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FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
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RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001104 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAID TBIO PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S CABINET TO MEET ON EVEREST 
 
Summary 
-------- 
¶1. (U)  Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and 24 Cabinet 
ministers are scheduled to meet at the foot of Mount Everest 
on December 4 in an effort to draw the world's attention to 
the adverse impact of global warming on the Himalayas.   The 
Government of Nepal (GON) is calling for urgent international 
cooperation and assistance to address the affects of climate 
change on the Himalayas, including the formation of glacial 
lakes that are in danger of bursting.  To further highlight 
the plight of the Himalayas, the GON has invited all climbers 
who have summited Mount Everest to a Summiteers' Summit that 
will be held in conjunction with the upcoming United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in 
Copenhagen. 
 
Cabinet Meets at the Top of World 
--------------------------------- 
¶2.  (U)  Seeking to draw attention to the increasingly 
adverse impact of climate change on the Himalayas, Prime 
Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and 24 Cabinet ministers are 
scheduled to meet at the foot of Mount Everest on December 4. 
 The Cabinet scheduled the unprecedented meeting after its 
counterpart in the Maldives generated extensive worldwide 
media coverage when it held an underwater meeting in October 
to underscore the impact of global warming on the island 
nation.  The meeting will be held in an area known as 
Kalapathar, elevation 17,220 feet, and is expected to last 
just 20 minutes due to extreme conditions. 
 
¶3. (U)  The Prime Minister and his Cabinet will be 
accompanied by five members of Cabinet Secretariat, including 
the Chief Secretary, and more than 50 members of the national 
and international media.  Twenty-five Sherpa summiteers, 
officials from the National Trust for Nature Conservation, 
and members of the Himalayan Rescue Association are also 
expected to be part of the entourage, which began arriving in 
the region on Thursday to acclimate to the altitude.  Only 40 
people are expected to travel to the meeting site -- PM 
Nepal, Cabinet ministers, members of the Secretariat and 
select media representatives.  A press conference is 
scheduled to be held in nearby Syangboche following the 
meeting, which is being held in advance of the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in 
Copenhagen, beginning December 7. 
 
¶4. (U)  The Cabinet is expected to address two issues during 
the meeting: the message PM Nepal will deliver during the 
three minutes he has been allotted to speak at the UNFCCC 
conference and how to garner international support to 
mitigate the affects of global warming on the Himalayas.  The 
GON also plans to announce the creation of the Gaurishanker 
Conservation Area, a 2,000-square-kilometer preserve west of 
Mount Everest.  (Note. Nepal is a regional leader in 
biodiversity conservation, with almost a fifth of its land 
mass already part of a national park, nature reserve or some 
other conservation system. End note) 
 
Everest Summiters to March in Copenhagen 
---------------------------------------- 
¶5. (U)  The GON, under the leadership of Minister of Forest 
and Soil Conservation Dipak Bohra, is organizing a 
Summiteers' Summit during the UNFCCC conference to draw 
further attention to the plight of the Himalayas.  The event 
will be held on December 11, International Mountain Day, and 
all climbers who have summited Mount Everest have been 
invited to attend.  Apa Sherpa, who has summited Everest a 
record 19 times, will lead a march in which renowned climbers 
from the United States, Japan, France, Italy, and many others 
countries are expected to join him. PM Nepal also plans to 
host a dinner in honor of Everest summiteers. 
 
Himalayas Already Hard Hit by Climate Change 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶6. (U)  Climate change has already had a huge impact on the 
Himalayas, where temperatures have risen at a rate of nearly 
1 degree Celsius per decade since routine monitoring was 
established about 30 years ago.  Glaciers are melting at an 
accelerated rate -- the UN's special International Panel of 
Climate Change warns that they could disappear by 2035 -- 
resulting the formation of huge glacial lakes that are in 
danger of bursting and causing massive destruction of life 
and property downstream.  Experts have identified 30 lakes on 
the brink of creating glacial lake outburst floods, also 
known as "mountain tsunamis." 
 
 
KATHMANDU 00001104  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (U)  Warmer temperatures have also been blamed for 
decreased snowfall in the Himalayas, whose rivers are largely 
fed by melting snow.  As a result, there is a growing threat 
to the more than 500 million people in South Asia who depend 
on these rivers as a water source. Additionally, climate 
change has had an adverse impact on the region's seasonal 
monsoon, which, in recent years, has grown weaker and more 
erratic.  Agricultural production is largely dependent on the 
monsoon.  In Nepal, for example, more than 70 percent of 
farmers depend on monsoon rains to irrigate their crops. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶8. (U)  The Cabinet meeting on Mount Everest is likely to 
generate as much, if not more, global attention than the 
Maldives' underwater meeting.  What is uncertain is whether 
Nepal will be able to sustain that attention and parlay it 
into support in Copenhagen, where it will join other G-77 
developing nations in pressing industrialized nations for 
significant resources to adapt to climate change, including 
the free transfer of technology needed to attain carbon 
neutrality.  With the other G-77 nations, Nepal will be 
demanding that industrialized countries adhere to the strict 
emission targets established by the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. 
Nepali officials have privately said that rapidly developing 
countries, such as India and China, should also agree to 
strict targets, but it is unlikely they will express this 
publicly in Copenhagen. 
BERRY