Himalayan Ecotourism - Gushaini

Belgian Stephan Marchal came to India seventeen years ago. He initially spent seven years in Jharkhand in eastern India, working with local Munda women on community-based projects across healthcare, income generation, tribal culture, water management and conservation. Then he discovered the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Himachal Pradesh, a huge protected area managed by the Forest Department. “I came to know that the park administration was facing serious issues with the local community that struck me. I could not understand how a conservation effort could create a conflict with the local community. I thought this is something I could work on,” he reminisces. 

The main problem was that most of the local villagers depended on the natural resources in the GHNP for their living. The creation of the GHNP meant they lost their rights to access the area, resulting in conflict. Neither the government’s financial compensation nor selling local products through the local government-backed NGO helped control their angst. “That is when I came into the picture. My idea was to start a business, working with the locals in a fair way - if I grow economically, they should also grow - and earning enough money to be able to support conservation projects. Ecotourism came quite naturally as a possible business, and I understood that I would have to take the role of a coach and social motivator to succeed in bringing innovation in the local social, economic and political ecosystem,” explains Marchal.

After several meetings with a few tens of locals who were already working as daily wage earners in the field of trekking, the decision was made in 2013 to establish a cooperative society. In reducing competition between guides, this would stabilise prices, give guides more control over working conditions and ensure they grew together. 65 members registered. 

Marchal took responsibility for marketing to bring customers to the cooperative society. “I registered a commercial firm for that purpose, and an agreement between the cooperative and my firm came into effect. That is how Himalayan Ecotourism (HET) was mooted as an association between a cooperative society and a small group of skilled professionals in the field of marketing and social services.” 

The model is simple. All the cooperative members are shareholders in their society and have equal democratic rights. And most importantly, only people born and raised in the ecozone of the GHNP can become members. The members of the cooperative are organised in groups of about ten people, each led by a group leader, recognised by the group and the cooperative, who oversees trekking operations and the team. 

Business is distributed to each group in rotation, although the model retains a degree of competition by rewarding groups with positive reviews. “From each client, we receive written feedback after the trek,” explains Marchal. “The groups that perform the best will have a business advantage (more clients will be given to the group) compared to the groups that perform averagely. The cooperative system avoids the classic and destructive competition between locals, but we keep the right level of competition between the groups to ensure the best quality of services.”

Not everything is plain sailing. A problem quick to arise was that the other major trekking operator refused to give work to the cooperative members as a counterattack. The operator was no longer free to conduct business as it pleased, and regarded a foreign-influenced social movement as a threat. Tension remains, although more local staff have asked to join the cooperative. Marchal hopes everybody will ultimately become a member. 

Keshav Thakur, 41 and a resident of the region, says, “I have been part of the cooperative for the last seven years and can say now our work is more streamlined and we do not really need to keep looking for work. Also, the reviews we receive help us improve on our working style. We ensure that we do our bit for conservation by ensuring that we do not leave any trash on the treks. If we find anything, it is always collected.”Cooperative members are also actively involved in two conservation projects around preventing forest fires and reforesting.