This has led some mountain climbers to grumble about the trash left by tourists, along with their lack of basic mountaineering skills, especially in the wake of the fire that razed Mt. Pulag in January 2018.
Are irresponsible hikers ruining our mountains? Ian Tobia, recreational mountaineer and member of Loyola Mountaineers, and JP Alipio, National Geographic Explorer and Chief Forest Builder at Cordillera Conservation Trust, both believe that demonizing novice hikers isn’t the solution.
“No one owns the mountains. Everyone’s a visitor. I think everyone is a visitor, really. Unless one lives on the mountain, then he/she is a visitor,” says Tobia.
“It’s a lot easier to think like an environmentalist because part of your enjoyment is the pristine environment”
He believes that climbers who are part of mountaineering clubs are naturally more concerned with preserving the environment because it’s part of their training, and because they spend so much more time in the mountains. “It’s a lot easier to think like an environmentalist because part of your enjoyment is the pristine environment,” he says. “So since you’re the one who’s always out there, you have a bigger stake and a bigger role to play in sustainability and the cleanliness of the outdoors. Because you’re always out there.”
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"Without tourism...there’s going to be another type of development which will replace it which will most likely be much more damaging and permanent"
PHOTO: JP Alipio
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In fact, the increasing number of tourists is actually good for conservation, according to Alipio. When visitors flock to a certain destination, it encourages the locals to preserve it as it is, instead of trying to harvest its resources and damaging it in the process.
“Mt. Pulag, Mt. Ulap, all of these areas are now being used for their natural character. They’re being used for what they are, the wild space. Otherwise, without tourism, without the influx of tourists who are paying fees and hiring guides and creating an economy around that wild space, there’s going to be another type of development which will replace it which will most likely be much more damaging and permanent than all this influx of tourism,” he explains.
For example, Alipio says that the damage brought about by visitors to Mt. Pulag National Park—the trash, the throngs of people—only affect about four to five percent of Mt. Pulag National Park. At the same time, the tourist activity on Mt. Pulag provides thousands of jobs. Without those jobs, the locals would probably use the mountain for commercial gardening, which causes much more permanent damage than an accidental bush fire. In fact, this is what is being done in other areas of Mt. Pulag.
“If you go to the other side of the mountain, where the lakes are, in Balay or towards Balete, there’s large tracts of mossy forest that are destroyed permanently. Hindi siya parang basura that you can pick up. It’s not like trampling or burning a mountain where it’s going to regrow,” Alipio says. “When you destroy a forest for a farm that's never going to grow back ever. It’s not going to be the same. By giving jobs and reducing that kind of economic pressure on the bigger part of the mountain, there’s actually a greater conservation being made by all these tourists.”
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Without those jobs, the locals would probably use the mountain for commercial gardening, which causes much more permanent damage than an accidental bush fire. In fact, this is what is being done in other areas of Mt. Pulag.
The Cordillera Conservation Trust developed homestays in Mt. Pulag a few years ago by giving training to the locals. “That’s a long value chain which basically gives jobs to families,” Alipio says. “You don’t have to be a guide to make money, all you have to do is have a house. You can serve food which also gives jobs. It creates an economy around the wild space. So you’re basically pitting this economy against a more destructive one which would be be gardening, mining, or logging.”
Alipio adds that there are as many as 400 guides working at Mt. Ulap. Before it became an popular destination, the land was privately owned and most likely would have been sold, used for mining, or for real estate. “That’s 400 jobs that did not exist without the adventure economy and now there’s a value to this place as it is. There’s a value in keeping it wild and conserved as a mountain without houses. The locals see that value and they actually get that value economically, so there’s less pressure on the mountain to be converted for mining,” he says.
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If serious mountaineers find the presence of tourist hordes off-putting, Alipio suggests climbing the harder trails or mountains that require more technical skill, such as the Akiki or Tawangan trails on Mt. Pulag.
While it’s easy to understand where mountaineers are coming from when they complain about tourists doing damage to the environment, Alipio and Tobia believe it's the local communities’ responsibility to educate tourists.
“Tourism is actually a good driver for conservation. The only thing is you also have to manage it properly,” Alipio says. “Ngayon kasi what’s happening is local governments and DENR, they’re just looking at it as a way to make a buck, a way to get as much as possible in as short a time as possible. But they’re not reinvesting all of this money into conservation.”
Alipio observes that local governments often use a small portion of the fees to put up toilets or sheds. “That’s not conservation there, you have to invest it in protection, enhancement of the national park, investment in the natural area. That’s where registration funds should go, because the product is not the shed, it’s not the hotel, it’s not the ranger station,” he explains. “The product is the wild space. Like any business, if you want to improve your product, you reinvest your income back into your product.”
Investing in the enhancement of the natural park means having more meetings with the local communities to build relationships and stepping up protection efforts. It also means providing jobs that are in tune with conserving the environment. After all, the locals who destroy forests aren’t doing it because they’re evil or greedy—they do so because they need to feed their families and put them through school. In fact, Alipio believes that the profits made from tourism on Mt. Pulag should go to the local schools and to sustainable livelihood programs, instead of relying on donations to construct buildings and provide school supplies.
“Governments and agencies have to reinvest in these areas. It’s not their job to make money for themselves, it’s their job to create opportunities for communities there so that the product, the wild space, continues to create those opportunities for them,” he says.
It’s also the responsibility of local communities and tour organizers to lay down the ground rules and educate tourists on safety and environmental conservation. “Doon tayo kumulang, the management side,” Alipio says.
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Mt. Ulap used to accommodate about a thousand tourists a week, he says by way of example. But since park management had trouble coping with this volume, they limited the number of visitors to 500 people at a time. One has to register online beforehand to be allowed to climb the mountain.
“They were able to fix that problem early. It comes down to management. You can’t always blame the tourists. Tourists are there, they’re like herding animals,” Alipio says. “You have to herd them properly, tell them where to poop, tell them where not to step. But there has to be a good management system in place. If you make the rules, people will follow.”
He adds that Filipinos are often hesitant to enforce rules for fear that tourists come back if they're told off. But reminding tourists of what they can and can’t do is all part of protecting their "product," he argues, which is the natural beauty of the place. Failing to do so cheapens and downgrades the place, and makes it less appealing to future visitors.
It’s also the responsibility of local communities and tour organizers to lay down the ground rules and educate tourists on safety and environmental conservation. “Doon tayo kumulang, the management side,” Alipio says.
PHOTO: JP Alipio
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Tobia observes that, in New Zealand, which is well known for its natural beauty and adventure tourism, the Kiwis are very good at keeping tourists in line. “Mountain safety and environmentalism is something very pronounced in their discourse of outdoor tourism,” he says. “It’s how locals behave that has an effect on visitors. If the locals pick up their trash—they put it in a bin and carry it—it does have an effect on even the most incorrigible tourists.”
“Kiwis are actually pretty good at being kind but firm with tourists,” he continues. “They’ll go up to them and say, ‘Hey, you can’t do that here.’ They’re very kind, and they’re not afraid to speak up also. You want tourists to come in knowledgeable and responsible already, but at the same time it certainly helps if the place they go to promotes these ideas, these reminders and provides the infrastructure for it.”
In the end, tourism is actually important to environmental conservation. When visitors get to truly experience a place’s natural beauty, they become passionate about protecting it as well. “Why would you put a hindrance to people getting outside, when in fact we need people to get outside?” Alipio asks. “We need to get people to experience all of this to create more advocates. There’s so little. Even with the volume of people that are now going up into the mountains, it’s like one percent of the Philippine population. So it’s nothing in terms of creating advocates for all of these wild spaces.”
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