Mountain tourism: news from Nepal.

To honor the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) and the 25th anniversary of the founding of Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), a conference titled People, Park, and Mountain Tourism was held 24-26 May 2003 at Namche Bazaar, Nepal. Fifty-five delegates from 15 countries, including government and tourism officials, environmental consultants, and local stakeholders, trekked the steep, winding mountain trail to Namche Bazaar (elevation 3,450 meters) to present and discuss academic papers on the natural and cultural preservation of remote mountain 'destinations and the development of mountain tourism.

In preparation for the conference, the planners held an online "e-symposium" to help participants focus and sharpen their ideas before the actual meeting. Moderators posted papers on such topics as the environmental and health hazards created by mountain tourism, the ecologic and economic risks that tourism poses to host communities and neighboring areas, and the role that park managers, development agencies, local authorities, and individuals play in conservation. Stakeholders then posted their own comments and responses in a virtual discussion of the topics raised. The discussions are available at http:// www.mtnforum.org/apmn/ppmt.htm.

Most conference presentations focused on environmental issues affecting the SNP, but others addressed issues in India, Japan, New Zealand, and other mountainous countries. Krishna Hari Gautam, a professor at the Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science at Hokkaido University in Japan, stressed the need to boost responsible mountain tourism globally and said that mountaineers could play an important role by acting as role models for tourists. Kazuya Kurita, a professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, discussed Japan's success in revegetating alpine regions of that country that have been heavily impacted by tourism.

In a presentation titled "Garbage along the Mount Everest Trek," Beau Beza, a lecturer in landscape architecture at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said it is not necessarily the fact that garbage is seen in the landscape that creates a negative perception of environmental care among tourists and Sherpa mountain guides, but rather the way the garbage is managed. Alberto Baroni, an associate professor of environmental medicine and public health at Italy's University of Padua, discussed a novel approach to monitoring and assessing ecosystem health in mountains that draws upon local knowledge and stewardship as well as integration of successful tourism development models used in other areas. Pema Gyamtsho, an agriculture resources policy specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, stressed the important role that livestock plays in maintaining environmental health in hard-to-read high Himalaya regions. He argues that grasslands created through livestock grazing are important for carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, water capture, and biodiversity conservation.

Dinesh R. Bhuju, an ecologist with the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology in Kathmandu, discussed research at the Pyramid International Laboratory--observatory in the SNP on human health in extreme conditions. Located at 5,050 meters in the SNP, the Pyramid is the world's highest scientific laboratory. "Medical science tells us that people can't [climb beyond] the seven thousand- to eight thousand-meter level without oxygen, but Sherpas do it," Bhuju said. "The challenge for modern science is to find out why."

The conference ended with the delegates unanimously endorsing 13 resolutions related to protecting and securing natural resources, conservation planning, and ecosystem monitoring along the trails of the SNP. Specifically, they resolved that management planning within the SNP should strive for an integrated approach toward land, water, wildlife, and human resources, that measures should be taken to reduce firewood consumption in remote mountain areas, and that patrolling and environmental law enforcement within the SNP should be reviewed and significantly upgraded.

Said presenter Alton C. Byers, director of research and education at the Franklin, West Virginia-based Mountain Institute, "The discussions at this conference show that we need to work harder to develop a greater awareness of the issues relating to ecotourism and that those involved in the industry must take greater responsibility for their impact."

Bruce E. Jefferies, a conservationist with the Bangkok-based consulting company MIDAS Agronomics, said that will be a tough challenge. "Many of the problems are complex, and their solutions won't happen overnight," he explained--it's going to take serious cooperation among everyone involved. Proceedings of the conference will be published on CD-ROM by the United Nations University and in an upcoming special issue of the recently launched Himalayan Journal of Sciences.