Government of India

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Guidelines on Sustainable Eco-Tourism in Forest and Wildlife

Areas 2021

1. BACKGROUND

Forests and wildlife are elements of nature and inseparable parts of the environment.
Because of the intricate nature of interface between nature and human beings, nature
conservation entails interactions with people as a central concept. Such interaction includes
not only the forest fringe dwellers but also those who are living away from the forests for the
purpose of creating experience for the visitors. Eco-tourism may be developed in and around
designated sites in forest and wildlife rich areas and ex-situ conservation areas, and such
designated sites may include sites of biological, geographical, geo-physical and eco-heritage
importance such as mangroves, sacred groves, mudflats, beaches, streams, wetlands,
waterfalls, rivers, hills, caves, etc.

Eco-tourism has the potential to create significant opportunities for building public
awareness and mass movement towards conservation of nature and natural resources while
expanding overall returns to the economy, improving skill base, creating new knowledge and
green jobs, and improving the livelihoods of the local communities.[1] On the other hand, eco-
tourism if not practiced in a science-based manner may adversely affect nature on a
permanent basis. The Guidelines on Sustainable Eco-Tourism in Forest and Wildlife Areas
2021 (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines or the Eco-Tourism Guidelines), therefore,
lays the framework for practising and promoting sustainable eco-tourism by maximising
outputs that support nature and natural resources in their original forms while minimising any
negative externalities arising out of interactions between people and nature.
The Guidelines recognise that besides the popular sites located in Protected Areas, which
presently number over 900 across the country, many potential eco-tourism sites are located in
public, community and private forests outside the Protected Areas as well. These Guidelines
shall be applicable to ecotourism sites falling in all forest and wildlife areas irrespective of
the ownership of the land.

2. GOAL

The overall goal of these Guidelines is promoting better understanding of nature and wildlife
conservation while generating income and opportunities for the local communities in an
ecologically, culturally and economically sustainable manner.
 3. OBJECTIVES
The Guidelines seek to achieve the following objectives:
i. Promote low impact nature tourism which ensures ecological integrity of the eco-
tourism sites and its environment;
ii. Promote biodiversity, traditional ecological knowledge and heritage values of India’s
wilderness;
iii. Promote engagement of local communities in nature tourism in a manner that enriches
local economy and encourages sustainable use of indigenous materials through
financially viable value chains thereby helping such local communities become
“AtmaNirbhar”
iv. Promote partnerships amongst stakeholders for mobilising resources and developing
and promoting nature tourism, as well equitable sharing of benefits.
v. Enhancing potential of India as a global eco-tourism destination.

4. GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF ECO-TOURISM

(i) Eco-tourism planning: Eco-tourism shall be promoted on the basis of science based
planning. The plan shall form part of the duly approved Working Plan or Management Plan
or Conservation Plan of the forest or wildlife area as the case may be, and shall include the
carrying-capacity analysis based description of the eco-tourism site, time, duration, route,
mode of travel and number of persons for visitations, and any support infrastructure needed.
Wherever feasible, the eco-tourism plan will also be dovetailed with the Gram Panchayat
Development Plan. The Protected Area (PA) manager along with a third party shall determine
the carrying-capacity of eco-tourism site by taking into account the wide diversity of
environmental, physical, social and economic criteria of development and management of
eco-tourism sites as well as institutional capacities of their managers. The Eco-tourism plan
needs to also factor in aspects of control of plastic pollution, waste management, noise
pollution, sewage treatment and disposal, etc. The Eco-Tourism guidelines issued by the
National Tiger Conservation Authority shall be applicable to Eco-tourism in Tiger Reserves
in the country.

(ii) Eco-tourism zonation: The eco-tourism plan shall appropriately demarcate the eco-
tourism zone upon assessment of management requirements of the target wildlife, the habitat
or the geographical entity, and their behavioural and ecological characteristics. The eco-
tourism zonation shall particularly ensure that the ecological integrity of the site, including
breeding areas of wildlife and tribal habitations particularly PVTGs remains protected. The
zonation shall also ensure that safeguards provided in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 are fully
respected.
(iii) Resource mobilisation and community participation: The local community shall be
the key stakeholder of eco-tourism. Central government will provide for participatory
frameworks that encourage resource mobilisation by a group of stakeholders in development,
operation and maintenance of eco-tourism zones. These frameworks shall ensure that
equitable benefits flow from eco-tourism accrues, besides resource investors, to local
communities, tribals and other traditional forest dwellers including by way of enhanced
livelihood opportunities. Further, keeping in view that most eco-tourism sites are located in
remote places and small-scale operators predominate, suitable programme may be taken up
by the Central Government to facilitate eco-tourism operators to access incentives allowed to
the tourism sector in a timely and adequate manner.

