Jain Spirit 2003 06 No 15

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 48

WORKPLACE
FOR THE AHIMSA
ammad og alg
46
OF ECOTOURISM
cod bo Hitesh Mehta tells us that his career has been greatly influenced by ethics
MAGINE yourself in a far-flung Land pristine tropical locale. A place as beautiful as the Serengeti, or the Amazon rainforest, or the Western Ghats of Kerala, or a Fijian Island. Imagine yourself lying on a locally hand-woven hammock, sipping organic shade-grown coffee. How about pesticide-free pineapple juice? Better still, mango lassi made from organic mangoes and milk from cows that are free ranging, no hormones, no antibiotics and fed on grass grown without any pesticides!
Imagine yourself staying in an ecolodge, which has been built with environmentally friendly materials, constructed using local skills and without damaging any existing vegetation, designed with low-impact, light-on-the-land principles and where part of your money goes not only towards the conservation of the neighbouring protected areas but also helps benefit local communities. Imagine yourself going on hikes with local guides who give you heart-to-heart talks about local plant and animal species, food, cultural taboos and ancient ways of living. Imagine feeling mentally, spiritually and physically satisfied...just imagine...
What you are imagining is the exciting, beautiful world of ecotourism: welcome to the fastest growing niche market of the tourism world! A market that is low-impact, that practises nonviolence principles and which, as a sector of the tourism industry, has helped to alleviate poverty in several rural parts of the world. It is the one sector of the tourism industry that has the greatest respect for both faunal and floral species as well as the welfare of the local people. To put it simply, ecotourism is the 'Jainism' of the leisure industry.
So, I hear you ask, what is ecotourism? The globally respected ecotourism organisation, The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as "responsible
Jain Spirit June August 2003
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Ecotourism planning seeks to involve local people
travel to natural areas, which conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people." One of the main components of ecotourism is interpretation, which is the use of preferably local guides who impart their knowledge of local plants, culture and animals to the tourist. Ecotourism has exploded within the past five years and will continue to grow exponentially in the next fifteen years. It is also influencing other forms of tourism. Also,
ecolodges are springing up in all corners of the earth - from the ice fields in Northern Canada to the deserts of Southern Africa.
I have been planning ecotourism destinations and designing ecolodges for the past seven years. The firm I work for in Florida, EDSA, is the largest ecotourism planning office in the world. Our projects are located in all corners of the globe: China, India, the Caribbean, Kenya, Galapagos, Egypt, Canada, Fiji, the list goes on. My upbringing as a Jain has heavily influenced the way I plan and design ecotourism destinations. I employ the principle of ahimsa in all my designs. In my projects, sensitive lands are designated for total protection where no development can take place. Jain values and principles are evident - there is respect for animals, plants and the soul of the place. The approach right from the outset is that of low-impact development.
My spiritual upbringing has greatly shaped the way I carry out research and analysis or plan destinations. So much so that my recent book International Ecolodge Guidelines is the only planning book in the world that addresses various metaphysical ways of reading the landscape, such as Feng Shui, Vaastu Shaastra, Native American and Aboriginal methods. This book is now regarded as the most comprehensive one on ecolodges and is currently used as a required text by many professors around the world.
The influence of Jainism on my work makes a positive
PHOTO: DINODIA