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Mount Everest put forward for UNESCO World Heritage in Danger List

Dec 02, 2004 / alpMedia
The Mount Everest region is at risk from global warming and should therefore be included on the UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger List. Mountaineers and representatives of the environmental group Friends of the Earth submitted a petition to the UNESCO Committee at the end of November.
New studies at the Sagarmatha National Park have shown that ice and glaciers around the world's highest mountain are melting faster and faster. One consequence has been the formation of large glacier lakes, which pose a threat to the people living in the valleys below. What's more the constant melt may well disrupt the region's entire water household in the long term.
If the region were to be included on the list, UNESCO member states would be obliged to combat the cause of the threat - climate change - and reduce greenhouse gases. However as with the Kyoto Agreement the same applies here: nation states cannot be forced to act. It would however be the first time that a region is included on the list because it is threatened by climate change.
Sources and information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4018261.stm (en), http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=86 (en)