20091205

The world's highest cabinet meeting


Less than two months after we had the world's lowest cabinet meeting, now we have just had the world's highest cabinet meeting.

On 16 October, the Maldives, the world's lowest lying nation, had a cabinet meeting underwater. Yesterday, Nepalese ministers held one on Mount Everest, at an altitude of 5,200m above sea level. Both meetings had the same purpose - to raise the world's awareness of the effects of climate change.

For the meeting yesterday, the entire 21 ministers of Nepal travelled by helicopter to a plateau next to Everest's base camp to endorse a resolution on climate change, which they called the "Top of the World" Declaration.

"We wanted to stress one point: that the Himalayas are a global treasure, said Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. "They are the water towers of Asia, feeding its largest rivers and nourishing hundreds of millions of people downstream."

A Buddhist monk who waited to greet the ministers on their return, said: "For us, nature is God. But we are not teating our God fairly and that is why we are having problems."

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