Wildlife and ecotourism are intricately linked. The modern ecotourism sector can be traced back to the Rio declaration in 1992 though it had existed in pockets in several places around the world, focussed mainly on wildlife and on natural landscapes.  In our country, wildlife tourism is the most popular form of ecotourism, encompassing non-consumptive interactions with wildlife, such as observing and photographing animals in their natural habitats. It has the recreational aspects of adventure travel and supports the values of ecotourism and nature conservation programmes. But, rowdy wildlife tourism can cause significant disturbances to animals in their natural habitats. Wildlife viewing can scare away animals, and disrupt their feeding and nesting sites due to the presence of human beings. Clearly, animals residing in the wild do not always get the consideration they deserve. With this context, the cover story in this issue examines the nexus between ecotourism and the essential need for consideration and respect for wildlife. In the recent years, a lot of important ideas and visions about the relationship between protected areas and tourism have been widely disseminated. However, it is felt that ‘sustainable tourism’ has been erroneously projected as a niche sector within tourism, rather than promoting the idea that tourism itself needs to be sustainable. Also, the fact that the success of all these concepts is intrinsically linked to tourist behaviour has not been considered adequately. Tackling unruly tourism in our country would need strong signals to influence individual and group behaviour of tourists, supported by enhanced vigilance and grounded in regulations and legislation.

Our cover story highlights the fact that the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) related to tourism and protection of biodiversity are intrinsically linked to each other and there are various challenges in this regard. India has over 500 protected areas but not much has changed drastically since Rio 1992. Immature tourist behaviour has been harmful to wildlife and nature conservation.

The special report discusses the perils of rapid urbanization plaguing the world today. Since planned urbanization often ‘forgets’ the poor, it leads to homelessness, substandard housing, and urban chaos. The danger lies in the fact that the cities accommodating millions of mostly poor, rural migrants seem to be almost completely unmanaged—hanging on perilously under current conditions. Obviously, there is a need for more balanced urbanization, such as paying greater attention to regional and secondary cities and enhancing rural–urban linkages to realize a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban future. As land becomes more valuable, the planning processes will have to come up with feasible ways to ensure that people are not driven towards vagrancy and substandard housing.

While the problems related to rapid urbanization are well known, the planning and administrative measures necessary to address the situation are far from adequate. The inevitable growth in urbanization—and the changing demands of people and of sustainability over time—require a more inclusive and nimble planning process.