Talking climate change: Young mountaineer reaches for the sky

"I want to climb the highest mountains in the world but we lack resources," says Hafiza Bano

I want to climb the highest mountains in the world but we lack resources. We need the help of the government and other institutions.

This was stated by Hafiza Bano during a speech at the Savir Youth Forum organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, in collaboration with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, under the SERVIR-Himalaya Initiative supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and USAID.

“I belong to the remote village of Hunza Shimshal; famous for great mountaineers. Owing to the severe shortage of facilities, I had to discontinue my education but found the next best thing: mountaineering.”

Bano’s father was a mountaineer too, and supported her in her journey to the top, shared the young climber. She also spoke on climate change issues of the region, which was the theme of the event. “The summer is getting hotter and the winter more cold. We also face drought and floods.

The Attabad landslide is a fresh example of things going wrong,” she said, adding that the people of the area deserve to know who’s responsible for this and how it can be fixed.

The aim of the forum is to raise awareness and empower the youth on the use of earth observation information and allied technologies for climate actions.

The forum, which ends today, brought together 40 students from mountainous areas as well as other cities where they will hear lectures from experts.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2014.