Community-based Conservation and Restoration in Sagarmatha National Park

Overview I Program Objectives I 2004 Highlights
SNP Culture and Economy I Maps

Overview     Return to top    

With generous support from the American Alpine Club, National Geographic Society Conservation Trust, Mr. Marcel Bach, and Dr. Sandra Cook, The Mountain Institute (TMI) completed the first Community Consultation Planning for the “Community-based Conservation and Restoration of the Everest Alpine” project at Dingboche village (4,385 m), the highest permanent settlement in the Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal. The workshops, facilitated by TMI and the Hill Development and Conservation Group/Nepal (HDCG/Nepal), a local NGO based in Bung VDC of Solu Khumbu District, began the process of developing a 5-year strategic plan as well as actions that could be implemented immediately. Participants included local residents, lodge operators, porters, guides, and merchants. Women’s participation was especially high (i.e., more than half of the 25 participants). Workshop facilitation was based on TMI’s seasoned “Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action (APPA)” methodology that emphasizes a positive and locally-driven approach to project planning, implementation, and impact monitoring. The overall goal of the long-term project is to protect and restore the fragile Everest alpine ecosystems that have been severely damaged by unregulated adventure tourism, using community-based approaches.

At the end of the three-day workshop, participants were unanimous in their decision to form a Khumbu Alpine Conservation Committee (KACC) with 23 members from the Dingboche, Pheriche, Dugla, and Chukkung regions, the first of its kind in Nepal. As a first step, the Committee made the following commitments for the remaining 2004 period:

• Immediate ban of juniper harvesting use for potatoes storage (cut shrubs are traditionally placed over the buried potatoes as added protection) and the huge amounts of juniper cut daily for use as incense.
• Develop regulations that stop the use of shrub juniper as incense by expedition groups.
• Stop porters from cutting shrub juniper for firewood by providing them with alternative sources such as dead fir/birch/rhododendron firewood brought up from lower altitudes.
• Renovate the Lobuche Porter Shelter and make it available to porters for shelter, cooking, and a warm sleeping space.
• Establish a Kerosene Depot at Dingboche to discourage the practice of utilizing fragile high altitude vegetation for fuel (e.g., shrub juniper and cushion plants)

Other Hightlights of 2004 are listed below. TMI and the AAC will support these initiatives by funding the renovation of the porter shelter, establishment of the kerosene depot in Dingboche, providing operational support to the KACC, and by building the project management capacity of the Pangboche Youth Club based in Pangboche villages, which will act as the general overseer of the project and KACC.

Additionally, the new bridge across the Imja Khola to Pheriche valley was completed with co-financing from the Alpine Conservation project (non-AAC funds), other non-profits, and local Sherpa organizations. A five-year operational plan is currently being finalized. The next community planning meetings will be held in late 2004, although the above Phase I activities will be implemented throughout the monsoon. Project personnel have enjoyed their recent correspondence and exchange of ideas with The Nature Conservancy’s “Conservation and Sustainability of Alpine Biodiversity Project” in northwest Yunnan Province. TMI is also exploring similar alpine conservation initiatives in the Huascaran National Park, Peru; and will conduct a reconnaissance of the Altai Mountains, Russia. An outline of program objectives follows.

Program Objectives    Return to top    

• Strengthen local capacities to conserve and restore alpine environments.
• Increase local participation in alpine resource management
  Create an alpine management model that is applicable to the wider Himalaya.
• Stakeholder Meetings, October 2003:Community-Proposed Activities.
• Formation of Alpine Conservation and Restoration Committees
  Creation of formal indigenous forestry institutions, particularly Shingi Nawa.
• Enforce juniper and shrub harvesting regulations

Highlights of 2004    Return to top    

1. Accomplishment. Three to four year operational plan has developed for alpine conservation and restoration in coordination with the respective Youth Clubs, lodge operators, trekking guides and porters. The operational plan will provide a framework for implementing activities for three to four year period.

