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media. The local community is engaged at various stages
during the initiative from planning to implementation.
Expeditions are planned and implemented in partnership
with a local Skardu-based NGO, Khurpa Care Pakistan, which
has been promoting porter rights in the Baltistan region since
2005. Additionally, camp managers at various sites collect and
bag up improperly discarded waste and the clean-up teams
collect it on the way down to Askoli free of charge.
Providing benefits to the local porters.
• More efficient clean-up of camps and trails result in increased
tourism and improvements to the local economy.
• The health of the glacier is connected to the health of porters.
Water at the site is currently non-potable and porters regularly
suffer from a variety of waterborne diseases.
• 35 porters receive a guaranteed expedition income.
• In addition, medical assistance is provided at all the camps set
up during the clean-up expeditions. Free first aid and basic
health care treatment is provided to porters for common
problems faced at high altitudes. The team intends to continue
this practice of free medical support in all its camps.
“We feel that an integrated approach devised by all stakeholders
including the local government, NGOs currently cleaning the glacier,
tour operators and porter welfare organizations is the only way
forward. Our work currently is serving as a bandage but everyone
needs to come to the table to ensure that individual efforts aren’t
being replicated and proper measures of accountability are put in
place to ensure that future waste is not improperly disposed of on
the rooftop of Pakistan”.
– Hanniah Tariq, HASP
HASP team members collecting rubbish at lower altitudes.
Photo
©
Hanniah Tariq/HASP