Kawal to be developed as eco-tourism centre. But are we able to maintain the existing ones?

A new wildlife sanctuary is always a good news to my ears. It raises my hopes to see Mount Abu having its own Wildlife Sanctuary utilised to its real potential. How many Sloth Bear sanctuaries does one come across in this country??

Here, we have an ever growing population of Sloth bears which has increased 10 times in last decade but still is neglected. The increase in number of bears and decrease in the area of their habitat pushes them into the municipal limits which results into unwanted man - wild encounters. Though luckily there havn't been any untoeard incidence till date, but aren't we sitting on it and waiting for a sure disaster?

The Forest department and the Tourism department of the State can plan eco-tourism activities within the sanctuary area in a phased manner with minimum concrete use. Using bamboo and wood and also making solar energy useful here will add to the objective of preserving nature.

Presently, Mount Abu has several eco-tourism sites where one can only see concrete and dried up surroundings due to lack of proper access to natural water supply. Eco-tourism cannot be made a successful induatry by making plans and showing stuff on paper and files. One needs to get real and plan it in a way that you add more activities without changing the existing natural flora. Its time to have more Private-Public partnerships in projects related to developing sites. And there is no scarcity of experience or intelligence on the subject in this country. Only thing missing is the will to put an effort which gives time bound results.

Preserve Nature, adopt a Tree.