Climate smart trek team reaches Khandbari

Apa Sherpa and his team members, who are on the 1,700-km long Great Himalaya Trail resumed their trek from Khandbari yesterday.
The team comprising Apa Sherpa, Dawa Steven Sherpa, Saurav Dhakal and Samir Jung Thapa were welcomed in a traditional manner by a score of people, including the senior government officials, Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), Nepal Federation of Journalists, representatives of different political parties and civil society.
"It is important to develop roads but let us make sure that we do not destroy the traditional trekking trails," said Apa Sherpa on the occasion.
The team has already walked 242-km in last 17 days.They began their historic trek on Great Himalayan Trail from Ghunsa — the eastern most destination of the trek — to pay respect to the conservation pioneers who lost their lives in a tragic helicopter accident back in 2006.
"The impacts of the climate change can be seen clearly along the trail," according to another team amember Dawa Steven Sherpa. "It is lessening the agricultural productivity and causing massive landslides threatening the existing trails that are already fragile," he added.
The Climate Smart Celebrity Trek on the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) began on January 15 and will finish in early May when the team will reach Darchula in Far-western Nepal.
The team is carrying the Nepali flag handed over by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav during a public function in Kathmandu before their departure. The trek is organised to highlight the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas and to promote the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) as the best trekking trail in the world — offering trekkers the possibility to experience extremely rich cultures, breathtaking landscapes and diverse range of flora and fauna.
GHT-CSCT is organised by Himalayan Climate Initiative with support of the government. It is also supported by DFID, British Council, SNV, NTB and TAAN.
Supported by corporate partners like Geo-Eye, Asian Trekking, North Face and Dell, the GHT trek will help develop tourism and provide employment as well as education which in return will help improve the lives of the in some of the remotest regions in the world.
The Great Himalaya Trail Development Progamme (GHTDP) will work towards harnessing tourism with a market-led approach to improve livelihoods and bring sustainable development opportunities to remote and poor communities through the creation of an iconic and globally significant new tourism product for Nepal.
The 'Great Himalaya Trail' (GHT) is a network of existing paths and trade routes spanning the length of the country from Darchula and Humla in the West to Kanchenjunga in the East, packaged and promoted into one of the world’s great walks. Over the longer term, the GHT has the potential to traverse the length of the Himalayan Range stretching through impoverished mountain areas of Pakistan, India and Bhutan.