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From Yaks to Tourists: Sherpa Livelihood Adaptations in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal

2012; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-4614-5702-2_13

1574-0501

Jeremy Spoon,

Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research

Mountain ecosystems require creative solutions to deal with ecological, political, and economic stressors, such as marginal environmental conditions, conflict, and fragile economies. The livelihoods of mountain peoples thus reflect short and long-term adaptations to cope with uncertainty. In this chapter, I explore Khumbu Sherpa livelihood adaptations in the world's highest ecosystem. I assess how ecological, political, and economic forces shaped five centuries of human–environment relationships, such as limited arable land, protected area establishment, and an exploding tourism industry. The Sherpa follow the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and practice specialized herding and farming and the gathering of forest products. They also actively traded with their southern and northern neighbors until the 1960s. At that time, tourism began to influence the social and environmental worlds of Khumbu and the Sherpa; it continues to be a dominant force of change. Specifically, I address the livelihood transition from agropastoralism and trade to tourism, focusing on how tourism influenced Sherpa ecological knowledge and understanding within the protected area of Sagarmatha National Park. I also discuss the development and implementation of local nonbiodegradable litter abatement programs. These programs are examples of emerging adaptations to manage contemporary problems. Sherpa livelihoods are in flux, reflecting the necessities and desires of a people in a fragile mountain ecosystem increasingly linked to the global economy.