acquire a consciousness and knowledge of the natural environment, together with its cultural aspects, that will covert him into somebody keenly involved in conservation issues (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996). To keep a destination place of choice for visitors and memorable, it is essential to keep a balance in the natural capability of maintaining sink condition and human activities in any such place. Further to improve the livelihood options and income generated out of it, several local articles could be promoted as showcase items pertaining to particular place – a symbol of destination or in other words the touristic commodities e.g. Stools of tea shrubs could be promoted in Assam. Appropriation of Natural Resources: Appropriation is a non-violent process by which previously unowned natural resources become the property of a person or group of persons (Wikipedia, 2012). After briefly identifying the major factors leading to environmental degradation, it traces how this degradation and the appropriation of natural resources by the foreign intruders, labors, or businessmen in such natural area destinations especially in north-east India tend to have particularly adverse implications for poor rural households of the native regional community /tribal people (Wangkheirakpam and

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Yumnam, 2006). Governmental and community initiated responses to environmental degradation and natural resource appropriation are also to be examined. The outside population from various parts of the country or from the neighboring countries or corporate enters to these destinations through a required support system in daily living, providing some sort of services to the people. Out of that they used to access common necessities include potable water, food, clothing, shelter, adequate nutrition, basic education, primary health care, productive assets, security, and protection from shocks and risks. Gradually they get settled and claiming theirs right on resources which were granted to them for humanism and start exploiting the natural resources primarily for their income generation without taking care of sustainability depriving the native population. The availability of natural resources to a large section of the rural population, and especially to the poor, has been eroded severely over the past two decades by two parallel, and interrelated, processes: first, their growing degradation both in quantity and quality; and second, their increasing statization and privatization, with an associated decline in what was earlier communal (Agarwal, 1995). The proper legislative framework is essential for sustainable livelihood management and protection of legitimate rights of local community in natural area destinations from intruders or corporate. The government has enforced Forest rights Act-2006 for recognition of rights of local communities in forests and natural areas, and the draft amendment rules - 2012 are under process of enforcement. Importance of Environment and Natural Resource Management: Natural resources provide fundamental life support, in the form of both consumptive and publicgood services. The natural resources foundation is coming under increasing pressure from both increasing population and higher levels of economic activity per capita. There is need to protect the natural resources through intelligent management plans and technological interventions for conservation natural beauty, wildlife, minerals, cultures, and wild flora & fauna form the basis of traditional medicine and much of the modern pharmaceutical industry. Natural Resources Management (NRM) refers to the sustainable utilization of major natural resources, such as land, water, air, minerals, forests, fisheries, and wild flora and fauna. Together, these resources provide the ecosystem services that underpin human life. The perspective of NRM should contribute to poverty alleviation, and that natural resources should be used in a sustainable manner to enhance human welfare. Ecological Rationalization: The fundamental principles of ecological rationalization refer to minimizing negative impact on the environment, representing the local cultures and actively contributing to the economic wellbeing of host communities as well as the stakeholders involved. The four ways in which societies relate to their physical environment (Urry, 1995) are: stewardship (of the land for future generations), exploitation (of the land or other resources), scientization (of the land as an object of scientific investigation, intervention and regulation), and visual consumption (of the landscape / townscape and aesthetic appropriation). In context to the primarily functionalist and normative approaches that focus on managing eco-tourists and eco-tourism‘s contributions to economic, social and natural goods, this is important that how sustainability and global eco-tourism as necessary ‗goods‘ managed by policy makers, businesses and environmental organizations, it is important to understand how the globality of tourism is constructed, negotiated and hence open to creative re-working at the level of both self and society – in other words, to critically examine the discourse and sociology of globalization (Yearley, 1996). The ecological rationalization is evident in three dominant regimes. The first is economic rationalism, a process aided by the spread of neo-liberal ideology and practices that deduce objects, places and even experiences to

