Mon, Oct 09, 2006 - Page 5 News List

Pressure grows for closure of Everest

THE OBSERVER , KATHMANDU

Others have proposed limiting the number of professional expeditions and banning all commercial trips to base camp.

There are also fears that even "eco-tourism" is doing more harm than good.

Prakash Sharma, director of Friends of the Earth Nepal, believes that while many of the Western charity groups who trek to the foot of the mountain may be doing so for honourable causes, they are not considering the environmental consequences.

"The Khumbu region and the city of Kathmandu can comfortably hold about 40,000 people. In the coming months, during peak tourist season in the lower valley, there will be as many as 700,000," he said, adding that 20,000 to 40,000 of these people will attempt to ascend the Himalayas, including thousands who will at least trek to the foot of Everest.

"There is no infrastructure in this region to cope with the pollution this many people generate, and as a result the Nepali Himalayas have become the highest junkyard in the world," he said.

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