Nepal highlights glacial meltdown concerns
Pepe Silvia
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http://www.upiasia.com/Politics/2009/12 ... erns/2442/
Nepal highlights glacial meltdown concerns
Syangbokche, Nepal — Nepali Prime Minister Madhav K. Nepal took the issue of global warming to new heights on Friday – literally. At the base camp of Mt. Everest 5,542 meters above sea level, 23 members of the Nepali Cabinet, wearing oxygen masks in the thin air, passed the 10-point Everest Declaration in what was surely the highest Cabinet meeting in the world.
The Cabinet sought to showcase the impact global warming is having on the Himalayan mountain range, whose glaciers hold the world’s largest store of ice outside the polar ice caps.
Water from these glaciers feeds seven great rivers of Asia – the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Thanlwin, Yangtze and Yellow Rivers – making the potential disruption of the environmental equilibrium in Asia catastrophic in terms of human devastation.
To help arrest the impact of global warming, the Cabinet called for the expansion of conservation areas in Nepal from 20 percent to 25 percent, reforestation to cover 40 percent of the country, the formation of a commission to study glacier retreat – deglaciation is one of the strongest indicators of global warming – and the reduction of carbon emissions to 350 parts per million from the country’s current 390 ppm.
The declaration implored advanced countries to increase regional and global cooperation on clean energy, and to fund the fight to save the environment by setting aside 1.5 percent of their earnings to help poorer countries fight the effects of global warming.
“This is an appeal to the world to minimize the negative impact of climate change on Mt. Everest and other Himalayan mountains,” the prime minister said. The fear is that if left unchecked, the lives of as many as 1.5 billion people could be directly and adversely affected in many ways.
“In Antarctica you are worried about polar bears and penguins,” said Deepak Bohara, minister of forest and soil conservation, whose ministry was one of the main organizers of the event. “But here in Nepal and throughout the Himalaya region we are worried about people.”
The carbon footprint of Nepal is 0.016 percent of that worldwide. “We have done no crime,” Bohara lamented. “Yet, the brunt of climate change will be felt by us.” He entreated developed countries to take the lead in halting global warming.
The rate of global warming is double at high altitudes, compared to the average worldwide. Discovery Channel’s Michael Reilly explained it this way: “As more heat is trapped in the atmosphere, it holds more water vapor. When the water vapor rises to high altitudes it condenses, releasing the heat into the upper atmosphere, (therefore) high mountain landscapes feel the brunt of the warming.”
Global warming may cause both a rise in temperatures and changes in weather patterns, such as less snowfall in the mountains. The World Wildlife Fund has said that all the glaciers lying in the Mt. Everest region of the Himalayas are in a state of retreat. Chinese experts say these glaciers are retreating faster than in any other part of the world.
This is causing sea levels to rise, which is a big concern for residents of Pacific islands such as the Maldives, whose president held an underwater Cabinet meeting in mid-October to highlight the concerns of all island nations. But also, in the mountains melting ice initially causes the formation of dangerous glacial lakes.
If glacial lakes break, as they have done in the past, water rushes down the mountain valleys wiping out villages below. In addition to loss of life and domestic property, the destruction of cultivable land would force survivors to migrate to already overpopulated plains, adding to long-term environmental degradation such as more deforestation.
In Nepal researchers estimate that as many as 20 such lakes pose potential dangers to human populations in villages below should the terminal moraine dams fail, causing what they call glacial lake outburst floods. There are 24 such lakes in Bhutan. Locally, Nepalese call such floods “Himalayan tsunamis.”
The Cabinet ministers’ trek to Mt. Everest, accompanied by staff, security guards, doctors and journalists, cost some US$100,000, funded by local businesses and NGOs. “Not a single penny came from any international NGO or government,” said Bohara. The government, wanting to be a partner to this event, invested only a symbolic 1 rupee (US$0.01).
But the event at the Everest base camp was more than a photo-op. It laid the groundwork for programs Nepal would hold at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen from Dec. 7-18. Nepal is sending some 30 climbers who have scaled Mt. Everest to Copenhagen for a Summiteers Summit to Save the Himalayas. They will hold a conference and a rally on Dec. 11.
Another important windfall from the Everest Cabinet meeting was that it helped to strengthen Madhav Nepal’s coalition government.
The base camp Cabinet meeting began early in the morning at Lukla (2,860 meters) where the members of the Nepali government rose early for medical tests to ensure they were not suffering from altitude sickness. They then flew to Syangbokche (3,780 meters). After waiting for up to an hour they were ferried by other helicopters to Kala Pather Plateau, or Black Stone Plateau, the Everest base camp (5,542 meters).
The meeting, originally scheduled for 20 minutes, took one hour and 15 minutes. At high altitude exhaustion and dehydration come quickly, even with supplementary oxygen.
“I’m so tired,” whispered Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala as she sat down waiting for the press conference to begin. She verbalized what most of them must have felt.
But the exertion gave a much-needed boost of camaraderie to the fragile Unified Marxist-Leninist coalition. Just last month it was rumored that the Nepal Congress and the Maoists would unite to bring down Nepal’s 22-party coalition and form a new Maoist-led government. That never materialized.
“You have seen by yourself how all the Cabinet members dared to go to the Everest base camp. And not only the 22 parties, rather all the parties in the Parliament along with all the people of Nepal have given their full-fledged support about this endeavor,” Madhav Nepal told UPI at Syangbokche.
Their willingness to unite to confront the challenge that climate change brings to this vulnerable nation sends a hopeful signal that Nepal’s political leaders can work together to solve other daunting challenges facing this young democracy.
