Annapurna an exception to rule

JAKARTA (JP): While Nepal poses a clear example of continued poverty and environmental degradation amid so much potential income from tourism, it also hosts a fairly successful ecotourism project in the Annapurna region, where millions come in search "of one of the greatest walks on earth".

In 1986 the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) started, to safeguard 7,600 square kilometers which are home to 100 species of mammals, 1,226 species of plants and endangered and rare animals such as the snow leopard, musk deer and blue sheep.

The project does have an inspiring achievement for popular mountain destinations; predictions in 1969 that forests in the area would vanish in 25 years may not materialize. In 1994 it was found that undergrowth had regenerated and that most mature forests were intact, according to a report in a 1999 book, Tough Terrain.

The report cites tourism figures showing Annapurna replacing Mount Everest as the country's most visited site since last year, when the former region saw 60 percent of Nepal's tourists, or 70,000 visitors.

Before the project started, Keya Acharya writes, trekkers would "leave behind 'garbage and the begging disease'".

Now ACAP charges a fee of 1,000 rupees for every visitor entering the area, with the funds going to villages along the trails.

Efforts to curb negative impacts of tourism are striving to catch up with the waves of visitors particular in high seasons.

Acharya writes of the strain on electricity and water supplies in Pokhara, the starting point of the Annapurna treks which sees an annual average of 100,000 tourists from October to December.

Despite shortcomings such as the absence of environment impact assessments for developers, the writer stresses the key has been the participation of local communities. (anr)