Scotch College

Mt Everest Region - Nepal Research Project

Beau Beza, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, is conducting a landscape assessment study along the Mt. Everest Trek. His research is concerned with environmental degradation and its associated impacts on landscape visual quality in mountain landscapes. Specifically, the research explores how garbage, generated by tourists and the Sherpa, impacts on people's visual experience.

The students who travelled to Nepal earlier this year met Beau while he was collecting preliminary data along the Mt. Everest Trek. They're now helping him with his research by assessing some of the photographs he took along the trek and then commenting on the visual appeal of the landscape shown in those images.

The research the students are helping him with may ultimately lead to an understanding of how people perceive environmental degradation and the visual thresholds they have for the various forms of garbage in mountain landscapes, providing a framework for the implementation of management strategies. Research participants are still needed for the project.

If you or anyone else you know has trekked in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal and may be interested in participating contact Beau at www.beaubb@unimelb.edu.au or by calling 03 8344 6417. Information can be sent to you about the research project and interview process.

Mark Zannoni - Staff