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Kathmandu, Nepal – Climate-for-Life Ambassadors Apa Sherpa and Dawa Steven Sherpa continued with their ten-city European Expedition meeting high level politicians in Europe in their bid to raise the profile of Himalayas in the Global Climate Debate.
On Tuesday, the duo met with the Chief of Protocol of the French President's Office, Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix at his office in Paris and discussed the impacts of Climate Change on the Himalayas and its inhabitants. The duo is also scheduled to meet Jean-Louis Borloo, the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning at Copenhagen on 11 December.
Meanwhile, Apa and Dawa also gave a presentation at the European Parliament in Brussels on 7 December. At the Round Table on Climate Change Issues in the Third Pole (Hindu Kush/ Himalayas / Tibetan Plateau), Dawa highlighted the threats encountered by the Sherpas in the Everest Region due to Climate Change. Campaign Lead Prashant Singh spoke about the challenges Nepal is facing in the wake of Climate Change right from delayed monsoons, to forest fires, challenges in bio-diversity conservation, increasing glacial lakes and potentiality of these of perpetuating conflict in our country.
Nirj Deva, a Conservative Member of the European Parliament for South East England 
(also Vice President, Development Committee of EU Parliament) praised the campaign efforts. Ambassadors from China, India, Bangladesh and Nepal were present during the occasion. Nepal was represented by Pramesh Kr. Hamal, Nepalese Ambassador to EC.Tom Spencer, Vice President of the Institute for Environmental Security, former Chairman of the AFET Committee in the European Parliament and Prof. Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also spoke on the occasion.
Earlier, the duo also travelled to the French commune of Chamonix in the Rhone-Alpes region in south-eastern France, where serious Climate Change concerns were shared between the European Mountain Communities and the Sherpas representing the mountain communities of Nepal and the Himalayas.
There were exchanges of sympathies between the Sherpas and the Community Leaders including Mayors of several communes like Les Houches, St.Gervais-Les-Bains, Les Contamines-Montjoy, Argentière, Courmayer (Italy), Vallorcine, Sallanches and Megeve as the manifestations of Climate Change were found almost the same in both these regions. The Ambassadors were taken to Montenevers to show the impacts of Climate Change on the largest glacier in France, the Mer de Glace.
Talks were also held to develop a deeper collaboration between the Alps and the Himalayas to create a platform for learning from each other.
The Sherpas are travelling to 10 European cities as a part of the European Expedition under WWF Nepal’s Climate for Life Campaign, an initiative to raise the profile of the Himalayas in the global climate debate.
