Hoopoe

The Hoopoe is slightly brown in color with black and white strips running across its back and wings. It has a crest on its head and a long, slender beak. 

It moves about in the trees and open grasslands and often opens its crest in the form of a fan. It is quite common in this region and can be easily spotted.

Tourism and its effects on the environment and wildlife.

On a recent visit to a popular hill station, it was saddening and frustrating to note the adverse impact of tourism on the natural environment. The hill station is not named. However, I am sure the readers would understand that it could be any of the hill stations or beach resorts that they have visited.

Why do we visit these regions? Humans have always appreciated nature. We in India worship the natural elements – Jal, Vayu, Agni (water, air, fire), including the earth and trees. We enjoy our visits to hill resorts, national parks, waterfalls and the beaches. These places are regions of natural beauty and ought to be preserved for the generations to come. These do not belong to us, to be enjoyed for a short period. All of us should be concerned about the destruction taking place due to excessive and reckless tourism.

Tourism exerts undue pressure on the environment and the delicate balance in the ecosystem. Activities such as tiger/ lion safaris, bird watching, wildlife photography, actually are an intrusion into animal and bird territories. These activities directly affect mammals and birds present in the area. In almost all resorts and picnic spots, large groups of people gather during the monsoon and on holidays. They stop-over and park at any open space on the way, to rest and eat and have noisy parties to scare away the birds and animals. In the process, they invariably litter the place with plastic bags, thermocole plates/ glasses, chocolate / chips wrappers and left-over food. They also scatter small packets of gutka (tobacco + areca nut) carelessly, all over the place. The place soon piles up with garbage. This in turn attracts pests like flies, rodents, pigs and stray dogs. Presence of these pests adversely affects the habits of the wild animals and birds in the region and they are forced out from their habitats into ever decreasing areas of the forest.

There is also a great demand for exotic meat by these tourists, which is met by poaching, hunting and trapping of birds like quails, partridges and small mammals like the hare, deer, wild hogs, etc. This leads to the species being wiped out from these regions which defeats the entire purpose of tourism. It is like scoring a self-goal or getting out hit-wicket. Tourism also leads to an increase in the market for curios and souvenirs and include nails /tooth of the bears, leopards; feathers of colorful birds like peacocks, rollers, and kingfishers. There is also a market for furs, skins and other parts of the animals.

Increased use of land, water and forest resources for building hotels, resorts and restaurants causes further strain on the environment. This soon results in creation of large complexes, which all of us know are characterized by high population density and resultant high consumption of energy and generation of large quantities of waste. The long term adverse effects of such urbanization are well known. All of us have a role to play in preserving the environment for the future generations.  We cannot stop tourism. However, we can we surely contribute towards environment conservation by reducing our needs and consumption of retail goods. We can stop littering, stop using plastic bags and disposable water bottles, reduce noise pollution and use of motor vehicles and do our best to preserve nature. It is all up to us – respect nature, save our environment, save ourselves.