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Tourism in NepalI. IDENTIFICATION1. The IssueSituated between China and India lies the small land-locked country of Nepal. Slightlylarger than the state of Arkansas, Nepal contains eight of the world's ten highestmountain peaks making it a popular destination for adventurous tourists. Nepal is amongthe poorest and least developed countries in the world. The country's populationreached more than 21 million in 1994 yet the per capita income is one of the world'slowest at $160 a year. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing a livelihoodfor over ninety percent of the population. Nepal is also a producer of cannabis for boththe domestic and international markets as well as the transit point for heroin into theWest. With the growing number of tourists, however, the Nepalese Government istrying to exploit this resource as well. One Nepalese ecologist says "There are nowthree religions in Nepal -- Hinduism, Buddhism, and tourism." The influx of tourists hashad dramatic effects on the environment and on the local communities who come intocontact with the tourists. It is no longer uncommon to find discarded rubbish along thetrekking trails. Just as common is the soil erosion during the monsoons as a result ofsevere deforestation, also caused by tourism. "Tourism is not only the goose that laysgolden eggs...it also fouls its own nest," says a Nepalese scientist.2. DescriptionThe Nepalese portion of the Himalayas was "long remote from the main pathways ofinternational tourism." The first Americans and Europeans did not enter the region until1950. Up until 1964 only mountaineering expeditions were permitted to visit the area.In 1971, scarcely one thousand visitors came to visit. "A decade later five times thatnumber visited, and by the end of the 1980s tourists numbered more than 8,000annually." In 1993, the figure "was closer to 300,000." The Nepalese Government hopesto attract a million people within the next ten years. More than ninety percent of thesetourists are trekkers, coming mostly from the United States and Western Europe, butalso from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.With the steady stream of visitors, at least $60 million in foreign currency has beengenerated each year. One person who is fearful of what this may do to the localcultures and to the environment is Sir Edmund Hillary, now 75. Hillary believes thatexplorers have an obligation to protect the very things which they come to marvel.He was a driving force behind the creation of the Sagarmatha National Park and hasestablished a trust which builds schools, hospitals, clinics, bridges and water systemsfor the Sherpas, whose culture is threatened the most.Most tourists come to Nepal to trek through the mountains. Trekking may be arrangedby a service and done in a group or on one's own. Group treks are typically prearrangedand paid for abroad or in the capital city of Kathmandu. The other alternative is to trekindividually without the services of a trekking company.Individuals instead rely on the villages along the way for food and lodging.About one-half of the trekkers who come to Nepal, come with commercial groups. Thesetreks generally last between twenty-two and twenty-five days. A trek for twelve clientswill contain a support staff of approximately fifty members. Because these groups pay
 
to make arrangements, little money goes to the local communities. The World WildlifeFund estimates that "only 20 cents of every $3 spent by an average trekker each dayreaches village economies. The rest goes for goods imported from outside, notablythe West." Individual trekkers, however, rely upon local guides and families. This meansthat more money is dispersed to the local communities.Regardless of how one travels, the environment and local communities are affected.Mountain trekking is part of a new type of tourism called "adventure tourism."Adventure tourism attracts people who desire to see exotic and unknown places,primarily in the developing world. Adventure tourists, the name given to tourists whoseek this type of tourism, are searching for "authenticity." This means that themountain treks are slow journeys which pass through the landscape, "allowing time toexplore both nature and village life." The core problem is that the environment andcommunities begin to change as a result of their newfound popularity. The local culturesbecome influenced by the presence of the trekkers and become modernized in their ownway. Hence, they are no longer considered "authentic" and new "ever more remotelocations" must be found. The idea behind "adventure tourism" is that the more remotea location is, the more it is desirable. This means that unless precautions are taken,degradation will inevitably occur.Perhaps the most visible impact of trekkers on the Himalaya is the growing amount ofrubbish left behind. Galen Rowell wrote of the Himalayas,The solitary splendor is dazzling - until I glance downat my feet. There, frozen into the ice cap of TharpuChuli, lies a miniature garbage dump; discarded candywrappers, film cartons, plastic bags, wads of tissue, andhalf-empty food cans, all of it left by foreign climbinggroups. It is a familiar and sickening sight to oldHimalaya hands - the growing pollution of a pricelessheritage.It is estimated that over the past forty years, eighteen tons of garbage, "from tin cansand beer bottles to oxygen tanks...