The Namche Conference: May 24-26, 2003 People, Park, and Mountain Ecotourism Participants and Presentations: Beau Beza Ang Tshering Sherpa

Beau Beza Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010 Australia, and Ang Tshering Sherpa, Guide, Highland Excursions/ World Expeditions, Baluwatar, Kathmandu. Email: beaubb@unimelb.edu.au Abstract (Focal Area: Development Issues) Garbage along the Mt. Everest Trek. Garbage is found along the Mt. Everest trek in all forms: from little bits and pieces to overflowing rubbish pits. Visual garbage in the landscape has led to enormous debate, to waste management strategies and to organised clean up efforts. During interviews of Australian tourists and the Sherpa, a projective mapping technique was used to identify landscapes along the Mt. Everest trek that were considered to contain a lot of visible garbage. Once photographs of these sites were taken, both the psychophysical and expert paradigms of landscape assessment were used to create a set of sample photographs. The Sherpa and Australian tourists assessed this set during follow- up interviews. This paper explores how people perceive garbage in the landscape, who is considered to be responsible and the perceived reasons for leaving garbage along the Mt. Everest Trek.

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