(iv) Eco-tourism site development: The Eco-tourism site shall be developed only in eco-
tourism zone and in eco-friendly manner. While developing support infrastructure for eco-
tourism it shall be ensured that the natural profile and ecological integrity of the ecotourism
site including its biodiversity value is maintained. Any ecotourism facility or structure on
forest lands shall be subject to the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
However, no permanent structure shall be made /constructed to create ecotourism
facility/structure, but temporary structures/facility made predominantly of natural material of
local origin may be allowed in Protected Area or on forest land. Such ecotourism
facility/structure shall be part of the approved Working Plan/Management Plan/Working
Scheme. Home stay managed by local communities on non-forest land shall be promoted.
States may develop benchmarks/ standardized criteria based on site specificity, for adoption
of best practices in eco-tourism including sustainable ecological management of the site,
customer satisfaction, harmony with local culture and design, local construction material
used, employment types, environmental education facilities. Further, safety measures,
especially for managing fire, flood, landslide, needs to be inbuilt into the ecotourism site
development plan and adequate system needs to be in place for efficiently managing such
disasters.

(v) Inter-sectoral synergy: The central government will work towards prioritisation of
action with regard to developing eco-tourism sites across the country and improving the way
in which action on eco-tourism is coordinated with other sectors and synergies are exploited
in the best possible manner. Regulations should be streamlined wherever possible and
processes and procedures should be simplified while taking into consideration the objectives
of relevant sectoral policies.

(vi)Promoting eco-tourism entrepreneurship: Concerted action will be taken for

expanding entrepreneurship opportunities for stakeholders engaged in eco-tourism with due
priority to the members of local communities and those whose livelihoods have been
impacted because of actions such as closure of the Protected Area for forest product
extraction. The focus will be on increasing productivity, boosting the skills and competencies
of stakeholders at all levels, and the needed structural changes will be supported and
strengthened. Start-ups will be supported through training, coaching, financial support and
other benefits including through the incubators established under various government
programmes.
5. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

The following are the broad framework for implementation of the Eco-tourism Guidelines:

Strategy i: Identification of potential sites: Each State may identify sites for eco-tourism
through a participatory process involving stakeholders, particularly the local communities,
and make a priority list for development of such sites. Area managers will initiate eco-
tourism planning based on carrying-capacity analysis, including identification of eco-tourism
zones, identification of potential partners, categorisation of infrastructure support that may be
allowed, funding sources, and training and capacity building needs of the partners through a
multi-stakeholder dialogue process. Spatially cluster approach to eco-tourism infrastructure
will be promoted to larger blocks of contiguous habitats so as to minimise adverse ecological
impacts on a larger area. An indicative list of potential eco-tourism sites is at Annexure I.
However, States/UTs may develop ecotourism sites which has high potential.
An Eco-tourism Plan shall be prepared for every eco-tourism site. The Plan shall be approved
and prepared for sites under various controls as follows:
i. For Sites within forest/protected areas: The Eco-tourism Plan for the areas
falling inside the notified forest/protected areas shall form part of duly
approved Working Plan/Management Plan/ Working Scheme.
ii. For Sites falling within Eco-sensitive Zones: All new Eco-tourism activities or
expansion of existing tourism activities within the Eco-sensitive Zone (on non-
forest land) shall be as per the Tourism Master Plan for the Eco-sensitive
Zone. The Eco-tourism Master Plan shall be prepared by Department of
Tourism in consultation with State Departments of Environment and Forests.
The Tourism Master Plan shall form a component of the Zonal Master Plan
and until the Zonal Master Plan is approved, development for tourism and
expansion of existing tourism activities shall be permitted by the concerned
regulatory authorities based on the actual site specific scrutiny and
recommendation of the Monitoring Committee. Hotel/resort or commercial
establishment construction shall be taken up inside the Eco-sensitive Zone as
per the ESZ notification of the National Park/Sanctuary.

