Ang Tshering Sherpa’s Speech at Varese Cai Program in Italy, Varese on 26 January 2016:
On behalf of NMA, Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities (CAHC), Lhakpa Nuru, Pemba Tshering and myself, I sincerely thank Varese Cai President, their team members and distinguished friends of Nepal who had shown sympathy and support in so many ways. Your love and support for the people of Nepal is overwhelming.
Nepal is a God gifted paradise nestled in the lap of the Himalayas with snow capped mountains, roaring river valleys, ancient preserved cities with towering pagoda temples, cordial friendly people and fascinating folk culture. Nepal boasts 125 identified different ethnic groups, each with their uniquely own language, culture and tradition. This multi-ethnic diversity, living in harmony for centuries, has weaved Nepal into one of the richest cultural tapestries in the world. Nepal covers a total area of 147,181 km2 and birth place of Lord Buddha, the symbol of “Peace, Harmony and Tranquility”. It is a country with extreme range of elevation with the lowest being 67m above sea level to the highest reaching 8848m and also known as the summit of world’s tallest peak, the Mount Everest. The Mount Everest has put Nepal at the top of world map as an ultimate adventure tourism destination in the world.

Nepal offers unique and ample opportunities for mountaineering, trekking, and experiencing nature and culture for visitors all year around. Visitors to Nepal can also pursue a range of adventure sports and recreational activities such as river rafting, kayaking, cannoning, paragliding, bungee jumping, sky diving, rock and ice climbing, mountain biking, bird watching, mountain flights, heli-skiing, sky running, mountaineering climbing training, jungle safari etc.

Nepal has been the paradise for mountaineers where some of the most outstanding achievements in the history of world’s mountaineering have been accomplished. Mountaineering is considered the keystone activity that Nepal offers to the climbers, more than anywhere else in the world.

Nepal has identified 1792 peaks eligible for climbing. Their elevation ranges from 5800m to above 8000m including 1310 peaks above 6000m. There are not only eight, 8000m peaks in Nepal, infect there are more than fourteen 8000m peaks recognized by The Government of Nepal and mountaineering fraternities and GoN issues climbing permits for 14 peaks that are higher than 8000m. Of the 1792 peaks, only 403 peaks are open for climbing. There are still 1389 unclimbed peaks in Nepal. Even till this day, most of the great Himalayan regions in Nepal untouched and has always been fascinated and inspired a horde of people from all walks of life over and again.

KNOWING THE SHERPA PEOPLE: Identification: The Sherpas were nomadic people who first settled in the Solukhumbu District (Khumbu) in north eastern Nepal. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal 500-600 years ago. Therefore the name ‘Sherpa’ derives from its people’s origins, “Shar” meaning ‘east’ and “pa” meaning ‘people’ in the Tibetan language. An estimate of Sherpa population globally places them at about 500,000. Sherpas residing in Nepal constitute about 1 percent of the total population of Nepal.
History: By the 1800s, the Khumbu Sherpa people attained autonomy within the newly formed Nepali state. In the 1960s, as tension with China increased, Nepali government influence on the Sherpa people grew. In 1976, Khumbu became a national park and tourism became a major economic force.
Location: Most Sherpa villages in Nepal are at elevations between 2,400 and 3,600 meters, on the southern slopes of the Himalayan range, concentrated around the base of the Everest massif. Although Solukhumbu is still the main homeland for the Sherpas in Nepal, many have since migrated westward along salt trade routes. Major Sherpa settlements can be found in the Arun Valley, Rolwaling, Helambu and in the capital, Kathmandu as well as in the Indian hill-towns of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Siliguri, amongst others.
Language: The Sherpa language is a dialect of Tibetan. While there is no Sherpa writing system, many Sherpas are literate in Tibetan, Nepali, and in some cases Hindi and English as well.
Religion: The Tibetan form of Mahayana Buddhism, sometimes called Vajrayana, “The Thunderbolt Vehicle,” is universally observed among the Sherpas. In past centuries, religion was organized on a village and clan level. Since the beginning of the 20th century celibate monasticism, imported from Tibet, has flourished in the Sherpa region.
Subsistence & Commercial Activities: The early Sherpa settlers lived by raising field crops in the cleared forestland and herding livestock, including yaks, cows, and yak-cow crossbreeds, prized for their excellent milk. The main component of the domestic economy was field agriculture and livestock herding for dairy products, especially butter and a form of yogurt. Butter is produced in surplus by some herders and is a major trade item. The introduction of the Irish potato into the region in the middle of the nineteenth century added prosperity to the region: this allowed for denser settlements in the high villages of Khumbu. The potato is now the main staple crop of the Sherpas.
Mountaineering: In the years following the opening of Nepal to the west in 1949 mountaineering and tourism became major industries. Sherpas from Darjeeling had already established a reputation as able assistants on British surveying and mountaineering expeditions by the beginning of the century.
The conquest of Mount Everest in 1953 by a British team relying on Sherpa climbers and guides—with a Sherpa climber, Tenzing Norgay, as one of the first two people on the summit, along with Sir Edmund Hillary—brought the Sherpas worldwide attention. Since then, work related to tourism, trekking, and mountaineering trade has more and more dominated the economy of the Sherpas, who serve as guides, sirdars (expedition foremen) and service providers in the cash economy of tourism.
Today, the term is often used by foreigners to refer to almost any guide, climbing supporter or porter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas, regardless of their ethnicity. Because of this usage, the term has become a slang byword for a guide or mentor in other situations. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at very high altitudes. It has been speculated that a part of the Sherpas’ climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation to living in high altitudes.
Sherpas are highly regarded as elite mountaineers with the accreditation of many world records and outstanding physical achievement to their name. However, Sherpas have been known to play the role of a catalyst when it comes to mountaineering limelight and glory, while their efforts often go unnoticed or with a mere honourable mention. This plight of the Sherpas is somewhat reflected by the old saying in Nepali “kholo taryo lauro birshyo” which means people tend to forget the walking (support) stick upon crossing the river, but without the stick they would have never been successful in crossing the river.
Our knowledge of mountain geography and ecosystems allows us – to be highly influential witnesses to climate change in our time and to extend that influence beyond the Himalayan community to everyone around us. We must put our efforts in improving the fragile mountain environment, developing the mountaineering and climbing activities and promoting mountains as a center of sports activities and providing livelihood support for the mountain communities.
Considering the significant importance of mountaineering tourism, Government of Nepal has formed the ‘Peak Profile Sub-Committee’ under my convener ship to prepare the detailed Peak Profiles of 476 peaks in Nepal’s Himalayas. The profile will contain all information of peaks in digital format as well as in booklets, which will make it easier for teams to plan their expedition. The detailed peak profile will be great tools for the promotion and marketing of mountain tourism in Nepal.
This year, we are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Mt. Manaslu and Mt. Lhotse in the month of May 2016 and hope that this historic event will help to speedy recovery of our tourism industry.