(this does not include such items as abandonedhelicopters)" have been dumped on Mount Everest alone. (The helicopters are a newform of tourism, called Sky Treks, for those who do not desire to hike up the mountains.Tourists instead ride helicopters to the top of the mountains, take their pictures, andthen return to the bottom again.) Other estimates place the accumulated rubbish atfifty tones which will cost approximately $500,000 to clean up.A second, and perhaps greater problem than all of the rubbish, is deforestation. Manyvisitors come to Nepal expecting to see massive forests along the slopes of the Khumba.They do not come expecting to find Western amenities. Often the reverse is true.Western amenities assault the visitors in the teahouses and guest lodges they find alongthe trails while the forests are all but gone.Over the years, the influx of tourists has encouraged changes in the use of forests forfuel wood and construction materials. The forests have typically been used by theNepali for fuel wood. However, the consumption rates between Nepalis and touristsgreatly differs and this is where the problem lies. The demand for fuelwood fromtourists has always been a concern for the park planners, administrators, and managers.They consider "fuel-wood use by mountaineering and trekking groups to be one of themain environmental threats" to the parks.
 
"It has been estimated that four times as much fuel wood is needed to cook a meal for aWestern tourist than for a Nepali due largely to differences in diet." Add to that thefuel wood needed for the daily hot showers and for the bonfires to keep them warm and"the impact on the forests is devastating." One trekker alone consumes five to tentimes more fuel-wood than one Nepali. In addition to the trekkers who are consuminggross amounts of fuel wood, there are also the estimated "150,000 guides, porters,cooks, and other support staff" who are traveling with the trekkers and who need fuelwood as well.Massive amounts of fuel wood are needed by the teahouses and guest lodges as well.More and more people are staying in the lodges and the number of lodges has quadrupledsince 1976. The lodges and teahouses may use "up to four times as much fuel wood aday" as does a local's household." Others have estimated the amount of fuel wood usedby one trekker per day to be more firewood than the average Nepali uses in an entireweek.By 1979, the park authorities of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park were beginningto see how extensive the deforestation, as a result of tourism, was becoming. As aresult, they banned the use of wood for cooking and bonfires. All expedition andtrekking groups now must use kerosene stoves to cook. However, there have been norestrictions on the fuel-wood used by loges and teahouses. This must surely change ifthe country wants to preserve the forests it still has remaining.In the Annapurna Conservation Area, a program was created to link conservation anddevelopment benefits, through tourism and involving the local people. The programhelped the local lodge owners see the benefits of halting deforestation. While thetrees did provided needed fuel wood, their elimination would destroy the beauty thatmany of the visitors came to see. The program "organized lodge owners and all agreedto honor a requirement that trekking expeditions had to bring in their own kerosene."As a result of the burgeoning influx of tourists, the Nepalese Government began toestablish wildlife reserves, national parks, conservation areas, and hunting reserves in1976. The first three of these protected areas are recognized by the InternationalUnion for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) now theWorld Conservation Union.One of the most famous conservation areas is the Annapurna Conservation Area Project(ACAP) created in 1986. ACAP "was designed to minimize the negative impact fromtourism and promote conservation and the socioeconomic development of the region."ACAP is unique in that it calls for the participation and management by the local people.The project is based on the belief that properly managed tourism can bring benefitsboth to the land and to the people. "Tourists are regarded as partners in fulfilling thegoals of biodiversity conservation, cultural revitalisation and sustainable economicdevelopment." ACAP managers and developers believe that mountain trekking is a formof education which can be used to benefit theAnnapurna region. In addition, the trekkers provide much needed revenue that can beused for further conservation and development programs.
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