July 30: Villages surrounding Tsomgo Lake in Sikkim have sustained a community-led waste management and conservation initiative for nearly two decades, helping preserve one of the state’s most popular tourist attractions despite rising visitor numbers.
Located about 38 km from Gangtok at an altitude of nearly 3,780 metres, the glacial Tsomgo Lake, also known as Changu or Tsongmo Lake, attracts between 300,000 and 500,000 tourists annually. Revered as a sacred lake by local communities, it also supports rich biodiversity, including the endangered red panda.
To tackle increasing waste generated by tourism, the Tsomgo Pokhri Sanrakshan Samiti was established in 2008. The committee comprises 250 families from the villages of Changu, Chipsu and Thegu, with a nine-member executive body that includes a forest range officer.
The committee collects a conservation fee of Rs 20 from each tourist, revised from Rs 10 last year. According to the Samiti, around Rs 1 crore was collected in 2025, with half of the revenue deposited into the state government’s fund. The remaining amount is used to maintain waste bins, organise regular clean-up drives and support waste management operations around the lake.
Collected waste is taken to a resource collection centre established near the lake in 2012, where it is segregated before being transported to a treatment facility in Gangtok for processing.
The Samiti also conducts three to four awareness campaigns annually, particularly targeting commercial establishments near the lake. More than 50 shops operating around Tsomgo Lake have now been shifted to a lower area away from the lakefront to minimise pollution. Annual meetings are also held to review conservation efforts and plan long-term protection measures.
The initiative was launched following a 2007 notification by the Sikkim government calling for the protection and conservation of Tsomgo Lake, coinciding with a sharp rise in tourism across the state.
Committee members also report visible impacts of climate change in the region. They noted that snowfall, which traditionally began in November or December, has recently been delayed until January in some years, with occasional snowfall extending into early spring, affecting tourist arrivals and seasonal patterns around the lake.