UIAA/ UAAA General Assembly - 10 Oct 2011

General Assembly of Union of International Alpine Association (UIAA) successfully concluded from 3rd Oct - 8th Oct, 2011 in Kathmandu. Similarly, General Assembly of Union of alpine Asian Alpine Association (UAAA) also took place on 9th Oct 2011. UIAA is an umbrella organization of alpine clubs of all over the world where as UAAA is an umbrella organization of all alpine clubs of the Asian countries. The UIAA / UAAA General Assembly were organized as a national program on the occasion of the Nepal Tourism Year 2011. 137 representatives of 47 alpine clubs from 34 countries participated in the General Assembly of UIAA. 50 representatives from 13 alpine clubs from 10 Asian countries participated in the UAAA General Assembly.

Rt. Hon'ble President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav inaugurated the General Assembly on 7 Oct 2011 by watering on the plants. The program started with welcome speech by Dr. Ganesh Raj Joshi, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for UIAA / UAAA General Assembly. In the inaugural ceremony, UIAA President Mike Mortimer gave away UIAA Awards to the following summiteers.

1. Mr. Gurung is the only and first UIAGM guide of Nepal. Currently, he is the President of Nepal National Mountain Guide Association.
2. Mr. Mingma Sherpa- Mr. Sherpa is the first Nepali climber to climb all the fourteen peaks above 8000m.
3. Ms. Chhyurim Sherpa- Ms. Sherpa has climbed Mount Everest two times in one season.
4. Ms. Usha Bista- She is the first summiteer, who ascended Everest from Far-Wesern Region of Nepal. Ms. Bista had climbed Everest as the member of First Inclusive Women Sagarmatha Expedition 2008. Similarly, she is the member of Everest Women 7 Summit Eco-action and already ascended Mt. Kosciuszko and Mt. Elbrus. She also represented NMA in the UAAA Joint Expedition on Mt. Khateun, Mongolia and she successfully ascended the peak. She became the first Nepali womam to climb Mt. Khateun. Currently, she is Executive Board Member of NMA.

NMA President Zimba Zangbu Sherpa distributed certificates to 24 International Mountain Guide produced the by the training jointly conducted by NMA and Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA).

The Chief Guest of the program, Rt. Hon'ble President, released the special edition of NMA's publication Nepal Parbat published on the occasion of UIAA / UAAA General Assembly. Rt. Hon'ble President expressed his happiness with the theme Climate Change in the international conference. He requested the participants to discuss on the cause of global warming and its effect to the mountainous country like Nepal. He also requested for the implementation of such programs, which will stop in degrading the mountain environment. He also that the people living in the Himalayas are facing the wrath of Global Warming much more than most other places in the world. The unprecedented forest fire, delayed monsoons, a temperature increase that is several times the global average, growing glacial lakes, frequent flash floods and landslides are making our lives difficult, and are seriously limiting our economic growth. UIAA President Mike Mortimer and UAAA President In Jenoung Lee also expressed their remarks in the program.

Finally, Mr. Zimba Zangbu Sherpa, Member Secretary of the Organizing Committee, thanked Rt. Hon'ble President for his gracious presence and focusing his speech on climate and its effect to us. He also expressed that the reinforecment of The Kathmandu Declaration will once again highlight the absolute necessity and importance of conservation of mountain environment for the sustainable development of mountain tourism globally.

After the official inauguration, symposium on climate change, mountain protection and expedition was also conducted on the same day. Mr. Ang Tshering Sherpa, Mr. Ranjan Krishna Aryal, Mr. Dawa Steven Sherpa, Mr. Prasant Singh and Mr. Mansoor Hussain showed powerpoint presentation. The presentations focused on the government policy on mountaineering, climate change, mountain environment etc.

The internal session of UIAA took place on 8 Oct 2011, which reinforced the Kathmandu Declaration 1982. The declaration is intended to increase the awareness of the people for the protection of mountain environment.

The meeting also decided to conduct UIAA General Assembly 2012 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The future UAAA Council meeting and General Assembly are to be held in the following countries.

Agreement signed with Petzl Foundation- 7 Oct 2011

NMA and Petzl Foundation signed an agreement on 7 Oct 2011 to upgrade the training standard, to develop the Nepalese mountaineers in understanding the risk and managing it.

Farewell dinner for Slovenia guests - 18 Nov

NMA organized a farewell dinner for Emil Ferjancic, Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and Mag. Miranda Groff Ferjancic, Directorate of Public Assets, Slovenia on 18 Nov 2011. Advisor- Yankila Sherpa, NMA IInd Vice President Mr. Santa Bir Lama, General Secretary Deebas Birkam Shah, and Chief Administrative Officer Jinesh Sindurakar were present in the meeting. They discussed on the establishment of alpine convention in International Mountain Museum.

50th Anniversary of Nagano Mountaineering Association

NMA President Zimba Zangbu Sherpa and Ist VP Nima Nuru Sherpa will participate in the 50th Anniverdary of Nagano Mountaineering Association to be held on 12 Nov 2011. NMA and NMA-Japan signed protocol agreement on 10 Jan 2005 to coordinate in improving the mountain climbing activities and people's appreciation of nature as sports.

Record Breaking Visitor Arrivals in October 2011

The figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that visitor arrivals in the month of October 2011 have increased by 16.8% to 73,264 compared to the same month last year and crossed 70,000 mark for monthly air arrival for the first time in the tourism history of Nepal.