An Appraisal of Evolution Stage and Degradation Risk of Geomorphosites Using TALC and DRA in Ajodhya Hill of the Eastern Chota Nagpur Plateau, India

Tourism development often brings notable challenges to geo-conservation in natural areas. As tourist sites emerge at different evolutionary stages of tourism development, they may face various potential threats. This study examines the stages of tourism development and assesses the associated degradation risks using the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) and Degradation Risk Assessment (DRA) frameworks on 14 geomorphosites in the Ajodhya hill area of the eastern Chota Nagpur plateau, famous for its diverse geological and geomorphological features and growing tourist attraction. Subsequently, the intricate relationship between the stages of tourism development and potential threats to geomorphosites are also addressed in this work. For the TALC analysis, 10 criteria and several indicators are considered to determine the current tourism development stage and DRA analysis using 20 parameters consisting of 4 indicators has been assessed. The findings reveals that, the most of the geomorphosites lies in the exploration stage except two geomorphosites (namely, Chunkadi spring and Jugni cave) with moderate to high risk of degradation. The extent of degradation in the region is largely influenced by mismanagement of sites, meteorological vulnerabilities and increasing public usage. Thus by addressing the most vulnerable risk factors, effective management strategies and conservation measures would assist towards sustainable geotourism development locally and also could be utilized for preservation of similar sites.