View From The Edge | What are the ethics of expeditions in Covid-19? It may be remote, wild and someone else’s home
- The far-flung corners of the world draw adventurers for their isolation, but isolation is sanctuary from the inhabitants who have lived there for thousands of years
- There are exciting adventures to be had in your own backyard, many of them right under your nose
Romantic notions of isolated, wild and remote corners of the world have enticed adventurers for hundreds of years. But in Covid-19, it is worth reflecting on what “wild and remote” means.
Locations like the dense forests of the Amazon, the high peaks of the Himalayas, and the windswept Arctic tundra might seem empty, a place where you can connect with nature undisturbed by humanity.
But they are also people’s homes – tribes live in the Amazon, Sherpas and other Nepalese communities in the Himalayas and the Inuit communities have made the Arctic their home for thousands of years. Antarctica is about the only place you could really claim to be devoid of human habitation. The notion that these areas are wide, empty expanses is a mostly Western perspective from the days of filling in voids on European maps.
However, they are isolated. And isolation has been a blessing in times of Covid-19. With that in mind, it raises the question of launching expeditions during a pandemic.
Countries like Nepal rely on tourism, creating a delicate balance between the economy and health. In others, they have no reason to care if expeditions come or go. Visitors in Covid-19 are just a health risk and not much else.