GENEVA, Switzerland, May 14, 2002 (ENS) - A team of expert climbers is on its way to the Himalayas to gather first hand accounts on the state of the environment of the world's most famous mountain range, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced Monday. The expedition will collect evidence in connection with the United Nations 2002 International Year of Mountains.

Ian McNaught-Davis (Photo courtesy Himalaya Expeditions)

Team members flew from London's Heathrow Airport to Kathmandu Monday night. In addition to their own observations, they plan to interview officials at Sagarmatha [Everest] National Park and monks at the Buddhist monastery at Thyangboche to gather facts about environmental changes in the area.

They will document changes to wildlife and vegetation as well as to lakes and glaciers, collecting information from local people and travelers as well as monks and park officials.

Thousands of tourists passing through Thyangboche Monastary each year have had an adverse effect on the environment and water supplies. For this reason, the Sacred Land Eco Center was established there to increase the eco-awareness of tourists, trekking agencies, and the local Sherpa community.

The team will visit Island Peak to film and record the impacts that global warming is having on glaciers worldwide, UNEP said in a statement.

Andrei Iatsenia UNEP’s Geneva based mountain program coordinator said, “UNEP and the UIAA have the strong common interests of both enjoying and protecting the mountain environment. It would be excellent for both bodies to work in partnership every year to encourage everyone to value and protect the mountains.”

Mount Everest (Photo by Steve Jones courtesy Freefoto.com)

Vegetation in the park varies from pine and hemlock forests at lower altitudes, fir, juniper, birch and rhododendron woods at mid-elevations, scrub and alpine plant communities higher up, and bare rock and snow above the tree line.

The wild animals most likely to be seen in the park are the Himalayan tahr, goral, serow, musk deer and Himalayan black bear. Other mammals are weasels, martens. Himalayan mouse hare, jackals and langur.

The park provides a habit for at least 118 species of birds including the Impeyen pheasant, the national bird of Nepal.

According to the agency, the expedition's findings, to be released to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, are likely to confirm the results from a study by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development who reported on April 16 that 44 glacial lakes in Nepal and Bhutan now contain hazardous levels of water due to global warming melting nearby glaciers.

Meanwhile, the UIAA’s Mountain Protection Commission is asking member associations to nominate three national environmental threats or problems they would like to highlight.

The Commission is meeting in Scotland at the end of May and would like to compile a dossier of threats to submit to the International Year of Mountains Global Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in November.