Mountain Tourism
Impacts On Ecology

By Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti

TRAVELLING remains an urge inherent in every human being even at the dawn of the 21st century. In the beginning, people used to endeavor in search of food, shelter and protection and to fulfill the basic demands. With the passage of time man became social, and he started travelling to various regions for trade, pilgrimage and recreation. So, travelling from an area to another led to the inception of "tourism". In the Himalayan belt such activities can be expressed in different ways such as trade, pilgrimage, migration to the summer capital, holiday resort, adventure, exploration and cultural potential. Himalayas have remained a treasure of living and non-living things. Considering this very fact, many scientists of different ranking visited even the most remote places since the early days.

Basic Dimensions

Trekking, rafting, mountain climbing, hiking, bird watching and safari, once the forte of the Western tourists, are now catching the imagination of indigenous population as well. The urge to find something new gave rise to pursuit activities. Despite significant progress in tourism, there are many areas which could not develop because of various reasons like heavy snowfall, cold and draught and legal restriction for visit. Therefore, they remained cut off or isolated. These areas are now growing as western tourist attractions, because one may still find there the traditional features and religious culture in original form which attract the tourists. Khumbu region, Muktinath, Kanchanjungha and some other remote places are a few centres now developing as western tourist resorts. Mt. Kailash and Man Sarovar have just been opened to the foreigners.

Nepal, a country with a unique mosaic of green landscape and diverse cultural heritage, lies in the lap of mighty Himalayas and is known as "The Land of Mt. Everest" and "The Land of Lord Buddha" throughout the world. Nepal, possessing remarkable latitudinal variations ranging from 100 metres from sea level to 8,848 metres in the Northern Himalayan crest line and encompassing a myriad of cultural diversity embedded in the remarkably diverse landscape providing habitats to rare flora and fauna, gives itself a distinct privilege of being called the land of "Yak and Yeti" too. It is truly a paradise on the earth. The snow clad peaks, breathtaking landscapes, fantastic eye catching geographical contour and ever smiling faces of its people will entice tourists making their stay a very special one.

The land is proud of its great civilization created by its hardworking people, its rich culture, tradition, heritage and diverse livelihood. Tourists thus find that lifestyle in Nepal is apparently happy and better as long as people here have enough foodstuff to eat and a roof over their heads. Dissatisfaction of life is one of the greatest evils of the western society. People today do not strive for increasing material well-being but rather look for a job which gives them creative, spiritual, social and emotional fulfillment. Nepal, in this context still seems to be one of the few places where the lifestyle has changed at a very slow pace over the past 200 years. The way the rural Nepalese dress and organize their household, does not seem essentially different from what is was three centuries ago. The Kathmandu valley and other urban areas of the country may be a different issue, because many town dwellers have modern gadgets such as televisions, videos, vehicles, cyber café etc. in their homes. Tourism is now making inroads into the deep interiors of the Himalaya for visit to shrines, mountaineering, trekking, watching flora and fauna, indulging in game shooting and for ‘business’ at the remotest localities. By and large tourists find space for spiritual, social and emotional fulfillment in this cold arid zone.

Undoubtedly, the progress made in the West has saturated the aesthetic need of the human being. The people there no longer live the primary human ways, but rather fulfill the wishes of a consumer society in order to live and survive. This inflated entity has assumed self-destructive dimensions and in turn created an ever-increasing feeling of dissatisfaction. Progress and development has been fast and machinery has taken over much of the people’s lives in the western world, which has caused great boredom and dissatisfaction in life. Consequently when they arrive in Nepal they get a chance to see a natural way of lifestyle.

Impacts

Tourism does not always necessarily bring fortune. Nepal is exposed to accelerating environmental changes. Although change is inevitable and desirable when it improves the living conditions of local inhabitants, a methodology of change must be found which is consistent with the preservation of unique flora and fauna, spectacular natural beauty, and distinctive culture of this area. An appraisal of various aspects of change reveals that tourism and economic development are creating disharmonies in the ecosystems. The disturbances in the environment do not mean that we should arrest the change. Change should be accepted and hence, instead of arresting the changes which are taking place in the mighty mountain chain that possesses immense potentials (i.e. in the form of hydel power, irrigation water, raw materials etc.), we must find out a systematic model of change while realising the latent potential for human welfare.

With rapid increase in population and its unending needs, we have pressed up on limited available resource and made inroads into the mountains. Extension of plantation, agriculture development, building up hydro-electric power stations, constructing new roads and buildings are taking place at the cost of depleted cultivated areas in and around the mountain towns of the country. The Namchhe Bazaar for example, in turn, will be unable to accommodate these changes. With the increase in population, shortage of power and water and medical service has decreased the access to the basic needs.

Besides, changes in the ecology have taken place with multiplication of population in the recent years; rapid unregulated industrialisation and smoky vehicles have modified the micro-climate of major cities. If the present condition continues, there will be a great threat to the mountain ecology. Therefore, today’s need is to follow a conservation policy for environment as the rational use of environment to provide high quality of living for mankind. Since the tempo of development has to keep up with the help of advanced technology, the only realistic solution to the problem of environment lies in setting apart sizeable natural areas in representative habitats, to preserve some of our ecosystems in pristine condition as benchmarks for conservation of environment. The impact of tourism upon hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere resources of the mountains must be internalised.

There is no corresponding increase in the necessary infrastructure which can take the extra load of strangers. As long as the tourist traffic was within the carrying capacity of the mountains, no sign of adverse ecological effects were visible. Construction of roads is not only changing the landscape but helps in increasing traffic. This creates sound and air pollution. Consequently, this adversely affects the unpolluted mountain environment. And for the people who are working in tourist industry, conservation of ecology becomes a matter of grave concern, as tourist industry depends on natural resources.

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