Kathmandu, September 23

Nepali mountaineer Nimdoma Sherpa has led a team from the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) into Gorkha district to unfurl a flag representing one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as part of an international effort to bring the goals to the world’s attention.

The flag-raising comes ahead of this week’s UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York where the SDGs will be formally adopted by world leaders.

The SDGs aim to end hunger and extreme poverty, overcome inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change within a deadline of 2030.

“Nimdoma overcame rain, fog, rough trails and a steep ascent to reach the earthquake-stricken village of Kerauja.

Five months earlier this community was mourning its dead and salvaging what it could in the rubble of homes destroyed by the April 25 earthquake,” says a statement issued today by the WFP.

Nimdoma raised the flag for Goal 2 which focuses on ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.

The flag-raising is one of 17 around the world — one for each of the global goals — and is part of a collaborative effort called Project Everyone to bring the goals to the planet’s seven billion people.