In the Himalayas and various other parts of India, a new model for low-impact tourism is needed to protect the fragile ecosystems that provide youthful adventurers the wild and exotic experiences they seek, and homestays are a sustainable tourism option in such surroundings.

Can an adivasi community save the forests and wildlife they live amidst? According to the sentiments echoed by about 160 Soliga adivasis, the answer is a resounding yes. Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary is part of an ecologically critical landscape in the meeting point of the Western and Eastern Ghats, known for its plant and animal diversity, including elephant, tiger, and gaur. Soligas have resided in the area for several centuries.

Natwar Sarangi of Odisha is an extraordinary farmer, collecting and trying several hundred traditional varieties of paddy and redistributing them to willing farmers.

A Rajasthan village has cylindrical houses that help people cope with extreme weather events

The state government is promoting a significant conversion to organic farming, and opening "livelihood schools” (first such schools in India) for this purpose. A total of 50,000 hectares of land belonging to around 62,000 families will be covered under organic farming by 2015.

A Londoner describes her experience of the worldview of a community that lives in a remote part of Rajasthan without modern comforts, and what she learned from them. Such as that to bring about change all stakeholders have to see each other as equals, and that Trust between all stake-holders is essential, especially between those who have very opposing views.

While more and more men (who hold the title to their farms) are migrating to urban areas and large industrialised farms, women stay in the villages and are increasingly taking over cultivating the land. In Narsenahalli village, women now fear that the lands may be sold or pawned by their menfolk. So they are demanding the right to the title deeds.

Swaraj University was birthed in 2010 in Udaipur, Rajasthan as a two year learning program for youth. The focus of the program is on self-designed learning and on localisation entrepreneurship, including exploration of basic business skills redefined within the context of ecological sustainability, inner transformation and social justice.

Samrakshan’s Meghalaya field-base had undertaken community-based conservation programmes in the landscape for the last few years but our latest attempt was a community-based ecotourism programme with multiple goals. -