Nepali politicians get high to warn of climate change risks
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2009, Saturday
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NEPAL'S top politicians strapped on oxygen tanks yesterday and held a Cabinet meeting amid the frigid, thin air of Mount Everest to highlight the danger global warming poses to glaciers, ahead of next week's international climate change talks.
The government billed the stunt as the world's highest Cabinet meeting. The ministers posed for pictures, signed a commitment to tighten environmental regulations and expand the nation's protected areas. Then they quickly flew away.
"The Everest declaration was a message to the world to minimize the negative impact of climate change on Mount Everest and other Himalayan mountains," Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal later said.
Scientists say the Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, creating lakes with walls that could burst and flood villages below. Melting ice and snow also make the routes for mountaineers less stable and more difficult to follow.
Getting the ministers to the mountain safely required extensive planning.
The prime minister, his two deputy prime ministers and the 20 Cabinet ministers were examined by doctors before boarding helicopters to Kalapathar, a flat area at an altitude of 5,250 meters next to Everest base camp, the jumping point for climbers seeking to scale the peak.
The Himalayan Rescue Association's Bikram Neupane said the politicians -- bundled in thick jackets, windproof gear and woolen hats -- all had adequate oxygen levels in their blood and they were in no immediate danger.
The Cabinet spent only 20 minutes next to the mountain on a clear, sunny day in an effort to prevent any of the ministers, unused to the heights of the Himalayas, from getting altitude sickness.
Several of the ministers were overweight, some were in their 70s and many came from the low-lying plains in the south.
Four ministers declined to attend either because of health concerns or because they were traveling abroad.
Though rescue helicopters were on standby, none of the officials fell ill.
The ministers stayed overnight on Thursday in the town of Lukla, about 2,800 meters high, to acclimatize to the higher elevation. They then traveled to Syangboche, 3,900 meters high, where they took the helicopter to the world's highest mountain.
The event came ahead of the international climate change conference next week in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The government billed the stunt as the world's highest Cabinet meeting. The ministers posed for pictures, signed a commitment to tighten environmental regulations and expand the nation's protected areas. Then they quickly flew away.
"The Everest declaration was a message to the world to minimize the negative impact of climate change on Mount Everest and other Himalayan mountains," Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal later said.
Scientists say the Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, creating lakes with walls that could burst and flood villages below. Melting ice and snow also make the routes for mountaineers less stable and more difficult to follow.
Getting the ministers to the mountain safely required extensive planning.
The prime minister, his two deputy prime ministers and the 20 Cabinet ministers were examined by doctors before boarding helicopters to Kalapathar, a flat area at an altitude of 5,250 meters next to Everest base camp, the jumping point for climbers seeking to scale the peak.
The Himalayan Rescue Association's Bikram Neupane said the politicians -- bundled in thick jackets, windproof gear and woolen hats -- all had adequate oxygen levels in their blood and they were in no immediate danger.
The Cabinet spent only 20 minutes next to the mountain on a clear, sunny day in an effort to prevent any of the ministers, unused to the heights of the Himalayas, from getting altitude sickness.
Several of the ministers were overweight, some were in their 70s and many came from the low-lying plains in the south.
Four ministers declined to attend either because of health concerns or because they were traveling abroad.
Though rescue helicopters were on standby, none of the officials fell ill.
The ministers stayed overnight on Thursday in the town of Lukla, about 2,800 meters high, to acclimatize to the higher elevation. They then traveled to Syangboche, 3,900 meters high, where they took the helicopter to the world's highest mountain.
The event came ahead of the international climate change conference next week in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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