Adventure Tourism: Mt. Everest's example of problems and solutions

How the mountaineering community is working to reverse tourism effects for the regions surrounding Mount Everest

Photo by Kalle Kortelainen on Unsplash

Greetings readers!

Since the last issue I’ve run a marathon and then had a surgical procedure 4 days later. It was scheduled as I was arriving back into Victoria the day after the marathon on March 25th. I normally publish twice monthly but post-surgery I had to postpone my usual first of the month issue due to recovery and being exhausted for a week and ready for bed by 8 pm.

I had a procedure to remove a basal cell carcinoma. Don’t look at that if you’re squeamish or prepare yourself because you should know what to look for. Mine looked more like a crater that was scaly and sometimes peeling around the edges. Get yourself checked regularly, keep your children and yourself covered in the sun, and see a doctor if anything on your skin looks unusual. My doctor and other doctors have said that these usually are the result of a bad sunburn from childhood or the teenage years.

Finishing my marathon March 24th weekend in Washington.

Transitioning back into this last month’s topic of adventure tourism. As mentioned in the last issue, there are a lot of different activities that can be considered adventure tourism. It does not just have to be extreme sports. Just as the outdoors has many different definitions depending on who you’re speaking to and access, so does adventure tourism. There are many different entry points and all are valid!

Links

Keeping this list short this week because it gets a bit more academic with this issue’s content and I don’t necessarily want to put you to sleep! :)

Adventure tourism becoming more popular with women 40 and older.

Latest trends in adventure travel. I particularly like 3 and 4.

Titanic adventure tourism “over” according to one previous passenger. Good riddance, let the shipwreck rest in peace and stop risking lives unnecessarily.

Some of the problems that can arise with adventure tourism are noted in this article about British Columbia (where I live!).

Implications of the Adventure Tourism industry as it grows (this article is a month old).

Adventure tourism is sustainable tourism, and that under that umbrella is: ecotourism, active travel, nature-based tourism, conservation travel, and outdoor tourism.

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Trekking in the Khumbu region photo by Sylwia Bartyzel on Unsplash

Mountaineering tourism effects on Mount Everest

The area surrounding Mount Everest is known as the Khumbu region and it is one of the most economically prosperous areas in Nepal because of Everest tourism. As early as 2005, the mountaineering community and researchers were noticing that the effects of 20 years of climbing tourism was affecting the Khumbu region’s waste management, drinking water, and forests. When trekking interest exploded in the region, so did the need to build accommodations for tourists.

Environmental issues brought by tourism

Why is deforestation particularly bad in the Khumbu? It has a particularly harmful impact in the alpine because the mountain ecosystem relies upon trees for watershed management, biodiversity maintenance, and stabilization. Deforestation in the region is a result of inns and villages using trees and the region’s juniper shrubs as fuel and for building materials. Even when using timber for fuel by locals and for tourism was prohibited by the government, the practice persisted.

Waste management in the region was/is another huge problem. Approximately 3000 people live on the Tibetan plane and the area welcomes 50,000 tourists a year (Kelly, 2015). Of the 50,000 tourists, thousands are trekkers and mountaineers who live on the side of the mountain for weeks at a time. The most devastating impacts stem from the trash and human waste left behind on the trail, which runs downstream and pollutes the water sources of Sherpa villages. (Gross, right?)

A 2014 study estimated that fifty tons of trash have been left behind on Mount Everest over six decades (Harris, 2014). As climbers ascend the mountain, they discard items to make the extremely difficult and dangerous journey easier, and this trash has been left behind for years. In a study of the Indian Himalayan trekking routes, non-biodegradable waste was found to be the most harmful to the environment and is the biggest source of pollution on the trekking routes (Kuniyal, 2005). This type of garbage is especially worse at high altitude where it does not decompose because of the extremely cold temperatures. This means Everest is a trash dump for tents, oxygen tanks, food containers, batteries, bodies of deceased climbers, and human waste. All of this garbage is sliding down the mountain due to glacial melt and streams running down the slopes to the Sherpa villages so climate change is exposing six decades of trash that has piled up (Sharma & Schultz, 2019). 

In 2015, no proper waste disposal system existed for the 50,000 trekkers (Kelly, 2015). The financial resources for water treatment are scarce in the Khumbu and the locals are using these streams as their water source. “There are Sherpa communities too poor to afford water treatment plants, and their members often drink untreated water straight off the mountain” (Kelly, 2015). This is a public health issue that must be managed for the health of Nepal’s residents.

