In October, the president of the Maldives, along with 11 of his Cabinet ministers, donned scuba gear, dove into the sea and held a meeting underwater.

Mount Everest

The intention was to to remind the world that island nations like the Maldives are in jeopardy from the effects of global warming. No doubt, it was an unusual attention-getter. However, when numerous climate-change scientists have predicted that Maldives will be erased off the map by the end of the century due to the rising sea levels, it doesn’t make much sense to sit on one’s hands.

As the date draws closer for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark where world delegates will pursue treaties to combat climate change, the Nepali Cabinet ministers will meet at the Mount Everest base camp this Friday. The meeting is to highlight threats to the Himayalas due to melting glaciers because of global warming and protect the Himalayan environment.

 Twenty-six ministers and aides will fly to Lukla at a height of over 13,000 feet in eastern Nepal, then travel by MI-17 helicopters to Kalapatthar at a height of more than 17,000 feet for the meeting. An emergency medical team will tag along.

Global warming is melting the Himalayan glaciers. If the present melt rate continues, many of these glaciers will be gone by the middle of this century, disrupting the perennial water supply to about half of the world’s population. According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, the alarming rate of melting glaciers from Switzerland to the Himalayas due to emission of greenhouse-gases is posing a threat to water and food security for hundreds of millions of people.

A World Bank report says that more than 750 million people in South Asia alone have already been affected by climate changes in the past two decades, leaving nearly 60,000 people dead and about $45 billion in damages.

The Himalayas of the region are the sources of major rivers such as India’s Ganges River, China’s Yangtze River, Nepal’s Karnali River and Pakistan’s Indus River. India, China, Pakistan, Nepal and others rely heavily on rivers for drinking water and irrigation. India and China alone boast about 40 percent of the world’s population.

Many researchers expect Nepal to be the epicenter of a climate-related catastrophe, and with good reason. Even a small climate shock might have devastating consequences.