Eco-Tourism Training Program Begins in the Qomolangma (Everest) National Nature Preserve (QNNP)

Tibet, China – The Pendeba Society, a new non-profit organization registered in Shigatze, Tibet, focuses on poverty reduction and nature conservation through a new eco-tourism training program in the Everest region. As a Tibetan support network for Pendebas (volunteer conservation and community service workers), the Pendeba Society will provide training in a range of skills ranging from basic spoken English and hospitality to key conservation concepts.

Currently, major urban travel companies and large hotel and vehicle owners are dominating the eco-tourism benefits. The Pendeba Society seeks to improve alternative income opportunities for poor local farmers and herders living in the QNNP. The eco-tourism project will ensure that local people benefit from the rapidly increasing tourism to the region.

The Pendeba Society will provide training to an initial group of 120 Pendebas. These local community service workers who live within the protected area will be trained as nature guides, cooks, and lodge and camping site managers. They will learn skills in kitchen gardening and animal husbandry. Training will also include conservation concepts and linkages between the natural environment and the economic benefits of eco-tourism. Communities, especially those located along the road running through the protected area, will learn to set up and manage guest facilities and services.

Core training will occur at the famous Shigatze Visitor Information and Training Center, a large Tibetan-style training and tourist facility located at the gateway to the QNNP. The QNNP Management Bureau has now given the Pendeba Society full rights to manage this facility. Training will also include exchange visits and study tours to places, such as Nepal, to learn from other best practices in eco-tourism.  

This project will enable Pendebas to improve their livelihoods and will strengthen tourism management in the QNNP to protect this high altitude region’s fragile ecology. Promoting ecologically sensitive tourism is the key link between economic development and environmental conservation.

The Pendeba Society was founded by Tsering Norbu, a Tibetan from Nyalam County who grew up within the QNNP and who recently graduated from Future Generations Master’s Degree in Applied Community Change and Conservation.

For more updates on this initiative, please visit the Pendeba Society’s new website, www.Pendeba.org.

Donations may be made to the Pendeba Society through the Future Generations secure donation page. Click <here> to donate today.