Eco-tourism: A Sustainable Livelihood Option for Mountainous Communities in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, India

Eco-tourism has gained a widespread acceptance in the tourism industry in recent past years and the ‘mountain tourism’ is identified as a fastest growing sector within this. The Lakes are being visited from many years and the tourism and recreation activities are considered as important ecosystem services of the Lakes. The present study was conducted on the various aspects of tourism in Dodital Lake and its impact on socio-economic status, employability, biodiversity conservation as well as impacts on the Lake Environment in some selected villages. The preliminary data was collected with the help of structured and semi-structured questionnaire and also from the secondary sources in the district. The results of the study revealed that about 95% of the household in these villages depends on the agriculture as major livelihood source with rearing animal as supplementary option. The tourism is being considered as promising source of income generation and helpful to prevent the migration of youth for employment. Approximately 60% of the household from these villages were involved in the various tourism activities and their average annual income was estimated much higher than the households involve in agriculture only. The preliminary results are also shows that traditional livelihood sector is influencing due to tourism but being play an important role in the living standards of the household. However, the tourism in the Dodital area has been identified as a key of solid waste disposal and affecting the lake Environment. The need of well planned and sustainable eco-tourism approach in the region is well supported in this paper, could be beneficial for both the people and ecosystem.