Sustainable Tourism Opportunities in Kashmir Valley and the Role of Women

Introduction

Women's contributions to environmental preservation and sustainable development have gained more recognition during the past 20 years. Women's involvement in environmental conservation and management was specifically mentioned at the third world conference on women in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1985. The fourth world conference on women in Beijing, China, adopted a platform for action that included women and the environment as one of its key areas of concern. According to the UNWTO and the International Ecotourism Society, women hold the majority of ecotourism jobs globally.

Humans have an insatiable need for natural wonders, and they are both the ones who degrade and defend them, always testing the limits of what is considered acceptable behaviour (Deming, 1996; Seth, 1996). Ecosystems are impacted by tourism, and we should prioritize their protection above the needs of humanity since all living things, not just humans, are valuable in their own right (Milgrath, 1989; Wearing and Neil, 1999). Strategies on tourism and sustainability were developed as part of the sustainable development model, demonstrating how ecological principles underpin the growth of economies. Sustainable tourism requires that people think about how visitors will value and utilize natural areas, how tourism can improve local communities, how tourism will have social and ecological repercussions, and how these impacts might be mitigated. A shift from practices to principles and increased effort in implementing sustainable tourism measures; being culturally sensitive when formulating a strategy for sustainable development; working within existing frameworks rather than developing new ones; involving affected stakeholders in decision making; integrating tourism with other land uses; encouraging visitor accountability toward the environment and local populations; and providing ecologically sustainable forms of tourist accommodation.

Sustainable tourism has its detractors, including the following points: tourism is not seen as an industry dependent on natural resources; it is invisible in urban areas; electoral strength is low; there is a lack of leadership; the current approach to planning and management of tourism is not sustainable; and the people in rural tourism communities rarely work together. Environmental resources and ecosystem services are just as important to any economic sector as other types of capital, which is why they are so central to the concept of sustainable development. These services provide both direct and indirect benefits to the tourist industry, but they depreciate in value over time just like any other kind of production capital. The environmental comforts that the tourist sector depends on might be harmed by the industry's operations, which in turn would harm the natural resource base. If tourism interferes with the normal functioning of ecosystem services, the quality of such services, which are crucial to economic activity, suffers, which in turn has negative indirect consequences on such capital. The industry would fail if the deterioration of necessary facilities or environmental services was not stopped. While it is generally accepted that protecting the natural resources directly utilized by the tourism industry is essential to the sector's long-term economic viability, it is often assumed that the 'free' services given by the environment do not need conservation or replenishment. As a result, they don't factor into assessments of the industry's true cost, which begs the issue of whether the industry's contribution to the national economy is in line with the use of, and consequent maintenance and/or replenishment of, equivalent reserves. Sustainable tourist development is now recognized as a top priority. Meaningful commercialization would require responsible management of resources, waste,