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Wednesday 26 April 2000 - Kangchenjunga Base Camp
Today, as we are still confined to Basecamp by the depth of snow,
it has been decided to focus on the Expedition's environment policy, and the work
of the environment officer, James Raitt.
The environment of Nepal is very fragile and can easily be permanently damaged, especially
by large expeditions. BSKE2000 has an environmental policy to minimise the expedition's
impact on the countryside. This includes methods of dealing with rubbish, human waste
and the general treatment of the countryside that the expedition passes through.
On the walk in various measures were employed at each of the temporary campsites
that we occupied. These included digging a toilet at least 50m from any river or
stream, burning any burnable rubbish and collecting tins and bottles. During the
days walk each member would keep any rubbish that he produced, for collection at
the end of the day.
Now we are established at basecamp we have a range of measures to protect the area
in which we are living. The main concern is the collection of human waste, and the
toilet, constructed by Neil Greenwood, plays a key role. It is situated over a 4
ft deep hole, which will be filled in with soil on departure. There are also collection
points for tin cans, glass bottles,gas cylinders and batteries, all of which will
be removed at the end of the expedition to an establishment which can cope with their
disposal; in the case of used batteries this means taking them back to Britain.
Higher on the mountain a toilet site is established at each camp, and all rubbish
is bagged up and transported down off the mountain to base camp. At the end of the
expedition we will try as far as possible to remove all items of mountaineering equipment
from the mountain, including the fixed ropes.
Unfortunately not all expeditions pay as much attention to matters of conservation
and the environment, it is not uncommon to find campsites littered with rubbish and
human waste. An environmental bond, a considerable sum in $US, is paid by each expedition
and is returned if the Liaison Officer judges that suitable standards have been reached.
For the expedition members the only solution is to set a good example, and hope that
in time the environment will benefit.
Today's photos show the toilet and the used battery bin in use.
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