Tourism is money for Nepal

Nepal is one of Asia’s poorest nations and the government has always been plagued by corruption (Sharma & Gettleman, 2019). International climbing permits to summit Everest currently cost about $11,000 USD and in 2019, the Nepali government issued a record number of 381 permits (Schultz, et al., 2019). Sherpas and expert mountaineers say that number is too high considering the few days a year that an actual ascent can be attempted, due to extremely harsh weather conditions and the danger involved. Thus, overtourism is another vulnerability of the destination.

Many studies criticize the Nepali government for not using tourism revenue appropriately. The permit issuing authority does not require proof of mountaineering experience before issuing a permit to climbers and thus, permit issuing appears to be a financially motivated decision, allowing anyone with the money and time an opportunity to attempt an Everest ascent. Ascending Everest has also become an expedition of vanity, and this adds to the record number of people applying for permits. The Nepali government has a difficult time rejecting unqualified applicants because of the revenue it generates. This makes the region vulnerable to decline due to the scale of the adverse impacts. 

Analysis and Recommendations

Even though there are a lot of problems caused by tourism in the region, there are some good things happening and researchers have some solutions. The area surrounding Everest peak was established as a national park in the late 1970s, the park itself has not properly managed the effects of tourism. The area is vulnerable to the impacts of deforestation, trash, and water pollution. Real conservation efforts have emerged only in the last ten to fifteen years, bringing to light the issues of climate change and waste management. 

The number of permits issued steadily climbs as more people seek to summit the top peak. To control tourist traffic and still maintain the economic benefits of tourism, visitors could be capped at a maximum number of summit and trekking permits issued per year. Nepal could require “anyone wanting to climb Everest show proof of having scaled at least one other 8000-meter peak” (Sharma & Gettleman, 2019). Since Nepal has several other peaks of this height, it could balance the mountaineering traffic and generate revenue in the form of other summit permits. 

It has also been suggested that potential climbers should have to provide proof of mountaineering experience before summiting the mountain (Sharma & Gettleman, 2019). This adaptation suggestion could decrease dangerous traffic on Everest by requiring climbers to apply to a nominating committee made up of international climbing organizations. This committee could then make recommendations to the permit issuing authority in Nepal regarding which climbers are experienced and fit enough to attempt an ascent. If the Nepali government only issued permits to those who were deemed skilled enough to ascend Everest, it would lessen the overcrowding and tourism impacts. Climbers would be encouraged to attempt other Nepali peaks first for more experience, and thus endanger less lives on Everest.

The Nepal Mountaineering Association has lobbied its own government to adopt adaptation strategies like building permanent campsites with utilities, toilets, and trash receptacles and to expand the use of renewable energies in the Khumbu (Popescu, 2014). This is a start toward adapting to the effects of climate change as well as the growing number of tourists who visit Everest.

These adaptation measures would need to be employed on other peaks too if resilience measures like requiring climbers to have experience climbing other 8,000-meter peaks in Nepal is adopted. However, Nepal still lacks the infrastructure that its residents need (Popescu, 2014). It almost seems unfair to put the needs of tourists in the Khumbu ahead of its residents even though tourism brings the economic benefits of jobs and revenue to the region.

Some of the most promising adaptation and resilience measures that are being employed on the mountain are attempting to tackle a few of the impacts and climate change issues at once. In the last decade, engineers from the United States have worked with organizers from various entities in Nepal to introduce renewable energy sources to be used by local communities and tourists in the Khumbu. The Mount Everest Biogas Project**, established in 2010, is slowly building an anaerobic biogas digester system that uses solar panels and converts human waste from the mountain into renewable energy for cooking and heating in Sherpa villages (Ferguson, 2013). This project also aims to eliminate the need for cutting timber and juniper to use as fuel for heating and cooking, and its fossil fuel producing alternative, kerosene. Therefore, mitigating some of the deforestation impacts and reducing the carbon load in the Khumbu. 

More protective measures for the environment must be created and enforced, like requiring that all waste be packed out with an expedition. The trash that is currently on the mountain must be removed and disposed of or converted to energy that could be used to power the region and not continue to pollute the groundwater of the Sherpa villages. A solution for purifying the endangered groundwater is also needed. Finally, all stakeholders must be engaged and committed in these undertakings to reduce the effects of vulnerabilities.

