Remote Sensing and GIS based ecotourism planning: A case study for western Midnapore, West Bengal, India

U. K. Banerjee
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India

Smriti Kumari
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
smriti_isro@hotmail.com

S. K. Paul, S. Sudhakar
RRSSC, Kharagpur, DOS/ISRO, India

Introduction:
Ecotourism has attracted increasing attention in recent years, not only as an alternative to mass tourism, but also as a means of economic development and environmental conservation. Being a nature based tourism; it takes into account the natural ecological attraction, their conservation and development. Its main aim is to safeguard the environment, making it beneficial to the local people by generating revenue and education and pleasure for the tourist.

Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry at present. The market for nature holidays is certainly a growing one. In 1993, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) has estimated that nature tourism generates 7 per cent of all international travel expenditure, where the total annual global earning from tourism is nearly $3 trillion and 212 million people are employed (Eagle, 1997) ¹. Year 2002 has been declared as an International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) by the United Nations. This reflects its global importance.

Its evolution took place in western society to experience wild nature. It started in 1872 in the United States with Yellowstone Park, in 1879 in Australia with Royal Park and in 1885 in Canada with Banff Park and Niagara Falls to set aside natural areas for protection and recreation in the form of national parks.. There is a worldwide system of thousands of protected areas in all parts of the globe now. Since 1970, globally the number of protected areas has increased by 185%. The present area ,is 926,349,646 square kilometers, in parks which is an increase of 51.5% since 1970(Eagle,1997)¹.

India has vast natural resources ranging from snow-capped mountains, blooming valleys, sea resorts, rolling rivers, dense forest, priceless mountains, temples and other places of heritages to vast desert areas, which can be important destinations for tourists (domestic and foreign). In spite of such bounties of nature and varieties of religion, culture and ethnicity, India accounts for only 0.4 % of the global tourism market and similar insignificant fraction of the world tourism revenue (West Bengal Tourism Report,1996)². There is a need to develop tourist destination that can be managed scientifically to attract large number of international as well as domestic tourists.

Present study is an attempt to identify potential ecotourism sites in eastern India using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques in forest dominated area of western Midnapore, West Bengal. After identifying the potential sites, a demonstrative plan has been made for Ecotourism development based on locally available natural resources.

Study Area:
Study area includes five complete ranges (Chandrakona, Arabari, Nayabasat, Pirakata and Godapiyasal Forest Range), and two partial ranges (Midnapore range and Lalgarh range) of East Midnapore Forest Division of Midnapore District of West Bengal. From the administrative point of view, these area cover five blocks of northern Midnapore ie, Chandrakona I, Chandrakona II, Garbeta III, Salbani and Keshpur (Fig 1.1). The Midnapore, district lies in north of the Kasai River and is an agricultural-trade centre on the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Amritsar. Kharagpur Railway Junction, across the river, provides major rail connections (Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)¹⁰. The topography, soil, vegetation, drainage pattern, climate have played important role in growth of the region.


It is located in the North-Western part of the district extending between 22°57' to 22°23' North latitude and 87°27' & 87° East Longitude. In general, the area is underdeveloped due to poor agricultural economy and poor industrial base. Only 31.86 % people are workers and among them 83.79% are engaged in agricultural and forestry. The area is dominated by rural population, which is about 92.15%, and the percentage of urban population is only 6.85% living in three urban centres viz., Chandrakona Town, Khirpai and Ramjibanpur the north eastern part of the block (Census,1991)⁵.

The Western half of the study area is dominated by thick forest mainly of North Indian moist deciduous and North Eastern Tropical Dry deciduous forest consisting of dry peninsular sal. The significant forest resources with memorable historical past make it ideal place for Ecotourism development (Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)¹¹. This will contribute significantly to economic development if Ecotourism is developed by Forest Department by involving the local population as well as NGO and private organization.

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