FAS-15 BEACH TOURISM

The scale of the problem:

Beaches along the coast provide numerous recreational opportunities for millions of people.
Boating, fishing, swimming, walking and sunbathing are among the numerous activities enjoyed
by beachgoers.

While there are many successful resorts and attractions, development, and operation of these
has often been associated with environmental degradation, congestion, community problems
and less than desired economic performances.

Beach resort development faces problems due to an inability on the part of stakeholders to
make sound decisions about sustainable design due to the complexity of the sustainability issues
and the lack of comprehensive decision-making tools to assist them.

Beach tourism often lacks a comprehensive approach linking sustainability indicators and
carrying capacities in design models and planning regulations.

Also, tourism is not a ‘smoke-free industry’. Rather, it is very carbon-intensive one. Tourism
contributes about 8% of the global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Each year, a huge number
of tourists visit the coastlines around the world, where they leave an adverse impact on marine
ecosystems.

The major problems those are detrimental to the beach ecosystems of Udupi District of
Karnataka state are the following:

1. High density of population-

2. Coastal erosion - Coastal erosion is due to the combined forces interventions mainly are
coastal protection structures, breakwaters, dredging in harbours, removal of sand from beaches
etc. Intensive coastal erosion takes place from May end to middle of August, which is not
continuous.

3. Littering of beaches - there is no mechanism for garbage clearance and disposal.

4. Poor sanitary conditions - Poor sanitary conditions in all fish landing centres and fishing
villages

5. Disappearance of native vegetation- destruction of the flora of beaches in the recent decades
due to ever increasing human pressures. Except for some of the plantations of exotic Casuarina
trees the natural trees and shrubs such as Calophyllum, Etythrina variegata, Pandamus have
largely disappeared.

Identifying one government, one NGO/ trust/ association and 2 private players in at least
2 locations (up to a max of 4 locations) across India to understand the depth of the
problem

Organization - Earthlings
Recognizing the need to promote greenery, remodel the city for a good environment, and
make the cities as well as shores cleaner and greener, Earthlings came to life in 2016. To
date, they have conducted several activities ranging from beach cleaning, tree plantation,
marathons, and awareness camps. From fixing stained street walls to clearing mounds of
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trash, as much as 15,000 kgs from Hyderabad, Earthlings operates on the belief that nature
is a treasure that needs to be preserved by taking small steps together. You too can
volunteer with them by contacting them through their website or social media handles.
Website: https://www.earthlingsngo.com/
Contact: 8977780989

Organization - Project Mumbai

Project Mumbai is a Mumbai-based NGO identifying challenges faced by Mumbaikars and
working towards solving them. Among several other initiatives, through the “Jallosh-Clean
Coasts” campaign, Project Mumbai managed to collect 16,000 kg waste from nine beach
fronts, two mangrove forests, and two rivers. They invite volunteers who would like to
invest time in improving the quality of life for Mumbaikars. They also welcome donations
from individuals and corporates.
Website: https://projectmumbai.org/
Contact: 9653330712

Organization - Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI)

Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) is a non-profit wildlife conservation and habitat
restoration group working in prominent cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore,
Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, etc. EFI is involved in conducting weekly lake, pond and
beach clean-up drives contaminated and affected due to human negligence. Besides
restoration efforts, EFI also conducts programs like Cyclakes, ForesTree, Lake Safari, and EFIs
Wall-E to get citizens involved in collaborative conservation efforts.
Website: https://indiaenvironment.org/
Contact: 9940203871

The possible impact of the mismanagement issue – in terms of financial loss,

environmental loss and social impact.

Environmental Loss

· Pressures of development are leading to rise in sea level and the resulting erosion of
land on the west coast and the government is acting against the advice of
environment experts. During the monsoon the waves displace the stones here and
scatter them. Some of these large boulders were even dragged into the sea. Even
with the wall, the water comes on to the road sometimes.
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· Some of the more permanent erosion has been triggered by construction of new
houses, hotels, ports and power plants; by sand mining and sand dredging; by
building the sea walls that are meant to protect against erosion. Reckless
development was adversely affecting farmers and fishermen in the region.
· Changes in the landscape coming from the construction of infrastructure, buildings,
and facilities. Overdevelopment and constructions for tourism have a greater
negative impact on fragile marine ecosystems. For example, mangrove forests and
seagrass meadows have been removed to create open beaches.
· Some tourist resorts empty their sewage and other wastes directly into water
surrounding coral reefs and other sensitive marine habitats.
· Recreational activities like boating, diving, snorkeling, and fishing have substantially
damaged coral reefs in many parts of the world, through people touching reefs,
stirring up sediment, and dropping anchors.
· Carrying on average 4,000 passengers and 1,670 crew, the enormous cruise ships are
a major source of marine pollution through the dumping of garbage and untreated
sewage at sea, and the release of other shipping-related pollutants.
· Nesting sites for endangered marine turtles have been destroyed and disturbed by
large numbers of tourists on the beaches.

