Tourism Industry and Environment in Nepal

Prakash K. Karn

1. Introduction Tourism is one of the world's largest and fastest growing industries with the global annual turnover of $3.6 trillion and employing about 200 million people (UNESCO 2004). The World Tourism Organization (WTO) estimates an average annual growth rate of tourism at seven per cent, with the recent number of international tourist arrivals as 700 millions. The annual receipt from tourism is about 500 billion dollars (UNEP 2003a). The total earnings from tourism are greater in the developed nations however, it accounts for a greater proportion of the economy in many developing countries where tourism has been a major source of foreign exchange earnings. While development of tourism contributes to the national economy it has costs associated with environmental damages. In as in Nepal as in many other developing countries, very little is known about environmental impacts of tourism industry though this sector has been very important for the Nepal's national economy. By virtue of its cultural and natural heritage, Nepal draws a large number of tourists every year, and benefits in terms of large amount of foreign currency earnings and employment opportunities generation. It has the potential to contribute positively to socio-economic achievements but, at the same time, its fast and uncontrolled growth can be a major cause of environmental degradation and loss of cultural heritage. In this paper, an effort is made to provide a general assessment of existing environmental problems related to tourism in Nepal. The focus here is primarily on trash dumping in to the Everest region and deforestation. This study will contribute towards the body of knowledge in this area. Following the introduction, the second section presents briefly the theoretical framework for this study. The third section describes the importance of Nepal as a tourism destination and the importance of tourism for Nepalese economy. It also covers the social and environmental problems associated with tourism in the context of Nepal. The fourth section discusses the situation in terms of related theories and draws conclusions. 2. Theoretical framework Tourism can be viewed as a peculiar type of export industry in which goods and services do not cross borders in a physical sense but are bought and consumed within the exporting country. Thus, individuals must visit the place of supply to consume. The tourism related environmental problems in an economy are thus associated both with production of tourism good and services as well as their consumption. The environmental effects of the tourism industry in Nepal can be viewed from the angle of trade liberalization, the process which Nepal begun about more than two decades ago. The situation is discussed from the viewpoint of Anderson (1992) who suggests that a country can gain in environment and welfare through trade only if optimal environmental policy is in place; and also from the angle of North-South trade put forward by Chichilnisky (1994) which advocates that trading between two countries occurs even only due to differences in the property rights, and also discusses the environmental problems associated with such trades. 3. Overview of Nepal and the Nepalese tourism industry 3.1 Nepal as a tourism destination Nepal is a small mountainous country with an area of 147,181 sq. km situated in the Central Himalaya, between China and India. This is a unique tourism destination with a distinctive and
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varied culture and immense natural beauty. Within the short distance from south to north there exist diverse physiographic zones, climatic contrasts, and altitudinal variations from about 75 m to 8848 m (Peak of the world the Mount Everest). Eight of the world's ten highest mountain peaks are in Nepal making it a popular destination for adventurous tourists. The country is among the top 25 nations in the biodiversity list at present. Nepal holds two of UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage sites in Lumbini and the Kathmandu valley, two Natural Heritage sites in Royal Chitwan National Park and Sagarmatha National Park. Nepal's natural scenic beauty, snow-clad mountains, rivers and lakes, different religious and historic monuments, rich wealth of biodiversity coupled with liberal culture and hospitable people have been the main attractions for the foreign visitors, and thus the country has a comparative advantage in the tourism sector. The tourism industry of Nepal is not very old. The Nepalese portion of the Himalayas was explored for tourism only after 1950. But this sector got momentum in the beginning of seventies when about a thousand tourists visited the country. And thereafter number of tourists increased geometrically and marked about 300,000 visitors in 1993 (Walder 2000). More than 90% of these tourists are trekkers, coming mostly from the United States and Western Europe, but also from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. 3.2 Economic significance of Tourism in Nepal Despite its unintended effects on environment and society, tourism certainly constitutes an opportunity for economic development especially for developing countries where it contributes significantly to their national income and creates large number of jobs. Though experiences in Nepal have shown that tourism does damage the environment, it can also be an invaluable means of development and environmental conservation. Economically Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with per capita income of $230 (World Bank 2003). Tourism has been an important source of income and foreign exchanges. It contributes about four per cent to GDP and 20 per cent of total foreign exchange earnings of the country (CBS 1997; Economic Survey 1997; Raj 2004). Besides, this sector stands second only to agriculture in terms of generating employment opportunities. In 1998, this sector provided direct or indirect employment to about 257,000 people. Given the increasing importance of the tourism sector in Nepal, one Nepalese ecologist quotes "there are now three religions in Nepal -- Hinduism, Buddhism, and tourism". The revenues from this sector can be utilized for maintaining the natural areas and environment as well as towards improving the economic situation. However, it requires proper policy and planning that developing countries usually lack due to shortage of expertise in the field and their decisions being motivated by revenue maximization. 3.3 Impacts of tourism The possibility of any negative effects on environment from tourism had grossly been ignored for long, considering this sector as a clean industry, however, the concern about it is now growing among stakeholders (UNEP 1992 and 2000). Tourism industry mainly includes transportation, accommodation, food services, and retail activities (Peter 1990), the processes related to which have adverse effects on the environment (Healy 1994; Inskeep 1987). Though small effects on different aspects of environment do not appear serious in itself, substantial ecological damage can result from their cumulative effect (Pigram 1992). The rapid growth of tourism sector has placed a heavy burden on local economies, cultures, and environments (UNEP 2003b). The environmental damages can ultimately threaten the health of industry as the tourists start avoiding polluted destinations. Many studies also show the adverse effects of tourism industry in local cultural heritage and local income distributions.