2. Khumbu Alpine Conservation Committee Formed. In an effort to reduce the negative impact of tourism, a local committee known as Khumbu Alpine Conservation Committee (KACC) has formed in this region.

3. Establishment of Kerosene and stove depot. As per the recommendation and solution that came out from the plan, the establishment of kerosene and stove depot has been the first priority to reduce the pressure on the alpine junipers and turf by encouraging local people, trekkers, lodge operators and especially the porters to use kerosene as an alternative to firewood as fuel for cooking and heating. In addition, the Khumbu Alpine Conservation Committee has agreed to stock at least 10,000 liters of kerosene and 100 stoves of various sizes for trekking, porters, and even the lodge operators.

4. Established signboard along the trekking route to Everest Base Camp and Island Peak base camp. In order to increase awareness on the importance of the alpine juniper and shrubs of Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer zone and to reduce the use of these alpine shrubs and junipers as source of fuel for cooking and heating, several signboards have been erected in the Everest and Island Peak routes. Signboards include kerosene and stove depot operation in Dingboche by Khumbu Alpine Conservation Committee and the prices.

5. Repaired and maintenance of Bridge at Tsola Khola in Pheriche. Trails and bridges are critical in the region for they are the only means of travel for both visitors and local residents, and for the porters. Safe and easy mountain trails are key to successful ecotourism development in this mountain region Improvement of trails and bridges were necessary to help minimize safety and environmental hazards of tourism.

6. Porter shelter renovation in Lobuche. As per the recommendation and solution that came out from the operational plan, the maintenance of the existing porter shelter at Lobuche is the second most priority after the establishment of kerosene and stove depot; at present, the porters heavily depend on rock caves and other means of shelters. According to KACC members, the pack animals use the shelters instead of porters due to lack of effective management. The Mountain Institute has supported the bridge at Pheriche through Pangboche Youth Club. The support provided was Rs. 210,000 (two hundred and ten thousand only)

7. Draft constitutional developed for KACC. In order to legalize the committee, it is necessary to have constitutional developed and this constitution will be well tested and discussed among the committee members before registering at District Development Committee (DDC).

SNP: Culture and Economy  Return to top    

Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone (SNP/BZ) were established in 1976. The park encompasses an area of 1148 square kilometers and it is was designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The park's unique natural landscape includes the world’s highest mountain, Sagarmatha (Mt .Everest), which stands at 8,850 meters above sea level.

Inhabitants of the SNP, Kumbu Valley

Sherpa

• 3,500 Sherpas live within the Park
• Nyingmapa Buddhists, strong emphasis on monastic culture
• Traditionally seasonal agro-pastoralists; increasing involvement in tourist trade

Rai

• Migration from the South (below Lukla) over the past two decades
• Often work as household help or lodge staff, or as commercial and trekking porters

Tourism

Primary source of economic growth in SNP/BZ

• In 1976 park visitors numbered 3,600;
• in 2001, over 25, 880 visitors
• Relatively unaffected by Maoist insurgency: 5,470 visitors in October 2003 alone

Effects of Tourist Inflow

• Economic Growth
• Cultural Adaptations
• Environmental Degradation

Transformation of local economy

• Growth in tourism-related industries
• Number of lodges
• Number of agencies
• Rising incomes

Adaptation of cultural institutions

• Increasing numbers of tourists view the Khumbu as a site of cultural, as well as natural, beauty

Environmental Impacts

• Deforestation
• Increased fuelwood use
• Slow growing juniper
• Soil-binding shrubs
• Cushion plants (arenaria)
• Dramatic increases in soil erosion
• Landscape denudation referred to as “growing glaciers”
• Major Consumers of Fuelwood

Lodges and Porters

• Lowland porters lack proper lodging, adequate clothing, and cooking fuels

View repeat photography slide show of landscape change from images taken in 1950s by Dr. Erwin Schneider vs. 1990s by Dr. Alton Byers (TMI).

Maps     Return to top    

SNP Map 1: The shaded rectangle shows the location of Sagarmatha National Park.

SNP Map 2: Work area, detailed map.

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