“The meeting is currently under discussion and it is impossible to hold it on the date rumored,” Bishnu Rizal, press advisor to the prime minister said, adding, “It may be possible later.”
Cabinet sources said the proposed meeting is not possible in the very near future as it will take more time to work out the logistics.
However, Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Deepak Bohara said Friday that the ministry has already proposed to announce the long-planned Gaurishankar Conservation Area through a cabinet meeting at Everest Base Camp on November 11. He informed that the entire cabinet meeting that day will be dedicated to deliberations on climate change and other environmental issues. Moreover, he added that the cabinet will also endorse the government´s Declaration Letter for the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-15), scheduled for Copenhagen, in December.
"The government will announce the Gaurishankhar Conservation Area from Base Camp and adopt the Declaration on Climate Change for the Copenhagen meet," Bohara said.
The conservation area, located between Everest and Langtang, spreads over 2,035 sq km and is considered one of the richest conservation sites for biodiversity.
The Copenhagen declaration, on the other hand, is based on the 10-point recommendation that emerged from the conference on climate change titled ´From Kathmandu to Copenhagen: A Vision for Addressing Climate Change Risks and Vulnerabilities in the Himalayas´, which was held in Kathmandu in September.
The government has proposed flying some 60 people to Base Camp for the meeting. Besides the 27 cabinet ministers, members of the cabinet secretariat, the chief secretary, a doctor´s team and mediapersons from home and abroad will accompany the entourage.
In this context, Minister Bohara said no money from government coffers will be spent for either event -- at Everest and a Summitteers´ Summit march in Copenhagen -- adding, "We reassure you that not a single penny from state coffers will be spent on either event." "We want to draw the world´s attention to the fact that some 1.3 billion people are affected by the melting of glaciers."
Yeti Airlines is making necessary arrangements for flying the officials.
The minister, however, pointed to possible postponement of the cabinet meeting as "the logistics are yet to be worked out."
Donors to help COP-March
Meanwhile, some 12 donor agencies -- United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Livelihood and Forestry Program, ICIMOD, UNDP, WWF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UK´s Department for International Development, DANIDA (Danish development partner) and the Finnish, Japanese and Danish embassies in Nepal -- have committed themselves to support the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC)´s proposal to hold a grand march of Everest summitteers in the streets of Copenhagen on December 11.
At a meeting Friday between MoFSC and donors, the donors have expressed their commitment and sought a proposal and budget. World Bank representative Claudia W Sadoff said the monetary institution is "behind the government´s proposal". The donors urged the government to speed up the work. Stating that Nepal should "not miss such an opportunity," Danish ambassador Finn Thilsted has said he will ask for financial support from his government to fund the travel. Some 50 people are to be taken to Copenhagen including 26 Nepali Everesteers.
akanshya@myrepublica.com
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