KATHMANDU (Al Arabiya, AFP)
Nepal is to hold a cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the impact of global warming on the Himalayas ahead of next month's climate change talks in Copenhagen, a minister said Monday.
The entire cabinet will travel to Everest base camp at an altitude of 5,360 meters (17,585 feet) for the meeting, to be held later this month, forests minister Deepak Bohora told AFP.
The announcement comes just weeks after the government of the Maldives held an underwater cabinet meeting to focus global attention on rising sea levels ahead of the key U.N. summit on Dec. 7-18.
"The melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas is a serious concern for us," said Bohora.
"We want to focus the world's attention on saving the Himalayas from the effects of climate change before the Copenhagen meeting." |
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Melting glaciers Around 1.3 billion people depend on the water that flows down from the Himalayan glaciers, which experts say are melting at an alarming rate, threatening to bring floods and later drought to the region.
Campaigners say that while the effects of climate change on low-lying South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and the Maldives are now well known, there is little international awareness of the vulnerability of the Himalayan region.
Bohora said the visit would be an opportunity for ministers to gain first-hand information about the effects of climate change on the vast mountain range.
"Climate change has hit the Himalayas in general and Nepal in particular," he said.
"Its effects are being manifested in different forms, from the rapid increase in the size of the glacial lakes to erratic monsoon patterns and unprecedented forest fires."
Bohora also said the government was planning to take some of the world's top mountaineers to Copenhagen to talk about their experiences, among them Apa Sherpa, who has climbed Everest a record 19 times. |
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Underwater cabinet meeting On Oct. 17 the government of the Maldives held its weekly cabinet meeting underwater to attract international attention to the dangers the country of low lying islands faces from global warming.
President Mohamed Nasheed, dressed in full scuba gear, conducted the 30 minute meeting at a depth of six meters (20 feet) just north of the capital Male.
Most of the island nation, a tourist paradise featuring coral reefs and white sand beaches, lies less than one meter (3.3 feet) above sea level and scientists have warned it could be uninhabitable in less than 100 years
In 2007, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that a rise in sea levels of 18 to 59 centimeters (seven to 24 inches) by 2100 would be enough to make the country virtually uninhabitable. |
