CHINA:China plans limit on access to Everest to allow for clearing of debris, writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing
EVEREST, THE world's tallest mountain, where the air is thin and climbing to the summit is a task to which few are equal, is a terrible place to organise a clean-up operation. But now, environmentalists are planning to restrict access to the summit of what the Chinese call Mount Qomolangma to carry out a major clean-up of the world's highest rubbish dump.
Just weeks after the controversial torch relay across the world's highest peak, mountaineers are planning to scale the mountain to clear the debris of discarded oxygen canisters, rucksacks and even the occasional corpse of a luckless climber.
In 2007, 40,000 people visited Everest's northern side. While this is significantly smaller than the number that went up from the Nepali side to the south, they still managed to leave 120 tons of rubbish behind them.
The Tibetan environmental protection agency wants to restrict access to Everest and clean up the northern foothills. "We have a responsibility to ensure the water source of the river flowing from Everest to the sea is clean," said Zhang Yongze, head of the environmental group.
"Our target is to keep even more people from abusing Mount Everest," Mr Zhang said.
Everest's 8,850-metre peak lies on the border between China and Nepal, and the thousands of climbers who visit every year provide a significant income source to both countries.
But the routes have become hopelessly overcrowded, with every group of climbers leaving its own footprint on the mountain, and environmental groups have sought a temporary end to access to the once-pristine amenity.
The clean-up will take place in the first half of next year to protect the fragile ecology of the Himalayan plateau. The last major effort to clean up Everest was in 2004, when a team of 24 volunteers removed eight tons of junk.
The difficult ascent, combined with deep snow, altitude and thin air, means that those who go to the summit tend to leave their gear up there, to make the descent easier.
On the Nepali side, the government insists that climbers bring their gear down with them or risk losing a hefty deposit.
It's been 55 years since Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first conquered Everest on May 29th, 1953.
Even when away from the news Everest's peak is newsworthy, but it attracted headlines recently when a team of Chinese and Tibetan climbers carried the Olympic flame to the summit and back down. The Chinese authorities convinced the Nepali government to shut down the south side for several days to make sure there were no disruptions to the torch relay across the mountain.
Tibetan activists said Beijing was using the torch relay to symbolise its control over Tibet. For China, Tibet is, was and always will be Chinese. Beijing says it has ruled the Himalayan region for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was independent for much of that time.
The year 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Talks are due to start between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Beijing's representatives this week in an attempt to resolve ongoing tensions since anti-Chinese riots in Tibet's capital of Lhasa and other Tibetan communities in neighbouring provinces in March.
Mr Zhang described the Olympic expedition as a model of environmental responsibility, saying climbers, support crews and media carried away large amounts of garbage and relied on "environmental toilets" to keep from fouling the mountain.
The move was also aimed at preserving the melting Rongbuk glacier, which has retreated hundreds of metres at the base of Everest in the past decade, he said.
There are sceptical voices about China's environmentalist claims, especially since China paved a road to the base camp on Everest this year, against the wishes of international conservationists and Tibetan independence activists, who said it was the latest effort to dilute Tibetan culture in the region, a claim steadfastly denied in Beijing.
Jin Canrong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at Beijing's Renmin University, said: "The cleaning work to Mount Everest is for environmental protection. But some Tibetan independence elements have given a political interpretation for acts of environmental protection." Environmentalists say most of the rubbish gathered on Everest is cosmetic and not a major problem, though climbers tearing up the local shrub juniper to make fires is a big problem, as it can lead to soil erosion.