Sustainable landscape development for a nature base tourism

Abstract

Glacier Tourism is an important type of nature-based tourism. Because of its unique and spectacular landscapes, the visual appreciation of glaciers amongst the tourists has increased manifold. This has led to an increase in the number of tourists greater than the carrying capacity of the environment which has resulted in chaotic development for tourism infrastructure, degradation of the natural resources and loss of biodiversity. Glaciers are an important ecosystem which help in the reforming of the landforms in a span of hundreds to thousands of years. Such an ecosystem has a diverse range of flora and fauna. Hence, the loss of alpine ecosystem could adversely affect the whole cycle of ecosystem Another important threat the glaciers are facing is the extreme sensitivity of mountain glaciers to climate change, as atmospheric temperatures have risen slightly, glaciers have started retreating. With the current trend of climate change there is a decline of glacier landscape attraction, reduction and disappearance of the glacial landscape and potential threat to the cultural values of the people. Glaciers are also known for different hazards like avalanches, earthquake, glacial lake outburst flood, etc. It is important for such hazards to be mitigated so to prevent any destruction of life, property, environment, etc. This study focusses on a sustainable landscape development which will mitigate the negative impacts of tourism on the environment, strategies for conservation of glaciers and measures for the prevention of hazards without limiting the experience and quality of a nature-based tourism for the tourists.