Uttarakhand’s state bird, the Himalayan Monal, and other high-altitude species are in peril. A changing climate and over tourism are reducing the state’s alpine meadows (known locally as bugyals) and forests where these animals live. A recent visit to the Tungnath temple, India’s highest Shiva temple in Rudraprayag district, revealed a dismal state of affairs.
Instead of spotting a Himalayan Monal or a Tahr, plastic litter, a foul stench emanating from the temporary toilets built for tourists, plastic wrappers littered all over, and grey water leaching down the slopes of the meadow was all that was seen by Down To Earth (DTE).
Locals and the temple priests spoke a fear of losing the natural biodiversity, birds, and animals to an upsurge in tourist footfall. “We are happy that the shrine is getting visitors, but they are also degrading the landscape. For example, the sign boards placed along the trek read, “Walk on the paved paths and not in the meadow else a fine will be imposed”. But most tourists ignore the instructions. When people do that, the soft grass is damaged, leading to increased chances of soil erosion,” temple priest Bharat Maithani told DTE. He, along with village residents, had reported the case to the sub divisional magistrate in 2021.
In 2021, research fellow Manoj Singh submitted a report to then Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Forest Research Wing, Sanjiv Chaturvedi. Singh recorded the threats of over tourism on the Chopta-Tungnath trek to the shrine of Tunganath Mahadev. According to the tourist footfall data collected by the wildlife sanctuary for the year 2019, 488,033 tourists visited Tungnath and Chopta that season (an average of 134 person per day in a year).
Further analysis revealed that the peak tourism season (April to June) coincides with the mating season of many birds. It is also the time of the year when plants begin to flower/fruit for reproduction. “During the survey, I saw many tourists plucking flowers or walking over the meadows, trampling the flowers and grass. Such human activities disturb the natural regeneration cycle of the flora and fauna found in this region, which in turn may lead to biodiversity loss and degradation of the alpine ecosystem,” Singh told DTE.
Chopta Valley in Rudraprayag district is rich in Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus), Tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), Indian Pika (Ochotona royeli), and many Himalayan birds. This is why this area has been given the status of a wildlife sanctuary.
But for the past few years, increasing tourism and influx of tourists has put the existence of these species in danger.
The meadows and jungles have degraded drastically, especially in the last 10 years. Nitesh Ramola, a professional mountaineer, has been witness to the changing landscape because of climate change and anthropogenic interference. “Over promotion of camping activities in the Chopta region throughout the year has propelled degradation like never before. And the rise of the region as a ‘long weekend’ destination has been the cherry on the cake,” said Ramola.
“This beer-bottle-tourism has restricted the movement of fauna and avifauna in the region as well. Spotting of deer & antelope herds near garbage dumping spots in the valley is not so rare anymore. I remember once spotting a musk deer chewing a plastic wrapper under the rock cliff near the small Ganesh temple, below Tungnath temple, back in 2018. Due to retreating glaciers across the Himalayas, the moraine meadows are obviously shifting upwards in altitude and so are the grass lines & tree lines,” added Ramola.
The locals also report monkeys (Rhesus macaques) destroying Monal and other chaur (pheasant) nests. In recent years, the monkey population has increased. Earlier, langurs were found in the region and not monkeys. Some allege that these monkeys were released in large numbers after being captured from the nearby areas.
Yashpal Singh Negi, 62, a resident of Makku village who has been working as a nature guide and bird photographer for 25 years, told DTE how he has noticed a change in Monals’ foraging and mating behaviour due to low-flying helicopters. During May and June, many of the Himalayan birds breed. “I have seen them leave their nest or roosting sites because of the noise,” said Negi.
The observations of the community corroborate with the recent findings published in the August issue of the Behavioural Processes journal. Anand Kumar, assistant professor of zoology, and his team at the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Srinagar (Garhwal) studied the impact of noise on the Himalayan Monal in two different locations—Tungnath and Madhmaheshwar pilgrimage.
“Disruptions in acoustic communication has a significant impact on a bird’s individual fitness. Due to heavy vehicular noise, anthropogenic noise by tourists (loud music and chit-chatter), including the frequent sorties made by the low-flying helicopters, the Monal tries to amplify the amplitude of its call. This affects the social behaviour of the bird, which impacts the breeding output. For example, when the bird flies out of its nest, it alters their egg-laying and incubation period. This disturbs the incubation time of eggs and hence threatens chick survival. In future, this change in social behaviour of the birds may threaten the survival of the specie, and hence a population decline,” explained Kumar.
“Another threat emerging from over tourism is plastic waste. Though there are dustbins installed at various locations, the tourists tend to scatter waste. Due to high wind speed in the meadow, the leachate from the plastic alters the soil’s nutrition, thus affecting propagation of the plant community too,” Kumar added.