Anil Giri, in Kathmandu

Ahead of the UN Conference on climate change, in Copenhagen, the Nepalese
government has held a cabinet meeting at the foot of Mount Everest to bring
attention to the impact of climate change on the Himalayas.

The meeting comes after the government of the Maldives hosted a similarly
unusual cabinet meeting (in that case underwater in the Indian Ocean), where
they urged the international community to cut their carbon dioxide
emissions. The Maldives have long been at risk from global warming-linked
sea level rises, which threaten to drown the small islands.

In Nepal, the coalition government produced a 10-point Everest Declaration
on environmental protection, and came just days before the Copenhagen
conference, which begins today. The 11-day conference, which includes 190
governments, aims to produce a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol.

Nepal prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, 56, and 24 cabinet ministers flew
to Kalapathar, near the Everest Base Camp, at an altitude of
5,242 metres. Ministers - some elderly - were accompanied by a rescue team,
including six doctors and a team of mountaineers.

Following the meeting, Mr. Nepal called the Himalayan region, home to the
world's highest peaks, an area of special significance in the fight against
climate change.

"The world-wide climate change patterns of recent years have started to
negatively affect the Himalayas and the people living in this region, their
socio-economic development, biological diversity and other sectors," he
said, adding that as a result the risk of floods, landslides, and drought in
the region have increased.

After the meeting, the government announced they would be extending the
territories of several national parks.

A study released by the Asian Development Bank, says melting glaciers from
Switzerland to the Himalayas are threatening food and water security for 1.6
billion people.

"Due to global climate change and its effects, the entire human civilization
is faced with additional challenges for their survival," said Mr.Nepal.

Photo credit: The Kathmandu Post