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Himalayan Mountaineering Expedition Garbage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Ross Cullen
Ross Cullen
Affiliation:
Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; currently Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.
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Extract

Expedition garbage is an unfortunate by-product of Himalayan mountaineering expeditions. High transport costs, lack of concern amongst climbers, and lack of direction by authorities, results in squalid garbage heaps around mountain campsites. Growth in numbers of expeditions, climbers, and trekkers, to the Himalaya necessitates prompt action to prevent despoliation of those areas.

Such despoliation of campsites by inadequate treatment or unsatisfactory disposal practices cannot be halted by reliance on improved climber behaviour alone. Host-country authorities must develop and enforce more comprehensive guidelines and policies for garbage disposal than currently prevail. A combination of burning and transport to pits off-site seems likely to be typically the best disposal practice to follow. A combination of change in expedition behaviour, provision of leadership in garbage disposal, and use of environmental protection levies, seems necessary to combat the problem of growing squalor at campsites and expanding desecration of surrounding areas.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , Winter 1986 , pp. 293 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1986

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