Introductory Remarks [e-conference: Mountain Hazards, Mountain Tourism]
Kumar P Mainali
collaboration with Himalayan Journal of Sciences. Postings will be
archived on the Mountain Legacy Google group Web site at
http://groups.google.com/group/MountainLegacy, and also on the Mountain
Legacy e-conference page, at www.mountainlegacy.org/econf.html or
simply www.econf.org.
* * *
The subject of this e-conference is "Mountain Hazards, Mountain
Tourism." We are fortunate to have a keynote address from Jack D. Ives,
author of "Himalayan Perceptions: Environmental Change and the
Well-being of Mountain Peoples." (HJS has just published a new and
enhanced edition of this work, available on Amazon.com or directly from
HJS at www.himjsci.com.)
Dr. Ives' contribution is entitled "Fools Rush In... A Mountain
Dilemma." For those of us from non-Anglo cultures, the title refers to
a line in Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism":
No Place so Sacred from such Fops is barr'd,
Nor is Paul's Church more safe than Paul's Church-Yard:
Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead;
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
In the song "Fools Rush In," popularized by Frank Sinatra and later by
Elvis Presley (lyrics by Johnny Mercer, 1940), the ranks of the
cautious are expanded to include the better informed among us mortals:
"Fools rush in, where wise men never go" -- a generalization that may
apply not only to mountain tourists, but also to quite a few
development projects.
* * *
The theme of our e-conference -- "mountain hazards, mountain tourism"
- is intended to evoke by juxtaposition the mare's nest of challenges
and opportunities that attend the development of tourism in mountainous
regions. Such areas are inherently dangerous due to a variety of
factors including declivity, climate, access, and geological dynamism.
The very hazards that make life difficult for indigenous populations
are also the stock-in-trade of mountain tourism; they hold the promise
of adventure. Unfortunately, that promise is sometimes materialized in
spades. When disasters occur, or are perceived as imminent, the
economic impact on a tourist destination is multiplied. On the other
hand, the potential or actual involvement of tourists is likely to draw
media attention and international assistance. And, where mountain
tourism entails primarily trekkers and adventurers, the likelihood is
that such fools will rush back in, fueling a more rapid and thorough
recovery than in other contexts - such as New Orleans.
Our mare's nest is complicated by a concatenation of natural and
human factors. Natural hazards are aggravated by human infrastructure
(especially hydroelectric plants), and vulnerability to disaster is
compounded by potential loss of those and other investments. Natural
processes such as cyclical climate change are evidently impacted by
human activity, and the resulting disasters themselves are expected to
range from flood to drought. Newly perceived threats, including
devastation of amenity resources due to retreat of glaciers and
snowline, as well as extirpation of alpine and subalpine ecosystems,
join others that have been exaggerated or misattributed, such as
deforestation and mass wasting. Some hazards, such as insurgency and
military conflict, may be purely human in cause, but may also pose the
risk of sabotage to engineering projects, whether those are intended
primarily to generate income, to ensure safety, or both.
Even more confusing is the welter of highland-lowland linkages,
which make it so difficult to prioritize and formulate mitigating
strategies. Large-scale disasters in the mountains, such as earthquake
or dam-break, will obviously have an impact on lower-lying areas, and
generally that impact will be more costly (although perhaps less
thorough) than the local damage. Likewise, damage to the tourism
industry in an important upland destination can have a multiplied
effect on the gateway region and on the country as a whole. Conversely,
long-term generalized political instability can have a much more
serious effect on mountain tourism than a single natural disaster. In
developing strategies for the mitigation of disasters impacting
mountain tourism, it makes little sense to allocate disproportionate
resources in order to mitigate hypothetical natural hazards while
ignoring a brewing social meltdown such as the ongoing ethnic cleansing
in Bhutan and the festering refugee camps in Nepal.
We believe that our greatest need at this time is for a "hazard
clearing-house," a think-tank to target research and prioritize
mitigation efforts. Without some kind of co-ordinated and ongoing
international effort, we will continue to be at the mercy of fools
rushing in, implementing costly projects, and leaving the scene before
the inevitable hits the fan.
Kumar P. Mainali and Seth Sicroff
e-Conference Moderators, Mountain Legacy
(http://www.mountainlegacy.net/econf/)
Editors, Himalayan Journal of Sciences (www.himjsci.com)