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Survey: Over 75% of increasing mountain waste related to COVID-19
A survey of 1,750 mountain enthusiasts from 74 countries said that 60 percent observed an increase in waste over the past five years, while over 75 percent have spotted COVID-19-related litter, such as masks or hand-sanitizer bottles.
The survey was carried out by GRID-Arendal, a non-profit environmental group, UNEP, the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm anti-pollution conventions and partners.
The survey found that 99.7 percent of them saw litter and waste during a typical mountain trip. Most of this was plastics, organic waste and paper or cardboard, especially on or beside trails, near car parks or at resting places.
A joint analysis by UNEP, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, and GRID-Arendal examined visitor activity in mountain areas. It found tourists generate significant amounts of solid waste and wastewater, which can pollute groundwater, streams, lakes and soil. Certain types of waste, including pharmaceuticals, batteries and hygiene products, may, in addition, contain dangerous chemicals, says the analysis. The summary is part of a 2021 publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), titled Sustainable Development of Mountain Tourism.
“While there are undoubted economic benefits for local communities from mountaineering, the right balance has to be struck to ensure that the impact of mass mountain tourism is properly managed,” said UNEP mountain ecosystem expert Matthias Jurek.
“We need to promote more sustainable tourism in mountain regions to prevent, halt and reverse their degradation. Done properly, mountain tourism can support mountain communities to lead more sustainable lives,” he added.
Experts said raising awareness about the consequences of mountain pollution is crucial to cleaning up the world’s slopes. To this end, the International Olympic Committee, working with UNEP and mountain sports federations, released 10 steps to be a Mountain Hero, a practical guide on how mountain visitors can reduce their environmental footprint.
UNEP-led campaigns and related initiatives, such as Beat Plastic Pollution, Clean Seas, Adopt a River and the Tide Turners Challenge, seek to reduce plastic waste in the environment and raise awareness of the threats plastic pollution poses to ecosystems. Globally, there are many such campaigns, as well as legislation in a growing number of countries to ban certain single-use plastics, including bags.
While these may have had some success locally, according to UNEP data, plastic pollution is on course to double by 2030, a potentially perilous development for sensitive mountain ecosystems, said experts.
“The solution is a ban on single-use plastics, reduced consumption of plastic products, the financing and development of innovative replacement products, recycling and, ultimately, a circular economy in which everything gets either reused or recycled,” said Jurek.
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