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3.3.1 Environmental impacts There are many examples of negative environmental impacts of tourism on the environment. One important example is the tourism-related wastewater pollution of coastal Adriatic Sea in Italy in the late 80s. It caused substantial reduction in the number of tourists visiting the country which affected the whole industry seriously. At present, tourism generates up to 180 liters of wastewater per tourist/day and contributes about seven per centof wastewater pollution in the Mediterranean (UNEP 2003a). On an average, an international tourist in Europe generates about one kg of solid waste per day (IFEN 2000). Usually tourists from developed countries produce more waste (up to 2 kg/person/day). Based on these rates, tourism related total global waste in 2001 was estimated to be no less than 4.8 million tons (UNEP 2003a). The European Environment Agency estimates that tourism is responsible for five to seven per cent of the total emissions in Europe.

In the case of Nepal, the environmental and natural resources situations may be broadly categorized in two major geographic zones, viz., a) mountain and b) the middle hills and terai plain. Usually the tourist influxes are towards the mountain region and thus the governments emphasis is on environmentally sound tourism development in this region. Some of the major tourism related impacts are degradation of mountain environment by human waste and trashes, burning of wood for fuel, abandoned climbing gear and cultural transformations. Many studies are available on tourism impacts in Nepal, especially with respect to the environmental problems in the Everest and Annapurna regions. However these studies, being either donor driven or conducted by independent researchers in their own interests, have no coherence in the subject matter and integration in the overall framework (Nepal 2000). The most evident impacts in those areas are garbage dumping and deforestation, which are attributed largely to growing tourism, lack of proper policy, monitoring and management strategies. Nepal has earned infamous qualifications often in the worlds tourism and environmental literature. Himalaya is quoted as the worlds highest junkyard by Sir Edmund Hillary, the first successful Himalaya climber, while the trail to the Everest base camp has been quotes as the garbage trail (Shrestha 1989; World Conservation Union 1992). The region of Mount Everest in general and the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park in particular, a World Heritage site, has been often reported as a vivid portrait of ecological, environmental and cultural disruptions (Hillary 1982; Byers 1987; Fisher 1990; McConnell 1991; Byers and Banskota 1992; Stevens 1993; Robinson and Twyman 1996). In the Annapurna Conservation Area (7,629 km2) the most popular trekking destinations in Nepal, many tourism-related environmental and economic problems have been observed in the past two decades (Gurung and de Coursey 1994). Heavy demand for firewood and for timber for the construction of more than 700 lodges and teashops have caused localized deforestation altering wildlife habitats, loss of the famous rhododendron forests and sizeable soil erosion in the surrounding hills. Despite fragile and weak ecosystems of mountains and hilly areas with a limited tolerance for human activity (UNEP 2003a), the mountains of Nepal have been under severe tourism pressure. Tourism in Nepal has proceeded in a largely ad-hoc, demand-driven and unplanned manner damaging the mountain environment in some parts of the country. The most visible impact of trekkers in the Himalaya region is the growing amount of trash left behind (Rowell, 1989). Though some climbing gear is being recycled by local residents either for their own use or for resale, more than 50 tons of plastic, glass, and metal were dumped in the Himalaya region in past four decades between mid-1950s and the mid-1990s (Shroder 2004). An estimate indicates that it would cost approximately $500,000 to clean up that trash.

