Hillary Calls For Everest Park Protection

Everest conquerer Sir Edmund Hillary has spoken out to urge governments to take steps to protect the Himalayas from the effects of climate change.

His statement is timed to coincide with the meeting of the World Heritage Committee this week. The group is a UN organisation responsible for the protection of sites of special interest. Hillary, along with other mountaineering figures including Chris Bonington and Reinhold Messner is calling for the Sagamartha (Everest) National Park to be placed on the World Heritage endangered list.

If that were to happen, the World Heritage Convention would legally require all countries to pass the park intact to future generations and it's hoped that would mean the introduction of measures to reduce global warming as well as action at a local level.

On a New Zealand web site, Hillary calls for remedial action to drain lakes formed by melting glaciers before they can burst through their moraine banks and cause widespread devestation.

"The warming of the environment of the Himalayas has increased noticeably over the last 50 years," he says. "This has caused several and severe floods from glacial lakes and much disruption to the environment and local people."

The problem isn't just a Himalayan one. The Cordillera Real area of the Peruvian Andes has been the victim of several such alliuvions, with local towns around Huaraz devestated by overflowing glacial lakes. The campaigners are also asking for Huascaran National Park and the Belize Barrier Reef tobe protected.