From an environmental point of view, very little is going well in Ladakh at the moment. We are surrounded by rubbish that the region was never prepared to handle, and we do not have adequate facilities to manage it.
In the past, almost everything people used was organic or reusable. Waste did not exist as a serious category of daily life. Tourism brought packaged products in large quantities, and now rubbish appears around hotels, streets and streams.
During the tourist season, the sheer number of visitors makes the problem almost impossible to control. I notice a strange difference in behaviour. Many tourists are careful not to litter when they are trekking or surrounded by beautiful nature, but once they return to the city, they seem less concerned.
The street and stream in Leh are part of the same fragile environment as the mountain trail—care should not stop when the trek ends.
Water is under equal pressure. Hotels in the upper part of town take large quantities from the mountain supply. Households lower down then face shortages and must queue each day at communal pumps.
Before tourism expanded, water was distributed more evenly across homes, fields and gardens. Hotel demand has reshaped the whole system. Visitors may not notice the shortage because water still comes from their taps, but local families experience it directly.
Ladakh is a high-altitude desert. Water is naturally limited, and freezing winter temperatures make conventional sewage and flush-toilet systems particularly unsuitable. We need solutions designed for this environment rather than systems copied from wetter regions.
A tourist uses water for a few days, but every litre comes from the same scarce supply that residents and farmers depend on all year.
I would like visitors to become more aware of the fragility of this place. Ask hotels and restaurants for organic local food. This supports farmers and reduces dependence on imported products. Use a compost toilet instead of a flush toilet whenever one is available. Avoid unnecessary packaging and carry your rubbish responsibly.
These requests may seem small. None requires a visitor to stop enjoying Ladakh. But when thousands of people make the same careless choices, the combined effect becomes enormous. The reverse is also true: thousands of careful choices can reduce the pressure.
Visitors come to Ladakh for its extraordinary landscape; protecting it begins with recognising that the water, streets and settlements are every bit as fragile as the mountains.