Now Nepal to hold cabinet meet on Everest

Nepalese mountaineer Apa Sherpa (L), who holds the record for most climbs of Mount Everest, Nepalese Forests and Soil Conservation Minister Deepak Bohara (C) and mountaineer Dawa Steven Sherpa (R) address journalists during a press conference in Kathmandu yesterday. Photo: AFPAfp, Kathmandu

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 yesterday.

The entire cabinet will travel to Everest base camp at an altitude of 5,360 metres (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 UN summit on December 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."

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.