The Tribune ‘Save the Himalayas’ campaign — V

Mountain tops turning into garbage dumps

By Radhakrishna Rao

FROM time immemorial, the magnificent, snow-capped Himalayan mountain ranges have been venerated by Indians as divinity incarnate. Apart from the spiritual significance, the Himalayas have also been serving as a mighty barrier against the incursion of enemy hordes on the Indian territory from across the border.

And, on a more practical plane, the Himalayas exert a direct and strong influence on the climatic pattern, hydrological cycle and soil health of a large part of the northern and eastern India.

Because the Himalayas are the originating point of large rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna and the Brahmaputra, this mountain chain almost constitutes the very lifeline of India.

However, in recent years, an increasing number of mountaineering expeditions in tandem with massive tourist influx have been exposing the "clean and serene environs" of the mighty Himalayas to the forces of pollution. Indeed, a recent study goes to show that 33,000 kg of plastic bottles, left behind by the climbers, have piled up in Khumbu, the base camp leading to Mt Everest. It seems man’s ingenuity for despoiling has touched even the highest point in the world.

In addition, food cans, plastic bags and other environmentally hazardous materials left behind by the trekkers and climbers have formed a "waste dumpyard in the highest mountain peak of the world".

Meanwhile, environmentalists have warned that if the Himalayan ranges continue to be the waste pit of non-degradable materials, it could lead to a serious ecological crisis with disastrous consequences for the entire mountain chain.

The Nepalese Government has all along been requesting climbers, trekkers and adventurers to carry back the waste materials while descending the mountain ranges. But this seems to have had very little impact on the climbers. Ecologists, however, have pointed out that the Nepalese Government has never been serious in implementing the law that climbers should bring back the biodegradable wastes. "This provision should be strictly monitored and an urgent clean-up programme launched in the Everest region," says a leading Nepalese environmental activist.

But the Nepalese Government has expressed its helplessness in tackling the problem on account of the budgetary constraints.

Significantly, there has been a steady increase in the number of expeditions to the Himalayas over the last two decades. In fact, it was following the relaxation of the mountain climbing rules that India and Nepal had announced in 1975 that mountaineering became popular. And the Himalayas have been paying a heavy price for the popularity of mountaineering.

The entire Himalayan chain had suffered in terms of pollution and deforestation that invariably follow mountaineering expeditions. As it is, both Indian and Nepalese parts of the Himalayas are in a bad shape. The ecological assault results in soil erosion, flash floods and increasing aridity.

While there are reports galore about a garbage trail along the route to the Mt Everest, the base camp at Kanchenjunga is said to stink beyond endurance. Even finding potable water at the base camp at Mt Everest has become a painstaking proposition.

Obviously, deforestation is the biggest threat that the Himalayas face from mountaineering expeditions. Some of the expeditions take with them up to 20 Sherpas just to fell and carry wood to cook food and provide heat in the chilly Himalayan environs.

Sir Edmund Hillary, who with the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, conquered Mt Everest in 1953 had time and again expressed concern and dismay at the growing pollution in the Himalayas. " I am partially to blame for this," quipped Hillary.

"The expeditions bring in royalty to the government and employment to the porter. But then there is a need to be on guard lest too many expeditions pollute the pure environment of the Himalayas", said a Nepali environmentalist.