Nepal cabinet to meet at Mt. Everest base camp on Friday

In order to highlight the impact of climate change on Himalayas ahead of the Copenhagen meet, the Nepal cabinet will hold a meeting at a Mount Everest base camp on December 4.

Although the meeting was scheduled to be held this month, it got delayed due to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's ill-health and the ongoing political impasse in the Himalayan nation.

"Due to climate change, Himalayan glaciers are melting and it could lead to unnatural drought, flood and sea-level rise affecting millions in the region," said Forest and Soil Conservation Minister Deepak Bohara on Sunday.

The cabinet meeting will take place at Kalapatthar at an altitude of 17,192 feet above sea level. The 20 minute meeting will approve the country's report to be tabled at the Copenhagen meet on climate change.

"Nepal is suffering as a consequence of high-level of carbon emission by developed countries. The cabinet meeting is an attempt to attract global attention to this issue," said Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari.

For the meeting the entire Nepali cabinet will be flown a day earlier to Lukla at a height of over 13,000 feet where they will stay overnight to get acclimatized to the extreme cold climate ahead of the event.

They would be flown by two MI-17 helicopters to the venue the next morning. An emergency medical team, rescue helicopters and other precautionary measures will be in place to ensure that the event passes smoothly.

The entire cost of nearly Rs 60 lakh (nearly 81,000 US dollars) would be borne by Nepal-based private companies with Nepal government contributing a token amount of Rs 1 only.

The Maldives cabinet had held an underwater meeting in October to highlight the impact of rising sea levels to the island nation. The ministers stressed that the Mt. Everest meeting is not a mere imitation of the earlier event.

Summiteers Summit at Copenhagen

Besides holding the cabinet meeting at a Mt. Everest base camp, the Nepal government would also organize a Summiteers Summit at Copenhagen on December 11 to highlight environmental threat to Himalayas.

The event would include a two-hour march on the streets of Copenhagen by nearly 2000 people including dozens of Mt. Everest summiteers from Nepal and other countries wearing full mountain gear.

"Since we will get only three minutes at the Copenhagen meet to present our case, we decided to hold these two events to attract attention," said Forest and Soil Conservation Minister Deepak Bohara.