Environmental campaigners and lawyers are today calling on UNESCO to place Everest National Park (Sagarmatha National Park) on the World Heritage Danger List because of climate change, so that the legal duty to protect the area is respected. They warn that unless urgent action is taken, many Himalayan lakes could burst, threatening the lives of thousands of people and destroying a unique and irreplaceable environment.
Pro Public (Friends of the Earth Nepal) and record-breaking Nepalese climbers, will deliver their petition by hand to the World Heritage Committee in Paris tomorrow (Thursday 18 Nov) at 9.30am. Petitioners include Sir David Attenborough, Sir Chris Bonington, Reinhold Messner and Stephen Venables.
The melting of Himalayan glaciers as a result of climate change has swollen the Himalayan lakes, increasing the risk of catastrophic flooding. There is wide agreement that many lakes are at risk, but a lack of adequate monitoring means that there is no realistic assessment of how close they are to bursting. Putting Everest National Park on the Danger List would mean UNESCO would have to assess Nepal’s glacial lakes and stabilise those most at risk.
Temba Tsheri Sherpa, said: ‘Everest is the pride of the nation, but more than this, it is a gift to the world. Lake Tsho-Ipa has formed near the area where I come from. Local people live in fear that the lake will burst.’
Pemba Dorjee Sherpa, the fastest ever climber of Everest, who has climbed the mountain four times said: ‘Last year when Edmund Hillary
came to Everest, he told me that so much snow had melted in the fifty years since he first climbed Everest. In 1953 snow and ice had reached all the way to base camp, but now it ends five miles above. Everest is losing its natural beauty. If this continues, then tourists won’t come any more. Our communities rely on tourism. It’s my livelihood, as a tour guide and climber, and if we lose this, there will be nothing for our children.’
Peter Roderick, Director of the Climate Justice Programme said: ‘Glaciers and coral reefs are the canaries in the coal mine. The World Heritage Committee must urgently investigate these sites and ensure
that everything necessary is done to maintain their world heritage status, to keep people safe and to pass them on intact to future generations. Legal duties require this action, including the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and these duties must be respected both within the UNESCO and Kyoto processes.’
Catherine Pearce, Friends of the Earth’s International Climate spokesperson said: ‘The UK is a member of the World Heritage Committee, so we hope that they will support this petition when they next meet in June 2005. This will be the first time the World Heritage Committee has been asked to danger list a site due to climate change. We hope that UNESCO will demand that states take action on climate change, which is the root cause of these problems.’
Sir Chris Bonington, one of the petitioners, said: ‘Sagarmatha National Park not only has the highest mountain in the World – it also has some of its finest mountain scenery. It is also a place where its inhabitants, the Sherpas, live and work. Both the beauty of this magnificent area and the livelihoods of its inhabitants are threatened by global warming.’
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