Environmental pressure groups criticised the United Nations on Monday
for failing to act to protect Mount Everest, whose environment they say
is being threatened by melting glaciers surrounding it.
They say global warming is responsible. Unesco, whose World Heritage Committee is holding its annual meeting in
Vilnius, Lithuania, said in a statement that the committee had
considered petitions from environmental groups to place the worlds
tallest peak on its endangered list.
However UnescoESCO decided not to do so. UNESCO spokeswoman Gina
Doubleday said while the effects of climate change on Everest were
noticeable, more study and discussion needed to be done.
"It just doesnt happen like that. Theres a whole procedure for putting
a site on the endangered list," she said. "It has to be discussed and
documented," she added. Mount Everest could go on the list at a later date, she said, but would
not speculate on when. Environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth, have called on the
UN cultural body to act because they say global warming is melting the
glaciers surrounding Mount Everest.
If Unesco placed Everest and other sites on its protection list it would
force governments to act to protect them. "We are extremely angry that the World Heritage Committee has not taken
any meaningful action to protect some of the most important sites on the
earth from climate change," said Peter Roderick of the pressure group
Climate Justice Programme. "The dangers are clear and the main cause of the problem is known," he
said.
As well as Nepal s Everest National Park, campaigners say the glaciers
in the Huascaran National Park in the Peruvian Andes are melting fast
while the Belize Barrier Reef is threatened by rising sea temperatures
that is killing off coral. Friends of the Earth said Unesco had been urged by an international
coalition of lawyers and environmentalists to take urgent action to
protect Mount Everest. "Climate change is already having a terrible impact on some of the world
s most spectacular natural heritage sites," said spokeswoman Catherine
Pearce.
(Por Darius James Ross,
Planet Ark, 11/07/2006)