How to run a homestay when water is scarce and tourists aplenty Hear from Ladakh's Tsewang Dorje
Did you know? A family in Ladakh consumes about 25 litres of water in winter season every day. But a tourist consumes about 75 litres of water per day!
This, in a fragile region like Ladakh — where water is scarce, waste-water management facility is unavailable and resources are limited, becomes an issue of sustainability for the communities residing.
While responsible tourism must be followed everywhere, in locations like these it becomes the need of the hour.
Raised on the banks of the Pangong Tso in a village called Maan, which still relies on a single VSat phone, Tsewang Dorje has blazed many a trail in the last few years.
A key local team member of Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) in Ladakh, Dorje has not only helped generate sustainable livelihoods by setting up homestays and supporting local entrepreneurs in his own village but also in several other remote rural areas. In Maan, he’s also part of a community-led astro-tourism project.
Dorje and his team run several homestays in Ladakh, all of which are carbon-neutral, eco-friendly and community uplifting. To save water, they provide dry toilets where the faeces goes into a pit and is used as manure and no water is wasted.
Dorje even facilitated the set up of a solar grid in his village that had been without electricity for decades.
"Do not throw garbage anywhere because Ladakh is very fragile. I want to tell tourists not to litter, preserve the environment and learn about the culture of people from cities instead of just villages," says 31-year-old Dorje.
"You wouldn't just read the cover of a book. Similarly, you shouldn't just touch and go from Ladakh. Hear stories from people, learn about their culture and then you would know why you need to be a responsible tourist," he adds.
#IRTA2022 #responsibletourism #sustainabletourism #responisbletourismindia #sustainabletourismindia #outlookrt #responsibletravel #responsibletravelindia
Follow this story and more: https://www.outlookindia.com/
This, in a fragile region like Ladakh — where water is scarce, waste-water management facility is unavailable and resources are limited, becomes an issue of sustainability for the communities residing.
While responsible tourism must be followed everywhere, in locations like these it becomes the need of the hour.
Raised on the banks of the Pangong Tso in a village called Maan, which still relies on a single VSat phone, Tsewang Dorje has blazed many a trail in the last few years.
A key local team member of Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) in Ladakh, Dorje has not only helped generate sustainable livelihoods by setting up homestays and supporting local entrepreneurs in his own village but also in several other remote rural areas. In Maan, he’s also part of a community-led astro-tourism project.
Dorje and his team run several homestays in Ladakh, all of which are carbon-neutral, eco-friendly and community uplifting. To save water, they provide dry toilets where the faeces goes into a pit and is used as manure and no water is wasted.
Dorje even facilitated the set up of a solar grid in his village that had been without electricity for decades.
"Do not throw garbage anywhere because Ladakh is very fragile. I want to tell tourists not to litter, preserve the environment and learn about the culture of people from cities instead of just villages," says 31-year-old Dorje.
"You wouldn't just read the cover of a book. Similarly, you shouldn't just touch and go from Ladakh. Hear stories from people, learn about their culture and then you would know why you need to be a responsible tourist," he adds.
#IRTA2022 #responsibletourism #sustainabletourism #responisbletourismindia #sustainabletourismindia #outlookrt #responsibletravel #responsibletravelindia
Follow this story and more: https://www.outlookindia.com/
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NewsTranscript
00:00 We work with Global Hammer and Exploration in Ladakh.
00:04 We work on the ground.
00:07 We are setting up a home stay there.
00:10 A carbonated home stay, in which we are installing solar power grids and solar water heaters.
00:18 We are working for the development of our community.
00:25 Ladakh is a very fragile environment.
00:28 So I suggest that you take all the garbage you can get.
00:36 Throw it in the segregation part of the city.
00:42 People will reuse it.
00:45 Otherwise, it will affect the environment of the village.
00:51 We feed the same to the tourists we grow in the fields.
00:56 So any visitor should be responsible from within.
01:01 So that the environment is not affected.
01:06 Sometimes, the network is not good in the village.
01:11 So guests come.
01:14 They say that there is a booking today.
01:17 So the guests get angry and leave.
01:20 Some people get angry.
01:25 We have to deal with them.
01:28 Everyone should understand that there is a network in this region.
01:35 So you have to understand from within that they have come to this faraway village.
01:45 In the winter, we use dry toilets in the washroom.
01:52 We use compost toilets.
01:56 Because we use it in our fields.
02:00 It is recycled.
02:02 When we use water for the washroom, it is not very sustainable.
02:10 Once it is used, it is gone.
02:14 And the leg can get dirty.
02:17 So I suggest that you use dry toilets as much as possible.
02:23 Many people come to Ladakh.
02:26 They see the famous books and go back.
02:41 So go deep into Ladakh and see the culture of every village.
02:47 And understand what is there to see in Ladakh.
02:54 Try to understand all that.
02:56 Thank you.
02:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]