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Another important problem is deforestation. Though deforestation cannot be solely blamed on tourism in Nepal, the increased demands for firewood and construction of tourist lodges have aggravated the problem, especially in the mountain areas (Gurung 1989). The consumption rate of forest by tourists is much higher than that of local residents. One trekker alone consumes five to ten times more fuel-wood than an average Nepali. In addition to burgeoning number of tourists, there are about 150,000 guides, porters, cooks, and other support staff who travel with the trekkers and consume fuel wood at a similar rate. Cooking a meal for a tourist requires about four times more fuel wood than for a Nepali due largely to differences in diet. Besides, a growing number of local lodges in the trekking areas also use large amounts of forest wood for facilities management for tourists. The tourism-driven firewood crisis can be illustrated by the fact that a typical climbing expedition requires about eight metric tons of firewood during a two months period compared to five metric tons burned by a Sherpa hearth during the whole year (Bunting and Wright 1984). In a study of three important protected areas in the mountain regions of Nepal, no management plans were found at any destination, their policies were directed by the need to earn foreign exchange while the sustainability of its resources (natural, cultural, and human) was grossly ignored which has caused significant environmental impacts in the Himalayan protected regions (Nepal 1997). The national park administration has not been successful in controlling firewood use by the lodge operators within the park boundary, due mainly to lack of clear cut policy. Without proper management of resources based on adequate scientific data, the ecological, environmental, socio-cultural and economic problems associated with tourism will further deteriorate, causing damage to the overall tourism potential of the Himalayas (Robinson and Twyman, 1996). Many developing economies, including Nepal, face the lack of information and guidance for the government authorities who are responsible for regulating tourism development. This problem is compounded by the lack of technical expertise and information (UNEP 2003a).
3.3.2 Socioeconomic impacts Besides environmental effects, other problems that often accompany tourism are overcrowding and conflicts over resource use, rising prostitution and other crime, the collapse of social control, and the loss of cultural identity etc. which all give a feeling of declining quality of life to local population in many popular destinations (Tsartas 1992). Many empirical studies have also showed the adverse social and cultural effects of the Third World tourism industry (Smith 1989; Poirier and Wright 1993). Some aspects of the normal western life such as scantily clad visitors on beaches and lakes, open affection between men and women, drinking alcohol in public etc. may offend the local population by violating their cultural and religious values. With the growing tourism industry local people get a feeling of losing social control and cultural identity, which they feel overweighs also the economic benefits derived from this sector. Following statement by a native Hawaiian at a church-sponsored conference on Third World tourism indicates the feelings of resentment among local population towards growing tourism:

We dont want tourism. We dont want you. We dont want to be degraded as servants and dancers. This is cultural prostitution. I dont want to see a single one of you in Hawaii. There are no innocent tourists (quoted in Pfafflin 1987). In the Everest region of Nepal, Sherpas are the aboriginal residents and involved in guiding trekkers and carrying their luggage. Their income from tourism is substantially higher than others in the surrounding communities, creating inequity in the distribution of wealth and hence the potential for strong stratification among local communities (Nepal 1997). Tourism has further caused local inflation of essential goods and services and shortage of labor in agricultural
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activities (Stevens 1993). Another problems is the lack of retention of economic benefits in the local area (Banskota and Sharma 1997). Baumgartner (1988) in a study in the Rolwaling Valley in eastern Nepal found that the growth of tourism had enabled a rise in living standards and the loss of self-sufficiency among local communities and an accelerated pace of social change. 3.4 Government Programs/Policies The Nepalese Government hopes to attract increasing number of tourists and thus prioritizing the promotion of this sector in its subsequent development plans. Though environmental concerns had been raised by people at different levels earlier also, the government started including the elements of environmental protection policies formally in development plans since its Seventh Five-Year Development Plan (1985-1990). However, the concern over the tourism-related environmental impacts has been shown very recently since its Ninth Development Plan (19972002). The Eighth Plan envisaged policies for using tourism for poverty alleviation, maximizing foreign exchange earnings and diversifying it to other parts of the country. The Ninth Plan stated "tourism development and its expansion have been challenged by unmanaged urbanization, environmental degradation and pollution". Similarly, the Tenth Five-Year Development Plan (current plan) also has stated the intention to manage tourism related environmental in a more prominent manner than in previous development strategies. In an effort to reduce the adverse environmental effects on Mount Everest, the Nepalese government has been spending a part of the climbing fees to clean up the area, creating awareness among local people about mountain conservation, and has introduced a garbage deposite scheme wherein climbers need deposite certain amount of money while obtaining the climibing permit and is refunded when they bring down and sbumit their garbages to authorized agency. Keeping in view the growing tourism and associated environmental problems, as well as to conserve from other kinds of damages, the government of Nepal passed the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act in 1973 and set up the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. The Department has so far created four types of protected areas National Parks (nine), Wildlife Reserves (four), Hunting Reserve (one), and Conservation Areas (three). At present, approximately 20 per cent of countrys surface area is under some type of protection. Sagarmatha National Park was established in 1976 with the aim to preserve the soil and forest around Mount Everest and bans the cutting of forest wood in the area. Additionally, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control was established in 1991 to help preserve Everests environment. Likewise, another important establishment is Annapurna Conservation Area in the region. The Tourism Act was implemented in 1978 which focus more to urban environment. There are a number of regulations and programs meant for general environmental protection, however, very few organizations and programs target the tourism related environmental damages. Specifically, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation takes care of tourism related environmental aspects, while the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) is concerned more with overall environmental protection. 4. Discussions and Conclusion The income from this industry is of great significance for this country that is striving to uplift the economy, however, the negative externalities associated with the development of this sector must be looked at carefully. Through the favourable programs and policies to encourage tourism, increasing numbers of tourists have been visiting the country every year. In making the facilities (like lodges/restaurants, camp fire etc.) available (production of tourism commodities) to tourists
