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Environmental Impacts of Mountaineering pp 45–59Cite as

Environmental Pollution Causes by Mountaineering Activity

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Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science ((BRIEFSENVIRONMENTAL))

Abstract

Environmental pollution is the unfavourable alteration of our surroundings, wholly or largely as a by-product of human actions that can adversely affect human health, living nature, climate, water and soil. This pollution can have natural and anthropogenic sources. In the inhabited high-mountain environment, the source of anthropogenic environmental pollution is mainly caused by residents. Indirectly, however, in areas popular with tourists, residents pollute when providing tourist services (e.g. disposal of tourist waste). In mountainous areas without local people, pollution is caused only by tourists. During tourist activities, all elements of the high-mountain natural environment (air, water, soil and landscape, including visual and acoustic landscape) may be degraded. The main factors causing this are littering, human faecal pollution, and noise or light pollution. Tourist infrastructure is also not without significance, which together with the climbing equipment can have a negative impact on the environment.

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  1. Department of Tourism and Regional Studies, Pedagogical University of Kraków, Kraków, Poland

    Michal Apollo

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Apollo, M. (2021). Environmental Pollution Causes by Mountaineering Activity. In: Environmental Impacts of Mountaineering. SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72667-6_5

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