Compiled by Outside Online

June 2, 2003 Everest's Golden Jubilee celebrations drew to a close last week amidst growing concerns about the environmental impact caused by decades of tourism on the mountain. Many climbers and environmentalists have used the recent festivities and media attention surrounding the 50th anniversary of Hillary and Tenzing's first successful Everest summit to increase public awareness about the necessity of conservation efforts in Nepal's fragile high mountain zones.

Since the 1950s, Everest has been littered with oxygen canisters, food containers, climbing gear, human waste, and even the occasional corpse. This year, record numbers of climbers and trekkers visited Everest Base Camp, a place that has been referred to by some as 'the world's highest dumping ground.'


But Everest's environmental problems are caused not only by what people leave behind— the things people take away from the area have also impacted the region's environmental health. Dr. Alton Byers, Director of Research and Education at The Mountain Institute says that his primary concern is the continued over-harvesting of slow-growing shrubs and high altitude plants for fuel. "Local people call many of the hill slopes in the region 'growing glaciers' because of the increased erosion and instability that has resulted from these trends," he says. "The Everest alpine zone simply cannot endure this kind of pressure much longer."

Through upcoming clean-up and restoration efforts by the Nepalese government, local mountain peoples, conservation groups, and clean-up expeditions, however, experts believe that there may be a bright future for Everest's ecosystem.

During this year's climbing season, two U.S. teams and one group of Japanese, Korean and Nepalese climbers focused on cleaning up the trash at Everest Base Camp. The Voice of America reported that the teams collected almost 2.5 tons of trash this month, including 51 oxygen cylinders. Exhibits of trash collected during this effort will be put on display in Kathmandu, as well as in Japanese and Korean cities, to raise public awareness about littering.

Nepal's top tourism official, S.P. Koirala, told The Christian Science Monitor that he the Nepalese government is very pleased by the clean-up efforts of foreign climbers. "They are doing something good for the earth, on their own, without taking a penny from the government," he said. "When they conduct this kind of mission, we recognize their efforts."

In 1993, the Nepalese government enacted a law that requires trekking and mountaineering groups to register their equipment and make a deposit of nearly $5,000 prior to their trips. Upon demonstrating that waste has been brought down from the mountain after the exhibition, the deposit is refunded.

Other organizations are focusing their conservation efforts on reversing the overuse of wood and shrubs for campfires in the Everest region. The American Alpine Club (AAC) recently announced that it will financially support a project by Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and The Mountain Institute called "Community-Based Conservation and Restoration of the Mt. Everest Alpine Zone."

This five-year project will educate tourists, restore high-impact areas, and train local people to implement plans for the protection of Sagarmartha National Park, where Everest is located. "Since Everest was first climbed, it is obvious visitors have played a major role in the degradation of the Khumbu alpine zone." Jim Frush, vice president of the AAC says. "This excellent project is a substantial step toward reversing that trend."