What do you get when you cross a Masters Degree in Social Work with a love for Environment and the mountains? 

If you are Ishita Khanna, the answer is a career working with the people of the remote and beautiful Spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh. 

By Aparna V. Singh

Ishita, a post-graduate in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is among the co-founders of Ecosphere, a social enterprise working in the Spiti valley with a focus on sustainable development and conservation. Working in tough conditions with unreliable electricity, Ishita managed nevertheless to find some time and share with us an account of her interesting work. 

Why Spiti in particular? What drew you here? And – what’s it like living in Spiti? (Yes, you can tell we are jealous!) 

There is no one particular reason for why we chose Spiti. It was a combination of factors, issues and people that eventually led us to start and continue working in Spiti. Living in Spiti has its ups and downs. 

At times one does miss the comfort of amenities which are the norm in cities – such as electricity, communication facilities—the lack of which make working in Spiti very hard and at times frustrating. However, apart from the hindrance to work, Spiti is really quite a blissful place to stay in. 

When and how did Ecosphere take off? What were the challenges you faced on starting up? 

We began our interventions in Spiti in 2002 as Muse (an NGO). Ecosphere has slowly grown out of the various initiatives of Muse and was first conceptualized as a social enterprise in 2006.      

Before we came to Spiti, we asked people whom we should meet there, and everyone referred us to the ‘Nono’ (the title for the King of Spiti). We were quite amazed that Spiti had a king and a bit apprehensive if he would be interested in meeting us or in any of our plans. The first thing we did in Spiti was to meet the king and much to our surprise he turned out to be extremely enthusiastic about our plans and volunteered to support us in every way possible. 

Over the next few weeks and months, Nono became an active part of our team. Due to his immense support and trust we didn’t face any issues in gaining the trust of local people. 

The first thing we did in Spiti was to meet the king and much to our surprise he turned out to be extremely enthusiastic about our plans and volunteered to support us in every way possible... Due to his immense support and trust we didn’t face any issues in gaining the trust of local people. 

What are Ecosphere’s main areas of work? 

Ecosphere was established with the objective of responding to the need for developing alternate and sustainable livelihood avenues that responsibly use available local resources (natural & cultural) and protect the environment. 

We believe that Spiti’s unique and fragile environment and culture needs a sensitised approach to development issues and aim at providing solutions that will not compromise sustainability, especially in the context of climate change. 

To address these concerns, Ecosphere works on various issues that range from: 

- Responsible eco-travel 

- The promotion and installation of renewable energy 

- Promotion of traditional crops and organic practices 

- Revival of art forms and their promotion 

- Development of greenhouses that enable vegetables to grow even in the winter months

- Construction of solar passive houses to reduce fuelwood consumption and carbon emissions as well as 

- Livelihood generation from indigenous plants such as the wonder berry Seabuckthorn that is ecologically very conducive for the area. (More information on Seabuckthorn here).

Ecosphere has developed its own range of Seabuckthorn products such as Seabuckthorn Jam, Crush and Teas under the brand name of Tsering which in the local language means ‘Blessings for a Long Life’.

Tell us more about your work in the eco-travel area; Spiti is becoming a popular destination, isn’t it?  

Spiti’s rich culture and unique landscape are great attractions to travelers. Moreover, having been an isolated society till recently, Spiti has a lot to offer tourists and the past few years have witnessed a steady growth in tourist numbers. However it was found that very little of the revenue actually remained within the area as almost all the tourist traffic was managed by people from outside.   

A key concern was the long term impact of tourism on the ecological and social fabric of the region. It was felt that a planned approach could help conserve the ethos of the region while providing a memorable experience to the traveller and generating income for the local community. 

Hence Ecosphere worked on developing a range of activities and trips that could make travel profitable for the community, culture, ecology and traveller. Homestays, cultural and Buddhist trails, wildlife trails showcasing Spiti’s rare and endangered wildlife such as the Himalayan Wolf and the Snow Leopard, botanical tours, fossil excursions showcasing Spiti’s geological wealth, trekking and peak ascents, ‘voluntours’ that link travel directly with development and conservation, are some of the  experiences that Ecosphere offers.  

 Homestays, cultural and Buddhist trails, wildlife trails showcasing Spiti’s rare and endangered wildlife such as the Himalayan Wolf and the Snow Leopard, botanical tours, fossil excursions showcasing Spiti’s geological wealth, trekking and peak ascents, ‘voluntours’ that link travel directly with development and conservation, are some of the  experiences that Ecosphere offers. 

Moreover all Ecosphere’s trips are carbon neutral. While the core objective is to reduce carbon emissions of all trips, we realise that travel entails emissions and it is our attempt to ensure that we minimise these emissions at all levels. Emissions generated are offset through investments in Ecosphere’s in-house projects on renewable energy that enable reduction in the usage of fuelwood. 

Ecosphere is also engaged in various other activities to minimize the negative impacts of tourism and maximise the gains for the area such as garbage management & cleanliness drives and providing tourists with alternate drinking water facilities as a substitute to buying mineral water bottles.

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