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commodities. The second is scientific rationalism; a regime facilitated through the prioritization of the expert, the discourse of ecological modernization, and related strategies of prediction and control in natural areas. Finally, there is institutional rationalism, a process marked by the increasing influence of supranational organizations such as the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, and the World Trade Organization. The structural dismantling of public sector agencies, including those concerned with the management of protected areas and national parks, can be taken to be another indicator of such rationalization. In simplistically speaking the process of ecological rationalization refers to the development and modernization of the essential facilities retaining the sustainability of the resources (touristic commodities) through the rational management policies implemented by the management and maintenance body providing simultaneously the maximum resource utilization. Rational recreational opportunities in commercialized natural and cultural spaces needs that ‗self-discipline‘ and control to be exercised in the leisure/touristic space, just as they were in the workplace, for that social orders has to be implemented. Now a time international environmental and tourism-related institutions attempt to coordinate ‗sustainable tourism‘ and apply Local Agenda 21 principles to natural and built destinations (see World Tourism Organization, 1997, 1998; UNESCO-ICOMOS, 2002; UNEP-ICLEI, 2003). This section addresses several forms of rationalization that hold significant consequences for tourism in natural areas. The cultural and biodiversity of Northeast is the nature‘s gift to India. There are huge natural resources in this part of country those are still untapped. The scenic beauty, tea gardens, oil fields, wild life, cultural diversity, heritage and the adventures resources can be rationalized and utilized for the tourism benchmarking. The Union Tourism and Culture Ministry has recently submitted a proposal to the UNESCO for providing the World Heritage Site status to Majuli, the world‘s largest river island. Our Union Tourism and Culture minister Ambika Soni disclosed that government is in attempt to relax Protected and Restricted Area Permits (PAP & RAP) to encourage tourist inflow into the northeast region. The ministry has taken intensive and extensive campaigns to promote and market the Northeast domestically and internationally as tourist destination, he added (The Assam Tribune, Mar 05, 2006). The state government of Assam and governments of sister states are asked to submit project reports in the tourist destinations in the North-East Region. This is the time; we must grasp the opportunity for the rationalization of our untapped resources to bring the hidden treasure for the economic benefit to the Region. Commodification and Culture of Consumption: Now days this has become a realistic approach to improve the performativity and highlighting the potential of objects through the aestheticism and symbolic linking of the objects with certain memory and historic importance (Rojek, 1995; Jackson and Thrift, 1995; du Gay, 1996; Lury, 1996). The commodification is the process of making the objects for sale; construct identities through strategic relationships with material things. The commodification is therefore to create certain ethnic or traditional identity in the goods as the can be gifted to reveal certain sense of culture, religion or emotion. Gifts are both a way of expressing identities of self and making a statement of social positioning. The analysis of culture of consumption reveals the preference to tie-dyed articles and also describes the ways in which these relationships between people and things are prescribed and controlled by ‗marketing science‘ and the machinery of economic rationality (Tomlinson 1990). The symbolic significance these commodities play in the identity-formation of the consumer, as a sociological process to identify what the one buy, where he goes away (Appadurai, 1986). There is always an eager to purchase the things those are having some unique traditional or crafting identity or otherwise linked with some religious,

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historic or cultural values (Miller, 1997, 1998). This could become an important strategic tool in the field of tourism by providing strategic framework for interpretation and entanglement of commodities and exchange relationships for economic development drawing on a broad anthropological tradition. It follows the journey of tourist goods from the cultural context of their creation, to their consumption and appropriation in new locations where they become surrogates of human relations and representations of identity. Directing our focus towards northeast tourism, we are having the large number of objects and cultures for commodification. This is the land of cultural diversity and excellent crafts. Few examples can be cited as the furniture made from Bamboo and tea plants, specific dressings as Mekhla of the Assamese, Cultural caps of the Assam and Nagaland, Processed Catechu (Tambul), Traditional Assam silk, Tea, Specific Dishes of the different states, Home appliances crafted by bamboo and many more. The northeast is having specific products associated with the culture of the every sister state and subcommunity those can be commodified and marketed for tourism promotion and economic development. The commodification is having the multifarious advantages, at one end it creates a designated identity and promoting the tourism thereby, on the side it creates the employment resources for the regional community with economic and cultural benefits. The touristic commodities associated with the cultural values also creates a tie together feeling and they helps in destination benchmarking. The northeast India is having potential to opt this strategic framework by the commodification of the cultural values and objects of the different cultures it has. This would be helpful for creating employment, providing economic beneficiaries and to be developed as tourist destination for the region. Conclusion: The discussion of the resource rationalization and commodification of objects reveals a strategy of economic development through the tourism that can be well utilized for the NorthEast India. The resources those are available naturally can be utilized not only for the visual consumption of themselves but also for the consumption of the cultures in the forms of touristic commodities for additional economic gain and creation of employment for local peoples. With respect to consumption processes, the level of intercultural awareness and sense of connectedness in these instances has more to do with the way in which these meanings inform the creation of personal identities as further reflection of the notion of ‗cultural capital‘. The Northeast is one of the seven HOT SPOTS across the world and having variety of cultures, we can take the benefit of this natural gift in the form of tourism and we must take. Acknowledgement: This paper was presented during seminar discussion on North-East tourism, held at Center for Management studies Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam. References: Agarwal, B. (1995) Gender, Environment and Poverty Interlinks In Rural India. Discussion Paper : DP 62, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Switzerland: Geneva. pp 02 – 45. Allcock, J., E. Bruner and M. F. Lanfant (eds) (1995) International Tourism: Identity and Change, Anthropological and sociological Approaches. London: Sage. Allcock, J., E. Bruner and M. F. Lanfant (eds) (1995) International Tourism: Identity and Change, Anthropological and sociological Approaches. London: Sage. Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Appadurai, A. (ed.) (1986) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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