Machu Picchu Under Tourist Seige

UNESCO warns that too many tourists now threaten Peru's top tourist attraction

I have not yet been to Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel high in the Peruvian Andes, but it is certainly on my go-to list. Maybe I had better move it up. According to an Associated Press report, "conservationists advising UNESCO's World Heritage Committee warn that landslides, fires and creeping development threaten the site," due to soaring visitation (800,000 annually) and excessive construction near the site.

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec City, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site, "was called to determine which of the world's cultural treasures should be added to its [endangered sites] list — and which of those already included there are now threatened. UNESCO committee spokesman Roni Amelan declined to confirm that Machu Picchu, which was named a World Heritage Site in 1983, would be classified as endangered, but said 'it's a possibility'."

The report continued that "unregulated growth, including a boom in hotel and restaurant construction in the nearby mountain town of Aguas Calientes, is putting pressure on erosion-prone riverbanks and could undermine the site." Agua Calientes is without "adequate sanitation" and "Peru's government has done little to address landslide concerns on the winding, mud thoroughfare that leads to the citadel, according to the report."

Residents of Cuzco, the an ancient Inca city and now a jumping-off point for excursions to Machu Picchu, have protested private development in Aguas Calientes, although Machu Picchu itself appears to be protected thus far. Continued uncontrolled visitation could change that as well. The article quote said Luis Lumbreras, identified as "an independent, Lima-based archaeologist who has studied Machu Picchu for more than 40 years," as warning, "Machu Picchu was never made for lots of people... "If we put tourists with boots [instead of people in sandals or bare feet] that are jumping, running, climbing the walls, etcetera, that's the danger."

Last February, locals protested plans to build more hotels and other tourist facilities, causing suspension of rail service, cancelation of tours and blocking of roads. At the time, the BBC reported, "Hundreds of local farm workers, students and teachers have blocked access roads and the only railway line, barring the way to tourists, who have been reduced to taking pictures of the demonstrators rather than the ruins themselves. The protesters want the government to invest more money in the area, and especially to improve the dirt roads."

A friend and her family recently returned from Machu Picchu filled with enthusiasm about the experience. She didn't mention protests or inadequate sanitation or overcowding, but other government have capitulated to development interests at the cost of local culture or respectful preservation of ancient treasures. The relevant UNESCO committee is concerned about this one -- and therefore so am I.