5th international conference sharing solutions for protecting and preserving the world’s mountain regions
The Sustainable Summits Conferences are inspired by the growing pressures on our mountain environments, the need to find solutions to the impacts of such pressures – overcrowding, waste, noise and more – and a drive to uphold values in sustaining these environments. Details can be found on http://sustainablesummits.org.
The Sustainable Summits conference is being held in Nepal to showcase the country’s mountain environment, highlight climate change issues and bring international attention to Nepal’s mountain tourism.
The 2014 Sustainable Summits Conference was held in Golden, Colorado, hosted by the American Alpine Club, co-led by board member Ellen Lapham, and inspired by Roger Robinson of Denali National Park. In August 2016 the New Zealand Alpine Club hosted the event at Aoraki/Mount Cook, and in June 2018 the Petzl Foundation hosted the event in the shadow of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France www.sustainable-summits2018.org.
Nepal has had strong representation at all the Sustainable Summit conferences with Dawa Steven Sherpa a keynote speaker in Golden, Aoraki/Mount Cook and Chamonix. Dr Nima Sherpa and Lisa Choegyal made presentations at the New Zealand event, and Lisa Choegyal at Chamonix to successfully secure the Kathmandu Valley nomination for 2020. In view of COVID-19, the original dates of 1-5 June 2020 have been postponed to 31 May – 4 June 2021 and the event will be hybrid with both physical and virtual online participation, depending on conditions.
The event is hosted by the Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities (CAHC), Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) in association with ICIMOD and supported by the British Foreign Commonwealth & Development (FCDO) UKAid , Nepal Tourism Board, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), WWF Nepal, Petzl Foundation France and Bally Foundation.
Other Supporters include Adventure Consultants New Zealand, American Alpine Club, Asian Trekking Nepal, Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, Himalayan Rescue Association, Mountain Research Institute Bern, New Zealand Alpine Club, Sagarmatha Next, Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPPC), TRC Tourism Australia & New Zealand, UIAA Mountain Protection Commission and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Others might include GoN Department of National Parks & Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), Himalayan Trust, IUCN Nepal (World Conservation Union), Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN), The North Face, Black Diamond, Top Out Nepal and the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA), Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) and other NGOs and private sector organisations with coinciding agendas.
The organising committee consists of Ang Tshering Sherpa, Dr Ganesh Gurung, Dawa Steven Sherpa and Lisa Choegyal. Binit Shrestha is the event coordinator (www.sustainablesummits2020.org). Sujata Basnet represents the host CAHC, Prashant Singh respresents Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI), and Anu Kumari Lama Laurie Vasily, Denis Samyn, Udayan Mishra and Nanki Kaur represent ICIMOD on the committee.