Nepal highlights glacial meltdown concerns
Syangbokche, Nepal — Nepali Prime Minister Madhav K. Nepal took the issue of global warming to new heights on Friday – literally. At the base camp of Mt. Everest 5,542 meters above sea level, 23 members of the Nepali Cabinet, wearing oxygen masks in the thin air, passed the 10-point Everest Declaration in what was surely the highest Cabinet meeting in the world.
The Cabinet sought to showcase the impact global warming is having on the Himalayan mountain range, whose glaciers hold the world’s largest store of ice outside the polar ice caps.
Water from these glaciers feeds seven great rivers of Asia – the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Thanlwin, Yangtze and Yellow Rivers – making the potential disruption of the environmental equilibrium in Asia catastrophic in terms of human devastation.
To help arrest the impact of global warming, the Cabinet called for the expansion of conservation areas in Nepal from 20 percent to 25 percent, reforestation to cover 40 percent of the country, the formation of a commission to study glacier retreat – deglaciation is one of the strongest indicators of global warming – and the reduction of carbon emissions to 350 parts per million from the country’s current 390 ppm.
The declaration implored advanced countries to increase regional and global cooperation on clean energy, and to fund the fight to save the environment by setting aside 1.5 percent of their earnings to help poorer countries fight the effects of global warming.
“This is an appeal to the world to minimize the negative impact of climate change on Mt. Everest and other Himalayan mountains,” the prime minister said. The fear is that if left unchecked, the lives of as many as 1.5 billion people could be directly and adversely affected in many ways.
“In Antarctica you are worried about polar bears and penguins,” said Deepak Bohara, minister of forest and soil conservation, whose ministry was one of the main organizers of the event. “But here in Nepal and throughout the Himalaya region we are worried about people.”
The carbon footprint of Nepal is 0.016 percent of that worldwide. “We have done no crime,” Bohara lamented. “Yet, the brunt of climate change will be felt by us.” He entreated developed countries to take the lead in halting global warming.
The rate of global warming is double at high altitudes, compared to the average worldwide. Discovery Channel’s Michael Reilly explained it this way: “As more heat is trapped in the atmosphere, it holds more water vapor. When the water vapor rises to high altitudes it condenses, releasing the heat into the upper atmosphere, (therefore) high mountain landscapes feel the brunt of the warming.”
Global warming may cause both a rise in temperatures and changes in weather patterns, such as less snowfall in the mountains. The World Wildlife Fund has said that all the glaciers lying in the Mt. Everest region of the Himalayas are in a state of retreat. Chinese experts say these glaciers are retreating faster than in any other part of the world.
This is causing sea levels to rise, which is a big concern for residents of Pacific islands such as the Maldives, whose president held an underwater Cabinet meeting in mid-October to highlight the concerns of all island nations. But also, in the mountains melting ice initially causes the formation of dangerous glacial lakes.
If glacial lakes break, as they have done in the past, water rushes down the mountain valleys wiping out villages below. In addition to loss of life and domestic property, the destruction of cultivable land would force survivors to migrate to already overpopulated plains, adding to long-term environmental degradation such as more deforestation.
In Nepal researchers estimate that as many as 20 such lakes pose potential dangers to human populations in villages below should the terminal moraine dams fail, causing what they call glacial lake outburst floods. There are 24 such lakes in Bhutan. Locally, Nepalese call such floods “Himalayan tsunamis.”
The Cabinet ministers’ trek to Mt. Everest, accompanied by staff, security guards, doctors and journalists, cost some US$100,000, funded by local businesses and NGOs. “Not a single penny came from any international NGO or government,” said Bohara. The government, wanting to be a partner to this event, invested only a symbolic 1 rupee (US$0.01).
But the event at the Everest base camp was more than a photo-op. It laid the groundwork for programs Nepal would hold at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen from Dec. 7-18. Nepal is sending some 30 climbers who have scaled Mt. Everest to Copenhagen for a Summiteers Summit to Save the Himalayas. They will hold a conference and a rally on Dec. 11.
Another important windfall from the Everest Cabinet meeting was that it helped to strengthen Madhav Nepal’s coalition government.
The base camp Cabinet meeting began early in the morning at Lukla (2,860 meters) where the members of the Nepali government rose early for medical tests to ensure they were not suffering from altitude sickness. They then flew to Syangbokche (3,780 meters). After waiting for up to an hour they were ferried by other helicopters to Kala Pather Plateau, or Black Stone Plateau, the Everest base camp (5,542 meters).
The meeting, originally scheduled for 20 minutes, took one hour and 15 minutes. At high altitude exhaustion and dehydration come quickly, even with supplementary oxygen.
“I’m so tired,” whispered Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala as she sat down waiting for the press conference to begin. She verbalized what most of them must have felt.
But the exertion gave a much-needed boost of camaraderie to the fragile Unified Marxist-Leninist coalition. Just last month it was rumored that the Nepal Congress and the Maoists would unite to bring down Nepal’s 22-party coalition and form a new Maoist-led government. That never materialized.
“You have seen by yourself how all the Cabinet members dared to go to the Everest base camp. And not only the 22 parties, rather all the parties in the Parliament along with all the people of Nepal have given their full-fledged support about this endeavor,” Madhav Nepal told UPI at Syangbokche.
Their willingness to unite to confront the challenge that climate change brings to this vulnerable nation sends a hopeful signal that Nepal’s political leaders can work together to solve other daunting challenges facing this young democracy.
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"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
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