Nepal is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful mountainous areas in the world, so it’s no wonder so many people want to visit. Yet with high levels of tourism it’s essential to ensure the future ecological and cultural prosperity of the country and its people. This is what the Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEP) has been doing for 25 years.
One programme in particularis focussed around Porters welfare. Porters’ play a vital role in the Nepal's tourism industry; they enable millions of tourist to visit picturesque areas while also providing their families with much needed earnings, however they are often poorly prepared and lack essential training.
Sadiksha Basnet, Program Officer at KEEP told us why it is so important to provide training.
“KEEP is the only local organization in Nepal that works with guides and porters associated with trekking industry in the grass root level. Porters are often regarded as trekking assistants and are the backbone of trekking industry in Nepal. They carry heavy load of trekkers during the trek, however they are the most neglect and underpaid people in the trekking industry. They go trekking without proper equipment which results in high chances of getting high altitude sickness, sometimes even losing their feet and fingers. So workshops to provide first aid and other training are essential in helping them become aware and professional in their field and working in high altitude trekking”.
Late last year the Alpkit Foundation was honoured to be able to help towards workshops and it was great to get some photos through of what’s been going on. More workshops will be taking place, including empowering guides, porters and the local community with knowledge on environmentally friendly trekking techniques, so we look forward to hearing how this continued work is going!