Socio-cultural impacts

· Commercialization of local culture: Tourism can turn local culture into commodities
when religious traditions, local customs and festivals are reduced to conform to
tourist expectations and resulting in what has been called "reconstructed ethnicity"
· Standardization: Destinations risk standardization in the process of tourists desires
and satisfaction: while landscape, accommodation, food and drinks, etc., must meet
the tourist's expectation for the new and unfamiliar situation. They must at the same
time not be too new or strange because few tourists are looking for completely new
things. This factor damages the variation and beauty of diverse cultures.
· Adaptation to tourist demands: Tourists want to collect souvenirs, arts, crafts,
cultural manifestations. In many tourist destinations, craftsmen have responded to
the growing demand and have made changes in the design of their products to make
them more attractive to the new customers. Cultural erosion may occur in the
process of commercializing cultural traditions.
· Irritation due to tourist behaviour - Tourists often, out of ignorance or carelessness,
fail to respect local customs and moral values.
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Financial Loss

· Job level friction - due to a lack of professional training, many low-paid tourism-jobs
go to local people while higher-paying and more prestigious managerial jobs go to
foreigners or "urbanized" nationals.
· Increase in the amount of marine debris on beaches within coastal areas would
decrease the number of days visitors spend on those beaches. This decline in beach
visitor days would result in fewer tourism dollars spent and translate into a decrease
in local jobs.

Government Initiatives:

 Government of Goa’s new tourism policy 2020 with a broad purpose to strengthen
tourism assets, expand employment opportunities and tourism infrastructure from
the footfall heavy beach belts to eco-tourism initiatives in the hinterland.
 Goa Tourism Shack Policy regulates the development of temporary and permanent
Shacks along the beaches.
 Udupi local government authority’s Padubidri beach model to receive the coveted
Blue flag certification.
 Maharashtra Government’s Coastal tourism project to focus on sustainable beach
tourism and development of the coastal regions.

Private parties and their execution steps to solve this issue

Organisation: AAHWAHAN
Details: A national level NGO founded in 2009 involved in creating a sustainable
environment, rural education and many other projects
They have been associated with several beach cleaning campaigns at Udaipur beach and
also at prominent beaches like Gokarna, Karwar, Murudeshwar, Palolem, Baga, Anjuna,
Ganpatipule and Guhagar.
Issue: Beach cleaning by segregation of different type of waste products on the beach and
disposing them
Execution steps:

AAHWAHAN would leverage its previous experience in beach cleaning across the country as
well as in Udaipur beach to execute the projects in the future. They would have 8 to 10 staff
involved in beach cleaning on a daily basis. We shall place around 100 waste bins on the
beach. A dedicated area for the collection of waste from the bins would ensure effective
waste management. Again, a waste disposal vehicle would be used twice a day (Morning at
6 AM and Evening at 6 PM) to collect and dispose of the waste to the municipal waste
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disposal area. A security guard would be placed at the beach to monitor the operations and
prevent any unwanted incident.

In the long-run, they are planning to liaise with donors to secure funds for installing street
lights and also develop dedicated pavement for the convenience of the beach users.
Development threatens the natural landscape of beaches. A commercial establishment like
shops on the beach has a negative impact from an environmental perspective. Hence, once
in a month, they would organize awareness programs to highlight the importance of
protecting the Udaipur beach. They would interact with the shop owners, local
communities, tourists, beach users, and stakeholders to educate them on the correlation
between a clean beach and tourism along with advising them on steps to be taken that
would ensure Udaipur beach is maintained clean.

Organisation – Earth 5R
Details – Driven by 50,000 plus volunteers globally, Earth5R is one of the largest citizen-led
environmental movements. Earth5R focuses on creating Circular Economy based Zero
Waste communities, while reducing poverty and restoring the local ecosystem.
Issue – Their main aim was to clear the beach of plastic remnants and make people aware
about the pollution being caused by these toxins of poly hydrocarbons.
Execution steps
The beach clean-up and environmental awareness at Juhu Beach started off at 8 am. Getting
the beach rid of plastic remains, Earth5R members picked on every little wrapper and bit of
plastic, on the shore.
While cleaning, lot of enthusiastic individuals stopped not only to compliment the work but
to also to interact. Sharing their views on cleanliness, knowing about teams' mission,
engagements on Swacch Bharat and talking about accelerated awareness on environmental
fitness, were various ways in which many fitness freaks and beach lovers got involved with
the members.

With almost 3 huge bags full of waste and fruitful engagement of awareness conversations
with individuals and groups. The Sunday activity of clean up and awareness came to an end.

Impact: Activities like these invoked a deeper sense of responsibility and gratitude for aware
members to share this knowledge with people who are unaware. Community engagement is
one the best ways to initiate change and empower its members. It is essential to make a
choice to use the privilege of our knowledge to bring about change in society with these
little initiatives.

Organisation – Shuddhi
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Details - SHUDDHI is a registered NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

working together with Partners & Local Communities in India & Globally to improve
Environment & Human Well-Being

Issue: Clean the plastic waste near the banks of river Yamuna
Execution steps - They recently in collaboration with Barclays, conducted a cleanliness drive
over the Yamuna River. They did this with over 217 volunteers with an aim to create a
cleaner, safer and better environment for the coming generations. They handpicked the
wrappers and other solid waste and collected them in bins. The waste was later segregated
and sent for disposal