Nepal Army's mountain cleaning campaign

Nepal has been creating a different identity in the world due to its different mountains. There are 8 mountains in Nepal with an altitude of more than 8000 meters and 1,310 peaks above 6,000 meters.

 Mountains have always been the attraction point for many tourists in the nation. While COVID has been affecting the business for a while, but this spring, the number of people coming to Nepal to climb the mountain is increasing.

But with the growing numbers, it is also important to keep the mountains clean. And now "Clean Mountain Campaign-2022" has been launched this year under the leadership of the Nepal Army to clean the mountains. As a continuation of the Clean Mountain Campaign started by the Government of Nepal, Nepal Army has taken the leadership this year.

This campaign has been started with the theme "An Endeavor To Save The Himalayas". The campaign aims to collect about 35 tons of garbage from four mountains: Everest, Lhotse, Kanchenjunga and Manaslu.

According to a report submitted by Major Kishor Adhikari of the Nepal Army and also the campaign leader, the team aims to collect 8 tons of garbage from and around the base camp of Mount Everest. Garbage of each camp will be stored separately and will be certified at different levels.

The plan is to transfer the biodegradable waste to the local body and non-biodegradable waste to the recycling organization. A total of 87 people including 30 trained Nepal Army personnel and 57 Sherpas will be involved in the clean-up operation. A total of 55 days have been allotted for the Everest and Lhotse Mountain cleaning. Similarly, a total of 45 days have been allotted for the Kanchenjunga and Manaslu cleaning and the campaigns starts from April 16 to May 30.

In line with the objective of launching a Fellowship in Mountain Medicine course at the Nepal Army Institute of Health Sciences, High Altitude Mountain Medicine Research will also be conducted in the expedition.

Nepal Army's involvement in mountaineering has been going on for a long time. The Joint Nepal-British Army Everest Expedition was conducted in 1976 and the Nepal Army has been participating in various expeditions since then.

In 1990, the Nepal Army launched an expedition to climb Mt Everest. In 2003 and 2013, a joint Nepal and Indian Army expedition was launched. In 2019, a joint Everest cleaning campaign was launched. Similarly, in 2021, a mountain cleaning campaign was launched.

In the mountain cleaning campaign of 2019, 10 tons of garbage was collected and recycled. Similarly, in 2021, 27.6 tons of garbage was collected and recycled. During the cleanup, 78 percent Non-Plastic Waste, 13% Plastic Mixed Waste and 9% Completely Plastic Waste were collected from Everest.