Some pics from my recent trip to Swat:
This needs to be taken seriously before the damage is irreversable. Everywhere I went, residence and tourists were seen disrespecting the environment. Most residents I spoke to didn't care. Some that did pointed out that it was the residents and not tourists who are responsible for the situation. In any case, the local and provincial governments lead by PTI who want to bring back tourism need to tackle this soon.
Cleaning up isn't going to be that difficult. You need a team to pick up the garbage which can be done in a week. Educating the locals to respect their environment is the real problem. Perhaps, they are living like they did 100 years ago where most of the waste was biodegradable. Either plastic wrappers and PET bottles should be banned or throwing garbage should be made a criminal offence.
This needs to be taken seriously before the damage is irreversable. Everywhere I went, residence and tourists were seen disrespecting the environment. Most residents I spoke to didn't care. Some that did pointed out that it was the residents and not tourists who are responsible for the situation. In any case, the local and provincial governments lead by PTI who want to bring back tourism need to tackle this soon.
Cleaning up isn't going to be that difficult. You need a team to pick up the garbage which can be done in a week. Educating the locals to respect their environment is the real problem. Perhaps, they are living like they did 100 years ago where most of the waste was biodegradable. Either plastic wrappers and PET bottles should be banned or throwing garbage should be made a criminal offence.
