期刊名称：International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology
印刷版ISSN：2347-6710
电子版ISSN：2319-8753
出版年度：2014
卷号：3
期号：8
页码：15167
DOI：10.15680/IJIRSET.2014.0308015
出版社：S&S Publications
摘要：Biodiversity is an asset to tourism and it varies greatly across the globe. It is vital in maintenance of ahealthy ecosystem. From the last couple of decades biodiversity has been affected due to rapid urbanization. Various effortsare made to conserve the biodiversity; one of them is protected areas which are reserved for rare and endangered species offlora and fauna. Maharashtra has up to 15,732 sq km reserved forest which is about 5.02 per cent of the State‟sgeographical area. Maharashtra is rich with varied biodiversity ranging from forests, wetland, grassland to coast andevergreen forest. Natural site, Kaas in Western Ghats has been included in the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO.Conservation of endangered and rare species of flora and fauna is a challenge in developing countries as rules andregulations are not strictly followed.Ecotourism is the key to conserve the endangered species because it is referred to as sustainable nature based tourism. Itincorporates tourism in harmony with nature. Further it provides opportunities for tourists to experience and explore thepowerful manifestation of nature. It also emphasizes the utmost necessity of protection of biodiversity and local culture.Ecotourism helps in economic development of area through employment generation. Awareness created and incomegenerated through ecotourism enables to protect the endangered species.This paper attempts to find out significance of eco-tourism in protection of biodiversity in Maharashtra. A detailed study isneeded to investigate the pressure and negative impact on biodiversity. Adoption of ecotourism on the grounds ofenvironment carrying capacity will lead to sustainable tourism development and this is the need of the hour.