Climbing Everest should be viewed as a privilege, because it is one. The Sherpa hold the mountain in high reverence as a holy mountain (Schultz, et al., 2019). All climbers and trekkers visiting the region should treat the mountain with as much respect as the Sherpa do in order to preserve it for its residents and for future tourists.

And that is where I’ll stop. I will admit that it was hard to edit this and not leave anything out. I’ve kept large parts of text from my paper with only slight edits because I am not sure if anyone outside of the mountaineering community, environmentalists, or researchers know much about what is left behind on Everest and how things are slowly changing.

Tourism can be an excellent for job creation and economic development in regions where there are not many options for jobs. However, maintaining a harmony between residents, tourists, and the environment is a challenge that was not always considered when destinations became popular. Thankfully, that is changing or tourists and/or the adventure tourism community is working to build back and reverse or minimize the damage

**For more information, visit http://mteverestbiogasproject.org

Consuming

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

Currently reading Just finished reading The House in the Cerulean Sea and it was a delight! It is classified by my public library as science fiction but it seems more like fantasy to me. It’s about a rule-following man who works in a government role and he is sent on a top-secret mission to live with and observe a small orphanage of children who are various sorts of mythical creatures. All of the children have magical or supernatural powers. I really enjoyed this book from the start. It’s sweet and funny and kept me interested. I read this morning that a sequel or continuation of the story will be published in the fall, yay!

This morning I started Remarkably Bright Creatures and I’m definitely enjoying it only 50 pages in. Part of the story is told from the point of view of a Great Pacific Octopus that lives in a small town aquarium. He’s got a dry sense of humor and is a crafty octopus. Excited to dive back into this one tonight.

Currently listening to The Book of Doors. I’m three hours in and really enjoying it and the narrator. It is about an NYC cafe worker who is gifted a book that can magically transport its owner to anywhere in the world. I heard about this book on a podcast called From the Front Porch and I immediately added it to my list. It is also fantasy or magical realism.

I have not been watching much tv so I don’t have anything to contribute to that at the moment. I’ve been finishing up a few extra yoga certifications or working on things related to that or working on my novel. I hit forty thousand words earlier this week, woohoo! I’ll talk about that it bit more in the next issue.

When I have not been learning, I’ve been knitting or painting. I have always enjoyed creating art - I use that term loosely - and it has been really nice to play with my watercolours and my acrylic paints again and do some collage work. I feel lucky that I have the time to do these things. I got back into them right after surgery since screens irritated my eyes and my head hurt. Painting didn’t bother my eyes and is always fun and relaxing.

Some of my recent blobs and florals

That is all for this issue! Thanks for being here and for reading. I truly appreciate all of you. In the next issue, I am going to do a little introductory post because I realize I’ve never done one and I’d like to lighten it up after this issue. And this newsletter is not about me, but I think it helps to know a little bit of my background and where I am coming from!

-Sonya

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If you’re interested: Bibliography for the Everest paper, for further reading. Quite a few of these are from the New York Times, they’ve done a lot of good reporting on the Everest issues.

Barone, E., & Tweeten, L. (2019, June 13). Greed, Weather and Inexperience: See How Mount Everest's Deadly Season Compares to Past Years. Retrieved from Time Magazine: https://time.com/5604758/mount-everest-deaths/.

Byers, A. (2005, March). Contemporary human impacts on alpine ecosystems in the Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, Nepal. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(1), 112-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.2005.00452.x.

Davidson, D. J. (2010). The applicability of the concept of resilience to social systems: Some sources of optimism and nagging doubts. Society & Natural Resources, 23(12), 1135-1149. https://doi-org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/10.1080/08941921003652940.

Ferguson, Will. (2013, May 15). On Mount Everest, seeking biogas energy in a mountain of waste. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130515-mount-everest-biogas-energy/?fbclid=IwAR0sVnRA-NfE1zDtfXMEz0E9VjzfdfiQTzjDZujqOQyMXynmZYDeQn-Cr-0#close.

Figueroa, P. (2013, July 15). Our World . Retrieved from United Nations University: ourworld.unu.edu/en/vanity-pollution-and-death-on-mt-everest.

