As a child of ten years I can remember seeing a picture of Macchu Picchu in my geography book. I immediately felt a strong urge to visit this place some time in life and 20 years later my dream came through. Walking along the last day of the Inca Trail we were getting close to the sought after site. Walking up a magnificent staircase cut directly into the rock, we approached a ridge and stepping over the top of the stairs, suddenly the panorama opened and there, in front of us, a few hundred metres below and a kilometre or two distant, lay the famed ruins of Macchu Picchu. It was a strong and emotional moment for me and today, almost fifteen years later, I can still recall the joy and excitement of that moment.
The Inca Trail is the fantastic ancient trail leading to one of the natural, cultural and historical wonders of the world. Sometimes paved with stones and sometimes cut directly into the steep mountain slopes, it winds its way to reach Macchu Picchu, the old religious site of the Inca Indians. It is in many ways comparable to the Great Wall of China or the roads leading to ancient Rome, through its historical importance, unique building techniques and remoteness. Five hundred years ago it was an important link between the fertile valleys around Cuzco and Macchu Picchu. Today, it is still a great attraction for visitors from all over the world.
But the Inca Trail and the Macchu Picchu National Park is about to be loved to death by all the visitors. At the moment over 300.000 visitors come to the Macchu Picchu ruins every year and over 50.000 people walk parts or the whole 3-4 day hike along the Inca Trail. The area is showing signs of serious environmental degradation due to its popularity.
Most hikers along the Trail use one of the many local agents to organise the hike. A group of hikers will be provided with porters who will carry clothes and provisions and cook the food along the road. Due to the high competition among the travel agents, prices are kept low. Most agents do therefore not provide the porters with cooking fuel and stoves. Instead, the food is cooked over an open fire, causing serious deforestation along the Trail. Furthermore the porters' wages are kept low, which does not make them feel responsible for the garbage and waste produced around the campsites and along the way. Instead, the garbage is usually dumped behind the closest tree or in a river. It is believed that less than 10% of the travel agents have any sense of environmental responsibility and make sure that their trekking groups do not leave any traces behind them. Another big problem in the area is forest fires and again trekking groups are partly to blame, camp fires and cigarette butts can quickly destroy a whole mountain side. Farmers are also behind many of the fires, when they want to clear ground for new maize fields. Another problem relating to the forest fires is a non-native specie of grass; the African Gordura-grass has a high content of resins and is very flammable. It is furthermore an invader of newly burnt ground, which makes such areas even more prone to burn. Another african grass - the Kikuyu grass, has invaded the ruins and its roots are cracking stones and causing destruction to the archeological site. Another small, but aesthetical important issue is the placing and colour of the toilets for visitors among the ruins. The red roofs of the toilets and other buildings pose an unnecessary visual "pollution".
The area around Macchu Picchu is very high in biodiversity and one striking aspect of this diversity is the number of species of orchids. However, visitors pick these orchids, since many of them grow among the ruins or along the trail. The picking is done out of ignorance or for trading purposes. Together with forest fires, picking of orchids is threatening many rare species of orchids. Most visitors take the train to the village of Aguas Calientes and visit the ruins from there. Both the operators of the train and the hotels in Aguas Calientes seem to have the same philosophy - throw the garbage into the Urubamba River! The same goes of course for the small population living in the village. The population is 3.000 and growing, but there is no space to grow in the narrow and steep valley. Maybe, I have through this painted a fairly bleak picture of the development around Macchu Picchu, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an important place - both historically, culturally and biologically. But what can be done about this situation?
It is clear that the current institutional arrangement is a failure. The tourism and private tourist operators are not sufficiently monitored or regulated. The private tourist operators have a strong influence in the management of the National Park. Furthermore the National Institute for Natural Resources, INRENA, which is responsible for the management of the park, does not have the financial or human resources to do so; there are, for instance, too few park wardens. The planning and development of the tourism in the area must improve, including regulation of tour operators. The licensing of tour operators should be stricter, with environmental clauses in the licenses. This would of course also require policing and enforcement to control tour operators. Any agencies found to be abusing the environment or the facilities, should be fined or in grave cases, even lose their licenses. However, on 3 June 1998 a new tourism law entered into force in Peru, which seems to remove controls that agencies responsible for protected areas earlier had over damaging impacts of tourism.
It is clear that the financial needs of the management of the Park are higher than the available resources. With soon half a million visitors, the entrance fees could well be adequate, if properly used. It is another matter that fees could be raised to discourage greater numbers visiting.
Through proper information and education about this unique site, awareness and support for the protection of Macchu Picchu and the Inca Trail would increase and this would facilitate the work of both the authorities and international counterparts.Unfortunately, environmental non-governmental organisations in Peru are not putting any pressure on the authorities yet. There are, however, a few critical voices heard from individuals, through the press.
Many donor countries have a great interest in similar sites. In the case of Macchu Picchu, Finland has a debt-swap programme with Peru aiming at developing and protecting the National Park. Several million dollars are being written off, if Peru can show a commitment towards protecting Macchu Picchu for future generations.
In the 16th century the Spanish conquerors never found Macchu Picchu and its existence was kept a secret until its re-discovery in 1913. Now the knowledge of its existence is threatening the future of the ruins and its surroundings. Let us turn this around and make sure that the knowledge and awareness of its existence is developed into a protection and care, which will enable future generations to enjoy this unique place.
End-note: Read more about the Macchu Picchu World Heritage Site on UNESCO's home page at http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/274.htm.
About the author:
Ulf Carlsson, 39 years, is a Swedish citizen living in Kenya since 1990, where he
works for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The views in this
article do not represent the views of this agency. His main responsibilities are
environmental education and training. He is a devoted hiker, rock climber and
mountaineer and he is trying to merge his interest for the mountains and his work
with environmental issues to promote sustainable mountain tourism. A previous
article, The Aconcagua Waste Management Program
appeared in the November 1997 issue of Planeta. The author can be contacted at
ulf.carlsson@unep.org.
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