Climate change: Nepal tourism under threat, remedial measures under focus

Friday, December 7, 2018

The government of Nepal, in collaboration with the Department for International Development, United Kingdom, as well as private actors and think-tanks, has started assessing the impacts of climate change on its tourism sector and livelihoods of ethnic minorities in the country.

Phurba Sherpa, former chair of the Nepal National Mountain Guides Association, says: “Some of the mountains that drew trekkers to Nepal are becoming less and less appealing.

The loss of snow cover makes them less scenic, and when there is no snow, tourists complain. It has also made climbing trails more dangerous. Tourists wanted to hire me as a guide to climb Pasangpeak but I had to refuse. It was too dangerous.”

He is one of the torch-bearers of the sherpa community — an ethnic group famous for their mountaineering skills and local knowledge. They are vital to the tourism industry in Nepal, which is endowed with eight of the world’s ten highest peaks, making it a hotspot for climbers, trekkers and adventure-seekers.

Phurba Sherpa speaks of the need for a paradigm shift in the way they work: “We can’t continue as mere porters like we have for centuries; we now have to evolve into mentors and need to be equipped with sophisticated technology. We also need a better understanding of the rescue and evacuation operations to meet extreme weather events. This will build trust with tourists and help save lives.”

Tourism is one of the largest industries in Nepal and contributed 85.28 billion rupees ($0.8 billion) to its economy – equivalent to 4 per cent of total gross domestic product (GDP) – in 2017. Over half a million international tourists visited Nepal in 2017, and the sector supported 426,395 jobs. The Nepal government aims to attract two million tourists over the next two years. But this sector is increasingly under direct and indirect threat from climate change.

High temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, floods, landslides, melting snow cover and snow line retreat, increase or decrease in river discharge and quality of river discharge directly affect the trekking and hiking experience.

The situation has taken a toll on local cultures, their traditions and rituals as well. For instance, every house in Lo Manthang in the upper Mustang region of Nepal contributes grains and chang (local beer) to prepare a feast for the whole village during local festivals.

However, an important festival like Tiji is losing its charm as the villages of Samjhong and Dhe have been unable to spare grain.

The General Secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Kul Bahadur Gurung, speaks about the gradual emergence of climate change in the consciousness of the private sector. “Fifteen years ago, climate change discussions were limited to the academia. You cannot ignore it anymore. We used to have snowfall at 3,500 metre at Annapurna or Langtang. Nowadays, we go up to 4,000 metre and still there is no snow. We realise now that climate change has a lot to do with it.”

According to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index, Nepal is fourth among the countries most at risk. However, the linkage between climate change and tourism was neither well established nor well understood.

It was only after the frequency and intensity of extreme events increased that the impact of climate change on the tourism sector became a part of the mainstream discourse.

One such event was a freak blizzard and avalanche in the Annapurna circuit, triggered by the tail of cyclone Hudhud, which led to 43 deaths in 2014. The local and international media called it Nepal’s worst trekking disaster.

These concerns came to the fore during the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) formulation process in 2015–2017, which aimed to improve the institutional capacity of the government to implement a long-term climate-resilient development plan in Nepal.

Earlier in 2010, the government had prepared the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to deal with urgent climate impacts; however, this left out the tourism sector. The NAP identified this as an oversight and included tourism as part of the nine thematic and cross-cutting areas for prioritised action.

The Department for International Development, United Kingdom, is also assisting the government of Nepal to assess the impacts of climate change on the tourism sector and to develop measures to build resilience.

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