SUSTAINABILITY

MOUNT EVEREST BIOGAS PROJECT

Mount Everest Biogas Project (MEBP), launched in 2010, is a volunteer-run, non-profit organisation that has designed an environmentally sustainable solution to the impact of human waste on Mount Everest and other high altitude locations. MEBP won the UIAA Mountain Protection Award in 2017. This year was set to witness significant on-site progress in Nepal but the Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant hold-ups to the project’s progress.

Mount Everest boasts a massive climbing industry, with hundreds of climbers – and support staff – make the trip up the Khumbu Valley each year (2020 being an obvious exception). This tourism has left a trail of human waste, approximately 12,000 kg per year, that has given way to environmental and public health concerns. MEBP’s proposal is to use an anaerobic biogas digester to treat human waste. It will eliminate dumping of solid human waste and destroy pathogenic fecal coliforms that threaten the health of the local communities – lessening the impact of the tourism industry on a mountain that is sacred to the Nepalese.

The Mt. Everest Biogas Project was designed to address this environmental and health hazard in a sustainable manner and serve as a model for other regions that must deal with similar waste problems at high-altitude, regardless if it is caused by climbers or local communities. The system will convert waste into methane, a renewable natural gas, and a reduced pathogen effluent.

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on travel, the project has experienced some significant delays. Furthermore, donations and funding have been significantly cut which has had an impact on research and development. As MEBP project head Dr Daniel Mazur explains: “If we are not able to raise the funds soon, then the support we have may erode as the government changes. We may have to begin the process all over again, causing further delays and the tragedy of climbers and Sherpas and Nepalese staff’s untreated waste from Everest Base Camp could continue unchecked for many years to come.”

Your support could really make a difference.

Further details on the UIAA Mountain Protection Award can be found here. A recent article about Mount Everest Biogas Project, and more on the context of Covid-19, can be found here.

SAFETY

ANCHOR CORROSION PROJECT

The UIAA began creating safety standards in 1960 with the testing of ropes. It has since developed standards for over twenty types of safety equipment, including helmets, harnesses and crampons. UIAA Safety Standards are regularly revised and updated by the UIAA Safety Commission to ensure they meet ever-changing nature and demands of the market and climbing and mountaineering world. The Commission constantly reviews mountaineering and climbing accidents to determine if the standards are at a high enough level. Standards are not only revised, brand new standards are frequently introduced

Over recent years the subject of corrosion has been a significant concern for the research arm of the UIAA Safety Commission (SafeCom). Commission members and external experts have invested significant time and resources into collecting data from climbers and running analysis of samples of faulty anchors. Read more here. SafeCom would appreciate your support in its efforts to revise the Standards related to anchor corrosion. Donations will support SafeCom in running more analysis and conduct further research.

Further details on the UIAA Safety Standards can be found here.

MEMBER ASSOCIATION SUPPORT

COVID-19

The impact of Covid-19 will be felt for many months, and even years to come. The climbing industry and outdoor world will be significantly affected. Cancellation of competitions, climbing seasons and expeditions; loss of sponsorship income and other revenue streams; the closing down of huts, hotels, resorts and restaurants (temporary and permanent); restrictions on access and transport; and not to mention the human impact – illness, job losses, financial concerns – present many challenges for those whose livelihood depends on climbing and mountaineering as well as for member associations and the UIAA.

To support the climbing community and for the remainder of 2020, the UIAA – International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation – has allocated the member association component of its Donate page as a fundraising resource for the global climbing and mountaineering community. Any money donated towards ‘Covid-19’ will be placed into the fund. At the UIAA General Assembly (GA) in 2020, the UIAA Management Committee on the recommendation of the CCC Taskforce will nominate a cause or causes for the funds to be directed towards. Details of how the funds are allocated will be communication following the GA.

For further details please contact Carol Kahoun, carol.kahoun@theuiaa.org

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