Gao, J.-G., Zhang, Y.-L., Liu, L.-S., & Wang, Z.-F. (2013). Climate change as the major driver of alpine grasslands expansion and contraction: A case study in the Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) National Nature Preserve, southern Tibetan Plateau. Quarternary International, 336, 108-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.09.035 .

Hall, C. M., & Lew, A. (2009). Understanding and managing tourism impacts: an integrated approach. Taylor and Francis Group. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/lib/royalroads-ebooks/detail.action?docID=452301.

Harris, G. (2014, March 3). Climbing Mt. Everest? Nepal says bring back garbage. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/world/asia/climbing-mt-everest-nepal-says-bring-back-garbage.html?fbclid=IwAR0sVnRA-NfE1zDtfXMEz0E9VjzfdfiQTzjDZujqOQyMXynmZYDeQn-Cr-0 .

Kelly, D. (2015, April 2). Thousands of Mount Everest hikers add to area's groundwater contamination. Environmental Monitor. https://www.fondriest.com/news/thousands-of-mount-everest-hikers-add-to-areas-groundwater-contamination.htm?fbclid=IwAR0sVnRA-NfE1zDtfXMEz0E9VjzfdfiQTzjDZujqOQyMXynmZYDeQn-Cr-0 .

Kuniyal, J. C. (2005). Solid waste management techniques for the waste generated and brought down from campsites in the hill spots, trails and expedition tops. Waste Management & Research, 182-198.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X05054668. 

Lemmen, D., Warren, F., Lacroix, J., & Bush, E. (2008). From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007. Ottawa: Government of Canada.   https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/pdf/assess/2007/pdf/full-complet_e.pdf .

Nyaupane, G., Lew, A., & Tatsugawa, K. (2014). Perceptions of trekking tourism and social and environmental change in Nepal's Himalayas. Tourism Geographies, 16(3), 415-437. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2014.942233.

Popescu, A. (2014, March 11). Everest's growing problem. Retrieved from BBC: bbc.com.   http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20140307-the-worlds-highest-clean-up-effort .

Schultz, K., Gettleman, J., Mashal, M., & Sharma, B. (2019, May 26). 'It was like a zoo': Death on an unruly, overcrowded Everest. New York Times.   HYPERLINK https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/world/asia/mount-everest-deaths.html .

Sharma, B., & Gettleman, J. (2019, May 29). Nepal says Everest rules might change after traffic jams and deaths. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/world/asia/mount-everest.html?fbclid=IwAR0sVnRA-NfE1zDtfXMEz0E9VjzfdfiQTzjDZujqOQyMXynmZYDeQn-Cr-0 .

Sharma, B., & Schultz, K. (2019, May 30). As Everest melts, bodies are emerging from the ice. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/sports/everest-bodies-global-warming.html .

Sharma, B., & Schutlz, K. (2018, March 20). How do you get 200,000 pounds of trash off Everest? Recruit Yaks. New York Times.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/world/asia/mount-everest-trash-nepal.html?fbclid=IwAR0sVnRA-NfE1zDtfXMEz0E9VjzfdfiQTzjDZujqOQyMXynmZYDeQn-Cr-0 .

Sharpley, R. (2015). Tourism & Vulnerability: a case of pessimism. Tourism Recreation Research, 257-260. https://doi-org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/10.1080/02508281.2012.11081714 .

Sheppard, V. A., & Williams, P. W. (2016). Factors that strengthen tourism resort resilience. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 28, 20-30.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2016.04.006 .

Smit, B., & Wandel, J. (2006). Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 16(3), 282-292.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008 .

Stevens, S. (2003). Tourism and deforestation in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. The Geographical Journal, 169(3), 255-277. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3451451.

Student, J., Lamers, M., & Amelung, B. (2019, June 14). A dynamic vulnerability approach for tourism destinations. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(3), 475-496.   HYPERLINK https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1682593 .

Thakuri, S., Salerno, F., C., S., Bolch, T., D' Gata, C., Viviano, G., & Tartari, G. (2013). Tracing glacier changes since the 1960s on the south slope of Mt. Everest (central Southern Himalaya) using optical satellite imagery. The Cryosphere Discuss, 1297-1315.   https://air.unimi.it/retrieve/handle/2434/364538/546740/tc-8-1297-2014.pdf .