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Indo-Pak climbers on the same Summit to promote Peace

Date: 26 August 2002

Indian and Pakistani climbers with quadruple amputee join forces for Swiss climb to protect the environment and promote peace and commemorate the International Year of Mountains 2002 and the International Year of Eco tourism 2002

A small group of mountaineers from India and Pakistan are about to arrive in Switzerland in response to a joint initiative of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) for a 'real' summit in the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn region which has recently been designated as the first UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in the Alps.

The team comprises mountaineers, Harish Kapadia and Mandip Singh Soin from India and Nazir Sabir and Col Sher Khan from Pakistan, to help promote protected status for important mountain ranges and the concept of 'peace zones' to help resolve conflicts in mountain areas while promoting cooperation. Joining them is quadruple amputee Jamie Andrew from Scotland who lost both hands and both feet to severe frostbite in an accident in the Alps three winters ago.

IUCN and UIAA want to recognise the success of the Swiss Government in achieving World Heritage recognition for the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn region; and the mountaineers from India and Pakistan want to use this opportunity to highlight the need to protect the Karakoram Mountains, which have been affected in some areas by armed conflict.

There will be a briefing for the media in Geneva on 27 August when the team will show recent photographs of the Siachen Glacier and call for support for considering the Siachen Glacier as a peace zone for ecosystems conservation and international cooperation. There will also be a launch event in the Aletsch region just before setting off for the mountain on the 28th and a debriefing opportunity when the team descends on the 30th.

Georgina Peard IUCN World Heritage Assistant

tel +41 22 999 0158, mobile 079 219 4407, e-mail georgina.peard@iucn.org

Coke paints the Himalayas red

The mountains are protected by environmental laws

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been asked by India's Supreme Court to explain why they have plastered adverts on the side of the Himalaya mountains. Judges issued notices against the companies after the court heard logos had been painted directly onto the rock face alongside more than fifty-kilometres of road in Himachal Pradesh.

"They're (painted) on rocks but we still have to ascertain their size and number" Sunil Gupta, a spokesman for Coca-Cola India, told the BBC's World Business Report the advertisements were outside the company's control."It's actually a franchise area, it is not under the distribution and marketing of Coca-Cola India," he said. "We have very strict guidelines, advertising has to be near an outlet and can only be on walls and in the shop, so the Supreme Court ruling came as quite a shock," he added.

The area in Himachal Pradesh is supposedly protected by strict conservation laws. The rocks support many different species of moss which, the court was told, had been destroyed by the painting. Removing the advertisements could cause further ecological damage because it would require many litres of paint remover or thinner.

The court was told the advertisements had been plastered on an entire mountain side from the village of Kothi to Rallah waterfalls to Beas Kund,a stretch of about 56 kilometres.

Coke said it was not sure if it would pay the clean-up cost.

Source: BBC