Nature-based solutions and digital management for Viksit Bharat @2047: Reimagining Himalayan tourism, education, and climate-resilient livelihoods
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64171/JSRD.5.S2.115-120Keywords:
Nature-based solutions, Forestry, Sustainable tourism, Himalayan development, Digital management, Viksit Bharat@2047Abstract
The Viksit Bharat@2047 is an outline for India's vision. It outlines the need for economically sound, socially equitable, and ecologically sustainable ways to develop the economy in the future. Although the Himalayan Region is ecologically sensitive, its potential to create sustainable tourism, jobs based on forestry and education will become more pronounced. The future of the environment is in danger due to climate change, the lack of regulation of tourism, the degradation of the ecosystem and the lack of digital integration. The purpose of this article is to show how forestry-based Nature's Based Solutions (NbS) combined with digital management can be a way for the Himalayan Region to develop in a sustainable way that meets both its development needs and its National Sustainability Goals. This paper will analyse policy data with respect to global best practices; and conceptual synthesis, and will cover how the conservation of forests, restoration of waterways and landscape planning can be done jointly with digital tools such as geospatial, data and virtual learning technologies. The emphasis is placed on sustainable tourism and Sustainable Development Education as two of the main drivers behind the development of inclusive economies that are supported by resilient forest ecosystems. Eco-tourism, wellness tourism and community-based tourism, guided by NbS principles associated with forestry as well as supported through Digital Governance, can create livelihoods that are climate-resilient while conserving natural capital. Higher education institutions located within the Himalayan region can also serve as knowledge centres through the embedding of forestry, sustainability and digital skills into their curricula establishing alignment between their programs and the National Education Policy 2020. To this end, this study has proposed an integrated Ecology – Technology – Education framework that will provide direction for policy and practice toward 2047.
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