KARACHI: When announcing the ‘Travel Responsibly for Experiencing Eco-Tourism (TREK)’ Initiative, the Federal Government stated that eco-tourism is the need of the hour as it promotes economic prosperity, while keeping in mind Pakistan’s climate goals.
According to the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank sponsored ‘Climate Risk Profile’ for Pakistan, the country is one the nations likely to experience the most adverse impacts of climate change and global warming. The report detailed that, “Pakistan faces increases in average temperatures significantly above the global average with a potential rise of 1.3°C-4.9°C by the 2090s over the 1986-2005 baseline.” It further stated that, the country faces, “some of the highest disaster risk levels in the world, ranked 18 out of 191 countries by the 2020 Inform Risk Index.” For a country that is trying to reform its tourism industry and get foreign, as well as, domestic visitors interested in visiting its Northern areas, it is no surprise that the Centre and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) governments would push for sustainable tourism in the region.
TREK, a collaboration between the KPK government, the WB and Nestle, aims to launch awareness campaigns on responsible tourism, waste collection, management and recycling. The idea behind TREK is to ensure increased tourism in the region does not harm the natural environment of KPK. Laying emphasis on the need of such an initiative Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that TREK would not only bring economic development through money spent by tourist, but also cause the organic creation of jobs in the region. The PM has held firm that the KPK has suffered in the past due to unplanned actions. He maintained that tourist sites such as, Naran and Nathiagali, have been damaged due to unregulated tourism and construction in the region.
Rise in Domestic Tourism
PM Khan has also claimed that due the Federal Government’s sustained efforts in promoting tourism there has been a massive increase in domestic tourism as a large number of locals rushed to KPK year-round. While there is some truth to this claim, it is not something that Federal Government can take full credit for. The onset of Covid-19 had led to massive travel restriction to foreign countries, leaving domestic tourism as the only respite. Furthermore, working from home made many individuals’ jobs mobile allowing the the ability to easily travel without risking losing working hours.
However, credit must be given where it is due. The Federal and KPK governments have greatly eased access to domestic tourist site, with increased infrastructure building and the providence of cell service across the province – to the extent that a 4G tower was installed at the K2 bases camp. However, whether any of the activity on ground is sustainable and eco-friendly, remains to be seen.
Greenwashing Tourism
TREK’s goals, as outlined by the initiative’s website, are to create awareness among tourists, train local communities, and teach responsible waste management. While this is all great on paper very little of this seems to make sense when looking at the stakeholders involved.
Highlighting its contribution to the project, Nestle Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Samer Chedid stated that,”as part of [Nestle’s] vision for a waste-free future, we are accelerating our actions to tackle plastic waste and our partnership with the WB & KPL government is a step in that direction. We will be driving new behavior and understanding through community engagement, cleanup activities, trainings and connecting waste recycling companies with the local administration.” Meanwhile, Nestle itself contributes some 95,000 metric tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste each year.
Much like most global conglomerates collaborating with developing governments, the TREK initiative seems more like PR stunt. Nestle is willing to allocate a share of money and has encouraged the WB to do the same to seemingly ‘promote eco-tourism’ but how much of this will actually lead to climate-friendly action is very vague at the moment.
