Expedition agencies and clients have a role to play in the preservation and regeneration of the mountain environment. However today, there is little data about this subject, guidelines available remain general and most mountaineers don’t necessarily know how to reduce their footprint and limit their waste. By having concrete actions they can implement, these key players can mitigate their environmental impact and contribute positively to local communities’ socio-economic well-being.

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The Waste Management Manual for Sustainable Mountaineering Expeditions project is Mountain Synergies’ first step to raise awareness about environment protection and waste among expeditions’ stakeholders.

After it is published in several languages and disseminated among our network, the second step is planned to produce another media support (possibly a video) for locals, focusing on sherpas and porters. This phase will be developped in 2024.

This project is focusing now on the Everest region, but the idea is to adapt it, to share information and promote sustainable practical solutions for other mountain regions of the world.

The strategic aim of this project is to encourage expeditions’ participants and organizers to minimize their impact in mountain areas and to promote sustainable expeditions.

 

Its objectives are the following:

• to prevent as much waste as possible before the expedition;

• to propose concrete sustainable options during all the phases of the expedition, in order to reduce its environmental impact;

• to promote responsibility, accountability and ownership among the various stakeholders;

• to increase knowledge and capacity of all expeditions participants for more sustainable expeditions.

 

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