IMPACTS OF EXTREME ADVENTURE BUSINESSES ON HIGH ALTITUDE ENVIRONMENTS

This presentation addresses the correlation between deforestation rates and climbing and trekking industries. A case study is presented of satellite imagery, aerial photography and various data collected from Nepal. The potential exists for further investigation into a number of critical situations in the region of this study. Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summitted Mount Everest in 1953 there has been increasing interest in the mountaineering industry. People are now able to pay $60,000 to be guided to the top of the world. With increased accessibility to the Everest region, this area has been impacted in various ways. One area of concern is the rate of deforestation in this region as it relates to climbing and trekking. Deforestation statistics, in conjunction with Landsat images, Digital Elevation Models, and aerial photographs, will be used to determine the severity and the exact locations of deforestation. This information will be compared to data from Nepalese government agencies, which contain tourist population rates in the Khumbu and Mount Everest regions of Nepal. The data will be analyzed using a GIS. Once the impact of the tourism industry is known, possible alternatives may be suggested for a more sustainable coexistence. This study has implications for the relationship between tourism and various mountain environments.