Strategy ii: Funding support: Compatible funding instruments that cater to the specific
challenges of the eco-tourism sector, particularly the small and geographically fragmented
nature of enterprises, is key to sustainable eco-tourism promotion. Financial institutions may
be encouraged to develop targeted financial instruments for the eco-tourism entrepreneurs at
the local level. Public funding for eco-tourism promotion, monitoring and innovation may
be made available, including for non-repayable loans and guarantees, start-up grants and
marketing of eco-tourism places.
Strategy iii: Usage of Information Technology: The role of digitalisation both as a driver
and an enabler of eco-tourism shall be recognised. In particular, digitalisation will be used to
facilitate new eco-tourism products, such as virtual tours, competitive exploration, etc.,
services, business processes and models. National and sub-national projects will be
launched to undertake analysis of the needs of various partners and users (visitors) of eco-
tourism projects, and develop scenarios for eco-tourism support for the future, and active
steps will be taken for transfer of knowledge to partners including by making such
knowledge public wherever feasible. In recognition of the fact that partners (e.g. service
providers) in eco-tourism are mainly small entities, and their limited capabilities of using
digital services combined with possible use of multitude of digital platforms and inability to
create economies of scale, pose significant challenge. National and sub-national level data
integration platforms to analyse visitors behaviour and preferences will be developed, and
additional sources such as social media engagement, newsletter statistics, booking data,
media and marketing reports, etc will be used.

Strategy iv: Capacity building: Despite wider and growing attraction to eco-tourism, the
challenges emanating from the field such as geographically fragmented and small nature of
sites, small business structure and high seasonality and the consequent visitor number
fluctuation, are significant. On the other hand, it offers significant entrepreneurial and labour
market opportunity for the local communities. With increased numbers of eco-tourism sites
the eco-tourism sector may become a supplier of low return exchangeable standard products
making private investment in eco-tourism less attractive. The capacity of field functionaries
of different stakeholders, especially the eco-tourism site managers and the local communities,
will be steadily built to innovate and meet the present and future challenges of the sector, and
international best practices as suited to local conditions will be internalised. Industrial
Training Institutes (ITIs) and other such institutes will be encouraged to develop specific
programmes for local communities and small operators engaged in eco-tourism.

Strategy v: Benefit sharing: Community-based tourism will be promoted as a preferred

form of eco-tourism. While eco-tourism will create new wage employment and private
entrepreneurial income for the respective stakeholders, fair and equitable benefit sharing of
common eco-tourism revenues with the local community is key to sustainability. Given the
diversity of stakeholders, scale of operations and geographically fragmented nature of eco-
tourism sites, appropriate mechanisms for sharing of benefits with the local eco-development
committees / forest protection committees will be developed by the respective State
Government for different types of eco-tourism sites falling on government lands. Such
benefit sharing mechanisms shall recognise that the local community has the highest stake in
eco-tourism and the revenue generated has to be also ploughed back for development and
maintenance of the eco-tourism sites. Transparent mechanism for revenue collection from
common eco-tourism activities user charges, entry fees, concessions, fines and penalties, etc.
through a Foundation established at the appropriate local level, and sharing of revenue with
stakeholders, particularly local communities, has served as best practise in many parts of the
world and the same duly incorporated by the respective State governments. Considering that
eco-tourism is mostly a seasonal activity, the Eco-Tourism Plans should include measures to
reduce financial overdependence of the local community on eco-tourism, and the same
should be supported by the district level plan approval committees. Such measures may
include capacity building of the communities with respect to processing and marketing of
bio-cultural products to ensure that communities remain attached to preservation of local
ecology. The Central government will support development of such mechanisms through
sharing of international experiences and coordination with participating states and national
entities in case the stated eco-tourism enterprise covers sites across States and/ or national
entities are involved.
Strategy vi: Education and outreach: For effective use of the eco-tourism potential of the
area, effective communication plan covering all eco-tourism sites of a State will be drawn
by the State Governments with the help of expert organsiations. The Plan, among other
relevant information, will include information to the tourists on the eco-system services and
intangible benefits provided by the area. The communication plan will include measures to
promote partnerships between the eco-tourism project and socially responsible companies.
Use of modern technologies such as electronic visual tools and well equipped modern
interpretation centre at the eco-tourism site will be encouraged through this Plan to
encourage self-learning by visitors. The Plan will also lay emphasis on appropriate signages
for generating awareness among the visitors regarding the safety and risk factors in the eco-
tourism zone and safety protocol and information material on the area for the visitors. The
Central government will support the outreach of States' eco-tourism potential for
international tourists in a programmatic manner.

Strategy vii: Monitoring: Each eco-tourism plan will invariably include a dynamic
monitoring mechanism, covering multiple biological parameters to monitor stress on wildlife
vis-a-vis number and patterns of tourist visitation and their level of satisfaction, involvement
of local people, scope for improvement in flow of eco-system services, etc. The monitoring
will also include mechanisms to ensure that rigorous practices are in place to prevent
biological invasion, disease transmission, and air, water, noise or light pollution. The States
Governments/UT Administrations shall endeavour to maintain service level quality standards
through appropriate certification/rating protocols.

