Abstract
Poorly managed solid waste disposal in the Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, (SNP) is causing considerable degradation of major rivers and drinking water in the region. This research began as a study to: (1) identify sources of water contamination; (2) better understand the breadth of this problem; and (3) begin to develop technical solutions for resolving these problems. The remoteness of the study site and rugged terrain challenged the equipment used to collect and store samples and caused us to modify our protocols. Further, the complex interactions among natural resource management issues, increasing tourism, a struggling economy, climate change, and the risk of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes) in the SNP triggered a change in our initial approach to the problem. We decided to broaden our research goals to include community-based resource management efforts designed to inform how resources are protected and governed in the SNP. Understanding communities, residents, and other stakeholder’s attitudes and perceptions of the social, economic, and environmental risks is necessary to help community leaders develop and sustain a useful governing framework to support water quality risk mitigation. This manuscript is an effort to communicate the evolving nature of our methodology over time and make a case for flexible research design, particularly in areas where geography, culture, and resource management potentially pose substantial challenges to traditional research methods. The methodology we eventually adopted is generalizable to similar remote mountainous regions around the globe.
Highlights
The combination of unrestricted tourism and the lack of waste management is resulting in the contamination of much of the surface and drinking water in the Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), Nepal (Ghimire et al, 2013a; Nicholson et al, 2014, 2016)
This article documents the numerous unexpected issues encountered during our field research, including challenging site characteristics and a catastrophic geological event (2015 earthquake) as well as the realization that solving the water contamination problem is related to proper waste disposal, sanitation, and drinking water treatment, but connected to how drinking water is protected and governed in this rural mountainous region (Figure 1)
2017, Vol 6, No 2 household surveys will be critical in framing discussion questions and creating a context for interacting with stakeholders to pick up on new and/or additional data that was missed during the interview phase, but to assess general citizen concerns about the SNP and how communities and others might address issues related to water quality, waste, and tourism
Summary
The combination of unrestricted tourism and the lack of waste management is resulting in the contamination of much of the surface and drinking water in the Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), Nepal (Ghimire et al, 2013a; Nicholson et al, 2014, 2016). This article documents the numerous unexpected issues encountered during our field research, including challenging site characteristics (e.g., rugged and remote geography) and a catastrophic geological event (2015 earthquake) as well as the realization that solving the water contamination problem is related to proper waste disposal, sanitation, and drinking water treatment, but connected to how drinking water is protected and governed in this rural mountainous region (Figure 1). Because of these issues, our research methodology was forced to evolve. We suggest the need for using open and adaptable approaches to research design, in areas where geography, culture, and resource management can potentially pose significant challenges to traditional research methods
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