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substantial quantity of forest woods are being utilized. Through the scale effect, producing more implies more environmental degradation (Copeland and Taylor 1994). Another important effect is specialization effect which results from specializing in some dirty activities following the trade liberalization. Not necessarily but many developing countries show patterns of specialization into dirty activities, such as Indonesia (Strutt and Anderson 1999), China (Dean 1999, Jha et al. 1999), Costa Rica (Dessus and Bussolo 1998, Abler et al. 1999). Beghin and Potier (1997) suggest that the scale effect is the more important than the specialization effects though Ferrantino and Linkins (1999) claims just the opposite. In Nepal, the environmental problems seem to arise from both of those effects. Environmental protection has been a problem in developing economies due to the lack of human capital, financial resources, inconsistent regulations, lack of enforcement, and weak monitoring are other generic problems (Jha et al. 1999). Similar situations exist in Nepal as well. First, the tourism related environmental policies are conditioned more by desire of earning foreign currency than by issues of environmental protection. Second, whatever policy exists, its implementation and realization is very poor. Some studies (Anderson 1992, Bhagwati and Srinivasan 1997) suggest that trade liberalization increases the welfare only if optimal environmental protection policy is in place which internalizes the cost of production. Tourism in Nepal is basically the exportable goods, and thus, lowering trade barriers (or promoting tourism) is bound to damage the environment in the absence of optimal environmental policy and its inadequate implementation. A country gains in environment and welfare by liberalizing the trade for a good whose consumption is pollutive (Anderson 1992). however, in the case of tourism, though the consumption is pollutive it takes place in the same country (the country of origine), it also adds the pollution associated with its consumption. Thus, an optimal environmental policy for production as well as for consumption is must to realize the benefits from this industry. Anderson (1992) goes further saying that a tax imposed on close to the pollution source is more efficient. For example, a production tax works more efficiently than export tax on a good whose production process is pollutive. Chichilnisky (1994) suggests that in developing countries, taxes on the use of environmental resources are generally unreliable for discouraging overexploitation because these taxes induce lower income group to work more and extract more to fulfil their consumption needs. Thus, in the context of tourism in Nepal, a consumption tax in the form of optimal entrance fees may be more appropriate since the major pollution in the region is from consumption. Experiences show that market-based instruments have been effective in tackling environmental problems in developing countries. An increase in taxes or reduction of subsidies on pollution intensive activities decreases environmental damages and increase tax revenues (Beghin 2000). For example, China has been successfully abating pollution for the past 20 years using levie (Wang and Wheeler 2000). Market-based instruments also provide incentives to save the taxed resource and use it efficiently. Markets also help mitigate environmental problems induced by open access and lack of property rights. Chichilnisky (1994) indicates that property rights for environmental resources are better defined in North and ill-defined in South, and due to this difference the North overconsumes underpriced resource-intensive products from South following trade liberalization. Due to illdefined property rights, South tends to produce and export more of environmentally intensive goods beyond the optimal level, and at cheaper prices. This is the case in Nepal as well, where the mountain region and most of forest are still managed by state, though parts of forest are being handed over to community management. Well defined property rights induce pricing of resources that is closer to their social value and that stimulates conservation (Beghin 2000). Markets can be
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created if it doesnt exit; property rights can be allocated readily and the institutional support to define and enforce these rights can be built incrementally (OConnor 1994). Privatization is effective way to promote better resource management. Many studies identify state firms as worse polluters than the private sector (Pargal and Wheeler 1996) or state planning as worse than market economies (Vukina et al. 1999). For example, water user associations and community forestry programs have been substituting successfully for the government in the provision of irrigation water and forest management in many countries including Nepal. Despite the governments focus on conservation activities, those protected area still suffer from human encroachment and many management problems. Climbing activity continues to increase, causing increase in the amount of trashes disposed and deforestation rendering the environmental future of the Mount Everest area uncertain (Shroder 2004). As discussed above, development and strict implementation of optimal environmental protection policy and defining the property rights would help reduce the tourism related environmental problems and would help sound growth of this industry in Nepal. Promotion of tourism and conservation of ecology, environment and culture are the important points for the sustainable growth of tourism sector. The first climber of the Everest on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary suggests that the peak be closed to climbers for five years to allow nature to do a clean-up job (Sharma 2002). Hopefully, this will help recoup environment but economy may face serious economic loss. 5. References
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