A Living Laboratory at the Top of the World: Why protecting the Everest Base Camp matters in a rapidly changing Himalaya

The massive flash flood induced by an ice-rock avalanche on the northern face of Langtang Lirung mountain on 26 August, which brought widespread destruction along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli River corridor, is a tragic reminder of how rapidly the Himalayan cryosphere is changing. The urgent need to strengthen monitoring of the Himalayan cryosphere has gained new attention following the recent disaster.

Everest Base Camp (EBC), at the foot of the world's tallest peak, Mt. Everest, is not only an iconic place on Earth but also a staging area for attempts to summit it. Every spring season, more than 2,000 people make it their home for more than one and a half months, acclimatizing and preparing to reach the summit. At an elevation of 5,350 metres, the presence of this large number of people in such a sensitive area creates a unique combination, presenting EBC as a living laboratory and providing an opportunity to better understand the effects of human interaction on the fragile Khumbu Glacier. Earth observations, combined with field experience, help us better understand the Himalayan cryosphere.

In May 2022, I was serving at EBC as a Liaison Officer. By then, I had spent more than 365 nights living at EBC over multiple spring seasons. The thought that the sustainability of EBC could be at risk hit me.  Climate change, coupled with human activities, could have a long-term impact on EBC.

Back in Kathmandu, I wrote a personal reflection, Base Camp Diary – How Climbing Everest Has Changed Over Time, to share what I had witnessed at EBC. I later shared it with Dr. Virginia Burkett, whom I had first met at the 2019 GEO Plenary in Canberra, Australia. Our conversations through the GEO community about Everest and its changing environment inspired us to explore the questions more deeply. During the 2023 climbing season, I returned to EBC to collect field data and prepare a detailed map of the camp. When I shared the initial findings, Virginia encouraged me to develop them into a research article, and our collaboration eventually led to our Springer paper, Glacier Melt and Human Activities at Everest Base Camp, published on 27 July 2026.

In addition to my role as a surveyor and mountaineer, I conducted field observations on Mt. Everest, often in places that are difficult to reach. These in‑situ measurements, combined with satellite Earth observations, help us understand how glaciers are changing, identify emerging risks and provide evidence for better-informed decisions.

The importance of this research has gained new attention following the recent disaster. The corresponding author of this research Sudeep Thakuri reflected in Nature India on the urgent need for stronger monitoring and early warning for glacial hazards, while The New York Times highlighted findings from our study on the environmental pressures facing EBC.

Every spring, EBC transforms into a climbing village. Climbers, guides, researchers, and support teams from around the world gather on the glacier, each with a different purpose. Watching this community come to life every spring has always inspired me. At the same time, it has reminded me that this fragile glacier has limits. The more people who depend on it, the more carefully we must protect it.

Our research helped explain why that pressure matters. We found that three main factors contribute to environmental change at EBC: global climate change, local fossil fuel consumption, and human urinary discharge. One issue that often goes unnoticed is urinary pollution. Although this issue has long being overlooked, thousands of people staying on the glacier each season inevitably produce waste. As the glacier melts, pollutants that were once trapped in the ice only accelerate the melting.

Earth observations helped us understand these changes over time. Using Landsat satellite imagery together with field observations, we examined land surface temperature trends around EBC and the surrounding area from 1991 to 2023. The results showed that warming was not uniform across the area. The campsite itself recorded the highest warming trend (about 0.28°C), followed by the northern rocky and moraine areas (0.24°C), while the glacier-covered southeastern section showed a lower but still significant increase (0.15°C). Together, these observations provide long-term evidence that supports what I have witnessed over many years in the field: the Khumbu Glacier at EBC is thinning.

Protecting EBC cannot be achieved by researchers alone. It will require collaboration among local and international stakeholders from different fields. This includes reducing fossil fuel use, improving human waste management, strengthening long-term monitoring and considering safer locations for EBC if relocation becomes necessary.

I also hope this work inspires new partnerships and research funding to strengthen Earth observations, better understand rapidly changing glaciers, and protect mountain environments and communities.

The photographs and videos accompanying this blog capture the beauty of EBC, but I hope they also convey why observing and protecting Nepal’s glaciers has never been more urgent.