The initiative is being taken to raise awareness among the international public opinion about the effects of global warning on the Everest, ahead of the United Nations conference on climate, scheduled for Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December.

Nepal’s Forest and Soil Conservation Minister Deepak Bohara made the announcement about the unusual cabinet meeting, adding that it will take place this month.

The government of the Maldives did a similar thing as its Nepali counterpart in order to sound the alarm to the effects of climate change. Last month, Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed summoned his ministers to a cabinet meeting in a lagoon, some six metres under water, to highlight the plight of the archipelago, which faces rising seawaters.

Nepali Prime Minister Nepali Madhav Kumar and his cabinet will travel to the top of the world to highlight the fate of melting Himalaya glaciers.

“Climate change has led to the rapid increase in the size of the glacial lakes,” Minister Bohara said.

This could have immediate consequences for Nepali villages located right below the lakes, which could burst and flood lower areas, he explained. In addition, expanding glacial lakes are the cause of erratic monsoon patterns and unprecedented forest fires.

According to some experts, the effects of so-called global warming on the Himalaya could have dire consequences for more than a billion people in South Asia.

Water supplies to the populations of the Indian subcontinent depend largely on the rivers that flow from the highest mountain chain in the world.