The States shall endeavour to initiate a ranking system for the respective ecotourism sites.

There shall be regular monitoring by the State Governments and Union Territories on the
implementation of the guidelines spelt out in the Guidelines for Sustainable Ecotourism in
forest and wildlife areas-2021.

District, State and National level monitoring committees comprising of representatives of

relevant stakeholder departments, the local communities, civil societies, and the corporate
organisations will be constituted to oversee the implementation of this Guidelines including
mobilisation of the required technical, financial and human resource support for eco-tourism
plans.
Strategy viii: Review: The National level eco-tourism monitoring committee will review
the Eco-Tourism Guidelines every three years and make recommendation to the Central
Government.

***

[1]
Wherever ‘local community’ has been used in this Guidelines, it will mean to include Schedule Tribe and
other traditional forest dwellers as per Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act 2006, which is referred hereinafter as FRA 2006 in short.
 Annexure I

Potential Sites in India for Ecotourism (Illustrative)

S.No. State/ UT Administration Name of Protected Area

Andaman & Nicobar Islands
1 Mahatama Gandhi Marine
(Wandoor) NP
2 Mount Harriett NP
3 Ross Island WLS

Andhra Pradesh
4 Coringa WLS
5 Pulicat Lake WLS

Arunachal Pradesh
6 Itanagar WLS

Assam
7 Orang NP
8 DeeporBeel WLS
9 Hollongapar Gibbon WLS
10 Pabitora WLS

Bihar
11 Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin
Sanctuary

Chandigarh
12 City Bird WLS
13 Sukhna Lake WLS

Chhattisgarh
14 Kanger Valley NP
15 Pamed Wild Buffalo WLS

Goa
16 BhagwanMahavir WLS
17 Dr. Salim Ali Bird (Chorao) WLS

Gujarat
18 Gir National Park & WLS &Gir
Landscape

19 Marine (Gulf of Kachchh) NP

20 Barda WLS
21 Girnar WLS
22 Jessore Sloth Bear WLS
23 Kachchh Desert WLS
24 NalSarovar Bird WLS
25 Thol Lake WLS
26 Wild Ass WLS

Haryana
27 Sultanpur NP
28 Morni Hills (Khol-Hi-Raitan) WLS
29 Nahar WLS

Himachal Pradesh
20 Great Himalayan NP
31 Dhauladhar WLS
32 Kalatop-Khajjiar WLS
33 Kibber WLS
34 Manali WLS
35 Pong Dam Lake WLS
36 Renuka WLS

Jammu & Kashmir

37 Dachigam NP
38 Gulmarg WLS

Laddakh
39 Hemis NP
40 Changthang WLS

Jharkhand
41 Dalma WLS

Karnataka
42 Bannerghatta NP
43 Kudremukh NP
44 Cauvery WLS
45 Daroji Bear WLS
46 Pushpagiri WLS

Kerala
47 Eravikulam NP
48 Silent Valley NP
49 Thattekad Bird WLS

Lakshadweep
50 Pitti Island Bird Sanvtuary

Madhya Pradesh
51 Madhav NP
52 National Chambal WLS
53 Pachmarhi WLS

Maharashtra
54 Sanjay Gandhi (Borivilli) NP
55 Lonar WLS
56 Thane Creek Flamingo WLS

Manipur
57 Keibul-Lamjao NP

Meghalaya
58 Balphakram NP
59 Nokrek Ridge NP

Mizoram
60 Phawngpui Blue Mountain National
Park

Nagaland
61 Intanki NP

Punjab
62 Harike Lake WLS
63 Beas Conservation Reserve

Odisha
64 Bhitarkanika WLS & NP
65 Chilika (Nalaban) WLS
66 Gahirmatha (Marine) WLS
67 Nandankanan WLS

Rajasthan
68 Keoladeo Ghana NP
69 Desert National Park Sanctuary
70 Mount Abu WLS
71 National Chambal WLS

Sikkim
72 Khangchendzonga NP
73 Maenam WLS

Tamil Nadu
74 Gulf of Mannar Marine NP
75 Vedanthangal WLS
76 Point Calimere WLS

Telangana
77 KasuBrahmananda Reddy NP
 Tripura
78 Clouded Leopard NP
79 Trishna WLS

Uttar Pradesh
80 Katerniaghat WLS
81 National Chambal WLS
82 KachuaWLS

Uttarakhand
83 Gangotri NP
84 Nanda Devi NP
85 Valley of Flowers NP
86 Kedarnath WLS

West Bengal
87 Gorumara NP
88 Jaldapara NP
89 Neora Valley NP
90 Singalila NP

***