Source please? Given taxation burden of $100 dollars a day for a climber on Kilimanjaro I'd say there's plenty of value, just most of it's wasted on the corrupt, Western supported, government.
Given the insularity of most, I'd say the vastly underestimate the value of them for those as well. California without snowpack would cease to function; there goes the 5th largest economy in the world; there goes the food basket of the world.