Nepal experiences a catastrophic earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on 25 April 2015 followed by more than 400 aftershocks with magnitude up to 7.3. This is one of the worse earthquakes in recent history. It led to widespread of devastation in Nepal, affected 31 of the country’s 75 districts and more than 8 million people (NPC 2015). Close to 9,000 people diet, 22,303 people were injured and over 100,000 people were displaced. The earthquake caused damaged to physical and economic infrastructures including thousands of houses, schools, hospitals, government offices, natural and cultural monuments, roads, irrigation canals and markets. More than 800,000 private houses were completely destroyed. The total damaged and loss caused by earthquake is estimated to be USD 7 billion, which is about one third of Nepal’s domestic products (NPC 2015). All of this will continue to have a huge impact on country’s economy as well as people’s ability to maintain their livelihood.

The impact of the earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 on 25 April 2015 followed by more than 400 aftershocks with magnitude up to 7.3 has been disproportionately greater in remote mountain region of Nepal. This was the worst earthquake in the recent history. Tourism plays a significant role in Nepal’s economy by employing a major share of the Nepalese workforce and provides economic opportunities to those who need them most in rural mountain regions. In the aftermath of the earthquakes, recovery of Nepal’s tourism is going to be a vital factor in the recovery process of Nepal. Safety conditions being the major concern of potential visitors to Nepal, the mountain tourism community has taken the concern very seriously and has also taken measures to review areas of safety concern and improved them.

In partnership with UN World Food Program, NMA has already rebuilt and repaired dozens of trails, roads and bridges to reopen access to the remote mountain communities and trekking regions so that local villagers can resume their normal lives and tourism activities can operate safely in the days ahead. At the same time we are also mobilizing the humanitarian relief goods and foods carry by porters to various mountainous regions and distribute to the earthquake affected mountain communities. We are also building mountain huts and shelters in popular mountaineering and trekking areas, to serve those who need it in times of crisis.

Tourism is one of Nepal’s most important industries, income and employment generator and key to develop the remote areas. It is in our collective interest from private sector, government and the development partner to increase the number of visitors to Nepal and at the same time does not compromise the safety and security of the visitors.
FUTURE PLANS: The journey is far from over and it looks like it will take many years before Nepal can be back to normal. We have already built 241 resilient homes already built, and we have enough funds to build another 200 units by end of February 2016. Our designs are publicly available so that anybody can replicate our work; we are also providing volunteers and consultants who need technical support. Some of our resilient homes were also used as Temporary Learning Centers (TLC) where schools were destroyed.

With more than 5000 schools destroyed in the earthquake, we have started plans to rebuild destroyed schools. To achieve these goals, we have launched the National Volunteering Program (NVP), which currently has 6000 registered volunteers in 14 earthquake-affected districts.

In August, my son Tenzing David Sherpa led 4 other volunteers to train in Search and Rescue Operation in Istanbul with the Turkish Team. The plan is now to set up Nepali Search and Rescue team and to conduct trainings throughout Nepal on earthquake preparedness.

CAHC and NMA is taking initiative to rebuild and repair the community infrastructures, repairing and maintaining trails, bridges, roads, community multipurpose centers, and education and healthcare sectors. We have started raising funds to rebuild the cultural monument, which are of great importance to local people and an attraction for tourists. These are focusing on rebuilding Mani-walls, Chortens, Temples, Monasteries and Manilhang, etc. More than anything else, we need to get people back to work, so that they can look after themselves. That means we need to get tourism up and running again as it is one of the biggest employers as an industry.
More than anything else, we need to get people back to work so that they can look after themselves. And that means we need to get tourism up and running as it is one of the biggest employers as an industry. I sincerely believe that this very important CAI Varese event can play a tremendously powerful role in speedy recovery of tourism industry and its sub-sectors. We need to let the world know that the best way to help us is by visiting Nepal now so that every dollars of tourists spending will help to revive our economy and rebuild our infrastructures even better than before. Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Ang Tshering Sherpa,
President of NMA,
Honorary Member of UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation),
Chairman of CAHC (Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities)
IP President of UAAA (Asian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation)