Cabinet issues 10-pojnt Everest/Sagarmatha declaration

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 4 Dec: A brief but symbolic cabinet meeting at Kalapattar plateau near Mount Everest Friday morning issued a 10-point Everest/Sagarmatha declaration.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal after the delayed meeting that went off without a hitch later told journalists and locals at Syangboche the meet was ‘historic and far-reaching” and hoped the ‘attention of the world has and will be drawn’.
The prime minister wrongly claimed the meeting was ‘held at the base camp of Mount Everest at Kalapattar’.
‘Climate has had an adverse impact on the 2,700km Himalayan range and people living at the foot and below the world’s longest mountain range affecting 1.3 billion in South Asia.
The declaration asked the international community to help protest the Himalayan environment.
The declaration says Nepal’s will declare 25 percent of its landmass protected areas and increase forest cover to 40 percent.
Prime Minister said ‘Himalayan states should get together’ to protect the Himalayan environment.
‘The meeting was successful to draw international attention,” the premier’s political advisor Raghuji Pant said.
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“The UNMIN has given this right to me [ to carry a pistol].”

(Arrested Maoist brigade commander Dipendra Shan, The Himalayan Times, 4 Dec.)
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