Footprints on the Roof of the World: Navigating Anthropogenic Impacts in the Everest Region Público
Buscemi, Lucia (Spring 2023)
Abstract
The Solukhumbu district of Nepal is a region in constant environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural transition. Communities that once mostly consisted of traders, farmers, and Buddhist monastics now primarily occupy new livelihoods— working as porters and guides on some of the world’s highest mountain peaks, or running lodges and shops that cater to the massive influx of foreign tourists. Through engaging in the mountaineering industry in Khumbu, local communities, primarily those of Sherpa ethnic identity, have been able to quickly move up the socioeconomic ladder and therefore “transform and remake their own society at least partly in terms of their own agendas.” However, despite bringing economic prosperity to the Mt. Everest region, the negative effects of mountaineering, such as the loss of porters’ and guides’ lives, are rapidly becoming embedded into the Khumbu Valley way of life.
The ecological impacts of mountain tourism in Khumbu have been especially prominent in recent decades, especially as globalization has led to an increase in the number of packaged, processed goods imported to the area. Additionally, climate change is posing a serious threat to these mountain communities- historical climate evidence in some regions of the eastern Himalayas has shown remarkable warming trends, and average annual precipitation is increasing. These climatic shifts increase the frequency of environmental threats such as avalanches, rock falls, flooding, and glacial crevasses. Rural mountain communities at high altitudes are also especially vulnerable to climate change because of their exposure to the early symptoms of global weather pattern shifts such as the melting ice cover; lack of access to contemporary healthcare, infrastructure, and education systems; and economic reliance on the fragile industries of mountain tourism and subsistence farming.
This thesis explores how an explosion in the number of tourists in the Everest region allowed Himalayan communities to gain greater economic autonomy, while also creating a niche market that limits job opportunities outside of adventure tourism. Additionally, I will discuss the past few decades of ecological decline of the Everest region brought about by climate change and poor waste management practices, and assess possible sustainable long-term solutions. I will also contextualize my research within discussions of Indigenous knowledge, environmental colonialism, political histories, and relationships between local people and foreigners. The primary research questions I address in my thesis are: “In what ways do the effects of foreign climbers and climate change on Mount Everest benefit and harm Himalayan communities?” And, “What possible solutions to the issue of tourism-generated garbage and climate change in Khumbu work well and are sustainable for the environment and Sherpa culture / economic autonomy?”
Table of Contents
Chapter 0: Residents of the Everest Region ........................................................ Page 2
0.1: Sagarmatha National Park and Border Zone (SNPBZ) ............................... Page 6
0.2: Negative Effects of Mountaineering ........................................................ Page 8
0.3: Introduction to My Research .................................................................. Page 12
0.4: Positionality & Decolonizing Systems of Epistemic Power ........................ Page 20
Chapter 1: Mount Everest as a Symbol ............................................................... Page 25
1.1: Masculinity, Whiteness, and Identity in the Death Zone ........................... Page 29
1.2: Physical and Mental Effects of High Altitude Conditions .......................... Page 33
Chapter 2: The Commercialization of Mountaineering ....................................... Page 40
2.1: Trans-Himalayan Trade ......................................................................... Page 43
2.2: Everest Mountaineering Today ............................................................... Page 45
Chapter 3: Climate Change in the Himalayas ..................................................... Page 51
3.1: Climate Knowledge Production .............................................................. Page 63
3.2: Environmental Colonialism ................................................................... Page 66
3.3: Water Governance and the Agricultural Sector ........................................ Page 69
Chapter 4: High Altitude Waste Management ................................................... Page 74
4.1: Past, Present, and Future Cleanup Efforts .............................................. Page 78
Chapter 5: Suggestions for a More Sustainable Future ....................................... Page 85
5.1: Governmentality and Unequal Power ..................................................... Page 94
5.2: Community Education & Global Conceptions of Everest ......................... Page 96
5.3: Covid-19 and Healthcare Systems ......................................................... Page 100
5.4: Solutions Rooted in Indigenous Knowledge ........................................... Page 102
5.5: Some Concluding Thoughts .................................................................. Page 111
About this Honors Thesis
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