"When there is chaos in nature all life gets affected"
MGPO Environmental Protection Strategy
MGPO operates on the principle that sustainable development and environmental protection are part of the development process through which the indigenous culture, heritage, ecology, wildlife and resources are utilized for the benefit of the local population and in accordance with their aspirations. MGPO remains committed to safeguarding mountain ecosystems, their dynamics and functioning, with the present and future well being of mountain communities through sustainable development. Dedicated and committed to its motto “Preserve & Protect” it will remain the constant endeavor of MGPO to restore the requisite equilibrium between man and nature.
Baltoro Environmental Protection Program
Introduction
The Karakorum Mountain Range is located to the east of the Hindukush, south of the Pamirs, west of Tibet and north of the Western Himalayas. It stretches roughly 480km from east to west and 210km from north to south. It has the densest concentration of high peeks and is the most heavily glaciated area after the North Pole. It has immense geological significance and provides a habitat to a variety of endangered mammals including the Markhor and the Snow Leopard.
The Karakorum Mountain Range represents a significant region which together with the mountains of High Asia and the immense Tibetan Plateau constitutes a major topographic part of planetary climate control and serves as catchments of snow and ice as well as water shed for the surrounding dry low lands.
In 1993 the Government of Pakistan declared 1023364 hectares in the Central Karakurum as a National Park. The CKNP is estimated to provide approximately 70% of regulated foreign tourism in Pakistan.
Problem
The Baltoro Glacier which falls inside the park area and leads the way to four peaks above 8000 meters is heavily trafficked. This route was opened for general mountaineering and trekking in 1974. Each year thousands of people (approximately 40,000) trek on this route and leave behind their degradable and non-degradable waste. Although since 1986 there is a ban on cutting green trees, lack of enforcement has resulted in gradual depletion of forest cover. Before MGPO interventions there was no facility for tourists in the form of toilets, trash bins or clean drinking water. The result was an alarming increase in degradable and non-degradable waste, high incidence of water borne diseases, indiscriminate poaching and rampant exploitation of natural resources. Lack of environmental awareness, weak regulatory enforcement and negligent waste management practices resulted in degradation of the environment, loss of habitat and biodiversity and a critical increase in levels of pollution that threatened to endanger the fragile eco-system that provides life support functions.
