Mountaineers and climate change activists have started a 99-day campaign to press the government to enlist the Great Himalayan Trails (GHT) as a national pride project and draw the attention of the national and international actors towards the climate change and its impact on people of the mountains. 

Lauching the campaign on Sunday, campaigners affiliated to Himalayas Our Pride (Hope), which calls itself a civil society movement, called on the government to pour in more resources and expertise to help conserve the Himalayas as it is water tower they provide water to hundreds of people living in the margin.

Ninety-nine youths who participated in the campaign call themselves ‘Himalayan Warriors’. They have vowed to present 99,999 pledges signed by common Nepalis in support of the campaign to the Prime Minister of Nepal and the Country Director of the United Nations on the 100th day of the campaign.

The campaign has taken initiative aiming to hold up the unfinished movement of Apa Sherpa (Scaled Mt. Everest 21 times) and Dawa Stephan Sherpa, climate change activist and tourism entrepreneurs, who walked the GHT for 99 days

asking the government and international community to pay attention to the development need of the mountain people.

They criticised the government for not paying enough attention to the people of the mountains and impact of climate change. 

“Weathers in mountains are becoming very unpredictable, making the lives of people living in the mountains more difficult,” Hope said in a press statement on Sunday.

Campaigners claimed that declaring the GHT as a climate adaptation landscape can help meet the goal of preserving the climate and reducing the impact of climate change.

“People in the mountains have traditional knowledge on ecology and the entire ecosystem,” said former environment minister and campaign patron Ganesh Shah.

“To bring out the best in climate, their knowledge must be diversified and merged with modern techniques.”

Prem Bahadur Bohara, the campaign coordinator, called on the government to pay  attention to the Himalayan hinterlands.