A KEY climate conference opened in Nepal today to discuss global climate change, including the impact on the highest Himalayan peaks where snow and ice are melting.

The three-day conference in Kathmandu, entitled Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity, is expected to include discussions of critical climate issues.

At the opening meeting, Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli told participants: “From the lap of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, we send this message loud and clear that to protect the mountains is to protect the planet. 

“To protect the mountains is to protect our seas. To protect the mountains is to protect humanity itself.”

Nepal is home to eight of the 10 tallest mountains in the world. A high level of glaciers melting in the Himalayan mountains because of global warming has raised significant concerns. 

Melting snow and ice have exposed the mountains and increased the risk of rock slides, landslides and avalanches.

Scientists have warned that the Himalayan mountains could lose up to 80 per cent of their glaciers as the Earth continues to warm.

Ministers from neighbouring India, Bhutan and Maldives are attending the conference.

Organisers have said they intend to publish a Kathmandu declaration after the discussions end on Sunday.