1Mountain areas in poor countries are a popular subject for research on the part of public authorities and international organizations. Studies quite rightly underline the biodiversity of such areas but also the poverty of most mountain communities and the environmental and socio-economic stakes involved in the
1Mountain areas in poor countries are a popular subject for research on the part of public authorities and international organizations. Studies quite rightly underline the biodiversity of such areas but also the poverty of most mountain communities and the environmental and socio-economic stakes involved in the recent advent of tourism. Action is being taken at all possible scales to safeguard the future of these mountain territories, in particular through the creation of protected areas and the promotion of sustainable tourism development. In Nepal, such development has taken the form of trekking, readily described by those who practise it or commercialize it as ecotourism, which is sometimes presented as a form of sustainable tourism providing an alternative to mass tourism (Fennel, 2000, p. 43), and sometimes as the Trojan Horse of international tourism in places with supposedly fragile ecosystems and communities (Butle