Understanding the Role of Community and their Level of Participation in Conservation and Resource Management: A Study on Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan India

Community participation in various stages of tourism development cannot be neglected for any type of destination to be flourished, as the new forms of tourism seek both the satisfaction of tourists as well as the locals. Moreover, involving the local people in destination planning, creating sufficient employment opportunities especially for the local youths, educating the local residents about the consequences of tourism on nature and natural resources, ensuring overall socio-economic growth and environmental protection etc. are essential for the sustainable development of any protected area. In this study, the authors have chosen Ranthambore National Park, located in Rajasthan as a case study (1) to explore the present status of tourism in terms of sustainable, ecotourism, and nature based tourism, (2) to highlight the community role and their involvement in resource management and conservation activities, and (3) to investigate the Government’s and local NGOs’ role in connecting the host community to various conservation and development practices in this protected land, which is also a prominent tourist destination in Rajasthan. The study is based on both primary and secondary data - collected from site and from different published research articles, book chapters, Rajasthan government policies, reports, tourism policies, NGOs’ reports, articles on Ranthambore National Park, official websites of Rajasthan Tourism and the respective national park. Qualitative approach has been adopted for collecting the empirics of the paper. The findings reveal that the supportive nature of the local people in resource management & forest protection, and the positive measures taken by Rajasthan Government and the Local NGOs to promote this protected area as an eco-tourism hub and to conserve its natural resources through different community based initiatives, schemes and policies; ultimately help in making the pathway of sustainable ecotourism development. The study also points out that (1) implementing realistic ecotourism plan to overcome the lack of coordination between public and private sectors, and (2) increasing the level of literacy in this area, as well as making local people more aware of the importance and realities of nature conservation should be considered as the main priorities to accelerate the level of participation in future course of time.