Srinagar, July 2 -- Plastic bottles, snack wrappers, tin cans scatter along the same paths they come to admire. The beauty that brings them here is slowly being buried under waste.

This is not just about a few careless visitors. It is about what happens when tourism grows faster than our ability to manage it. Warwan does not have proper dustbins. There are no waste collection points. Camps spring up in the meadows without regulation, and when the tents come down, the garbage stays behind. Over time, it seeps into our rivers and soils.

The damage isn't always easy to see, but it's happening. The animals that live in our forests are at risk. The streams we drink from are becoming unsafe. And the worst part is that many people, including s...