Boatmen and Status of Dal Lake and Its Environs: A Tale of Srinagar

摘要

The paper explores how rapid urbanization in Srinagar (India) has led to the decay of the environment of Dal Lake - one of the most tourist frequented locations in India, and the impact it has had on the local aboriginal community of Hanjis who are dependent on the Lake for their livelihoods. Rapid urbanization has led to shrinking in the area of the Lake and deterioration in water quality, coupled with increasing exploitation of natural resource available. Ironically, most of the over-exploitation of resources and pollution of the lake is attributable to the Hanjis themselves as they are unable to perceive the harm their community is likely to face in the long-run of these actions as economic sustenance and livelihoods of this community is completely dependent on the well-being of the Lake. There is a need for taking immediate action both from the Hanjis community, as well as from the government, and a need for them to work collectively. Participatory development efforts in planning need to be taken up as the focus of managing the challenge rather than strict restrictions and enforcement alone by the government, and complete ignorant attitude of the local community. Most Hanjis feel they have been alienated from development plan preparation for conservation of the Dal Lake, which has in turn led them to over-exploit the lake's resources as the sense of attachment and reliance is not there.%本文探讨了斯利那加（印度）的快速城市化如何导致了达尔湖环境的衰败——在印度最吸引游客经常光顾的地点之一—它已经影响了依赖湖为生的当地原住民社区Hanjis。快速城巿化，再加上天然资源的加速开采，导致湖水面积萎缩和水质恶化。具有讽刺意味的是，大部分的资源过度开采和湖泊污染是由于Hanjis居民造成的，而他们没有意识到从长远来看社区可能面临的由他们自己行为造成的伤害，因为这个社区的经济支持和生活完全依赖湖泊带来的财富。不论是Hanjis社区还是政府，有必要立即采取行动，并且他们需要共同工作。需要采取规划中参与式发展的方式，把重点放在管理挑战，而不是严格限制和单靠政府强制执行，这完全忽视了当地社区的态度。大多数Hanjis居民感到为保护达尔湖编制的发展规划和他们关系不大，这又反过来导致他们过度开采湖泊的资源，因为归属感和依赖感已不存在。