About us
The tragic death of a young British trekker, Tracey Taylor Young, led to the establishment of the Kathmandu Environment Education Project (KEEP) in 1992.
Tracey was killed in a fall during a climb on the trekking peak Imja Tse (Island Peak) in 1991. Tracey, along with her friend Joanne Chittenden, had decided to climb Imja Tse to raise awareness of the growing environmental degradation of the Khumbu region of Nepal.
In her memory, it was decided that a new project on ecotourism should be established to provide education on safe and ecologically sustainable trekking methods to preserve Nepal’s unique and fragile eco-system.
Joanne Chittenden and friend Johnnie Woods returned to Nepal and worked together with colleagues based here including Steve Powers, Wendy Brewer Lama and the late Dr. Chandra Gurung to study the impact of trekking on Nepal in order to develop a way to increase access to environmental and safety information.
This brought about the establishment of the Tracey Taylor Young Mountain Trust in the UK and KEEP in Nepal. KEEP then obtained support from the late Lord John Hunt and by the autumn of 1992, KEEP’s Visitor Information Centre in Kathmandu opened its doors to the public.
Since the idea first germinated in 1991, KEEP has continued to expand its sphere of influence and develop new projects. Today, we are established as one of the leading eco-tourism NGOs in Nepal and have links to international organisations in Europe, the USA and Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment