SYANGBOCHE: The stage is set for making the historic climate change statement. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, including his 23 Cabinet colleagues, today arrived at the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, which is situated at an altitude of 9,380 feet, in Solukhumbhu.
The minister have been put up at La Villa Sherpani — the largest hospitality facility in Lukla — to acclimatise before undergoing medical tests tomorrow morning to ensure they are fit to travel on to Kalapatthar pleateau, the meeting venue. They are accompanied by a team of doctors and will take 40 oxygen cylinders in case they get into difficulties.
Five choppers, belonging to Nepali Army and Fishtail Air, will be on standby for emergency.
Though all 27 Cabinet ministers were slated to attend the meeting at Kalapatthar (17,142 feet), three failed to show up. Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato is abroad. While Defence Minister Bidhya Devi Bhandari and State Minister for Science and Technology
Indra Prasad Dhungel could not make it on health grounds.
“It’s a historic moment. We’ll spread the message of impact on the Himalayas due to climate change,” said Deepak Bohara, Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation.
The jamboree comprises 110 people, including mediapersons, who flew here by a Nepali Army chopper.
“All preparations are in place. The weather god, too, promises to be fair tomorrow,” said Suman Pandey,
coordinator, Planning and Technical, for the event.
As per the plan, the ministers will reach Syangboche, where they will undergo a final medical check-up tomorrow morning. They will then fly to Kalapatthar pleateau, where the Everest base camp is located, for the 20-minute meeting, which will begin at 8:30 am. The team is expected to be back at Syangboche around 9:30 am, and then hold a press conference after around 45 minutes.
The meeting will pass a resolution ahead of the global summit on climate change in Copenhagen, which will be held between December 7 and 18. Also, the Cabinet will officially declare the following areas as protected zones — Api Nampa Conservation Area in Darchula, Gaurishanker Conservation Area in Ramechhap and Dolakha and Banke National Park in Banke.
The speech to be delivered by Prime Minister this month in Copenhagen is the main agenda for the meeting. Minister for Environment Thakur Prasad Sharma denied the high-altitude meeting was a publicity stunt. “The fact is that the glaciers are melting due to global warming. That has become a critical issue and we want to draw global attention to it,” he said. Some residents of Lukla, which lies downstream from the giant Imja glacial lake, said that the government was not doing enough to help
the Sherpas deal with the impact of climate change.
“The lake is several miles away, but we live in constant fear of it bursting. It keeps me awake at night and I worry about my children’s future,” said Dawa Lhamu, 41, a mother of three, who runs a hotel in Lukla.
“The government has not done anything to control the lake or
taken any action to prevent it from bursting.” Despite the locals’ grievances, they laid out a red carpet welcome for the dignitaries.
While, the airport at Syangboche has been decked up with banners and flags, where press meet and other programmes will be held tomorrow. Security has been beefed up here in view of the high-profile event.
“More than 150 security personnel have been deployed,” said inspector Sushil Karki. Scientists say the Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate and creating huge glacial lakes that threaten to burst, devastating mountain communities downstream. They warn that the glaciers could disappear within decades, bringing drought to large swathes of Asia, where 1.3 billion people depend on rivers that originate in the Himalayas. The meeting has drawn comparisons with a stunt in the Maldives where ministers held an underwater cabinet meeting on October 17
to highlight the dangers of rising sea levels for the island nation.
Jamboree sidelights
• Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Deepak Bohara and Minister for Tourism and Civil aviation Sharat Singh Bhandari controlled the crowd and distributed boarding passes at the domestic terminal of the Tribhuvan International Airport.
• The ministers sported casual
attires like jeans and jackets and freely mingled with the rest of the team members sans the ubiquitous security personnel in tow.
• NAC flight to Lukla was delayed for two hours due to a technical snag.
• Impromptu press conferences were held on the runway at Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla.
• Security personnel were in a quandary due to the jumbo team.
Summit itinerary
• Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers have
• Asked when the Hurriyat delegation would leave for New Delhi
• he said, “We may leave together or individually, but, don’t worry,
• us shall be present when the talks start.” The inclusion
• of Fazl Haque Qureshi in the Hurriyat delegation assumes
• significance as he is one of the senior-most Kashmiri separatist |
