Apa and Dawa bestowed with ‘Leaders for a Living Planet’ award

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has honored the nineteen times Everest summitter Apa Sherpa along with Dawa Steven Sherpa with the WWF´s most esteemed “Leaders for a Living Planet” award amidst a function held at Gland, the WWF Secretariat in Switzerland on December 1st.

International Director General of WWF, Jim Leape felicitated the “Climate-for-Life Ambassadors” with the highest honor given to an individual by WWF.

“Apa and Dawa represent real people from the real world. Their experiences are not based on somebody else´s data or research; they have witnessed with their own eyes the melting Himalayas. Their examples make us realize that climate Change is not just a term, rather it will have very real and very severe impacts on the lives of billions of people in the world,” a press release issued by WWF-Geneva quoted Leape.

WWF said that the award was given to Apa in credit of his taking up “the role of a true global citizen by drawing the attention of world leaders to the impacts of climate change” being felt by the people of the Himalayas and the need for urgent action. And Dawa received the honor for his “dynamic leadership and personal drive in helping people throughout the world to realize the perils faced by the people of the Himalayas as a result of climate change.”

Apa said after receiving the award, “The Sherpa people have always been close to nature and in turn nature has taken good care of us. But in recent times, we have had to face the wrath of nature and we realize that this is not because of our own doing but stems from the actions of industrialized nations.”

Dawa Sherpa speaking about the climate prejudice of developing nations said during the function, “We represent the Sherpa community who are at the forefront of Climate Change impacts; however we also represent the millions of people living downstream from the Himalayas who will also be directly impacted by this phenomenon.”

As a part of the European Expedition of the Climate-for-Life Campaign spearheaded by WWF Nepal, Apa and Dawa are in Geneva to raise awareness about Climate Change in the Himalayas. After Geneva they are scheduled to travel through Chamonix, Vienna, Brussels and finally to Copenhagen for the United Nations COP-15 Climate Change Conference.

WWF´s “Leaders for a Living Planet” award gives recognition to institutions, organizations and individuals for extraordinary attempts in promoting nature conservation around the world.

With the recognition, Apa and Dawa became the first Nepalese citizens to be bestowed with the tribute. Hungarian and Croatian prime ministers were awarded in the past in recognition of their governments´ commitment to create the largest river-protected area in the world in their trans-border zone. It was also awarded to the Paraguay government for introducing its Zero Deforestation Law.