KATHMANDU: The World Bank Group in association with the National Geographic Society is all set to hold a live video interaction with a NatGeo expedition team from Mt Everest on April 12.

The interaction will be broadcasted from the WB Headquarters in Washington DC on CNBCTV18, according to reports. “The panelists will discuss the theme - Melting Himalayan Glaciers: People, Environment, Economies.”

The lead scientist of the National Geographic Everest Science Expedition - 2019, Paul Mayewski, will be taking part in the video chat from the Everest region while Hartwig Schafer, Vice President, South Asia Region, WB Group, Muthukumara S Mani, Lead Economist, South Asia Region for WB, and Aisha Khan, Executive Director for Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change and CEO of Mountain and Glacier Organisation, are the other members of the panel. The show will be moderated by Manisha Natarajan, Journalist and Anchor at CNBCTV18 (India).

As a part of the NatGeo’s Scientific Expedition, Paul Mayewski, Professor of School of Earth and Climate Sciences and Director of the Climate Change Institute, University of Maine USA, who has already led over 55 expeditions to Antarctica, Greenland, the Himalayas, the Andes, and the sub-Antarctic Islands, will be joining a team of climatologists and scientists including Associate Professor in Geography and Planning L Baker Perry at Appalachian State University, Tom KR Matthews, an applied climatologist and lecturer at Loughborough University, Mark Fisher, an athlete and former international mountain guide as well as founder of Fisher Creative and other climbers such as Disk P Collins and Mariusz Potocki, a Polish climber and climate researcher at the University of Maine in US.

The team along with the National Geographic Society programme officer Sandra Elvin will be arriving in Kathmandu on April 3, according to sources. “Renowned American mountaineer cum author Conrad Anker will also be joining the NatGeo team, which plans to leave for the Everest region on April 7, to manage the scientific expedition from base camp.”

Meanwhile, Fae Jencks, Director, Marketing and Engagement at the National Geographic Society, has clarified that Baker Perry will be part of a National Geographic Society expedition to Mt Everest. “Perry is part of our team but he is not actually leading an expedition for us,” she said in an email, adding that the expedition team was closely working with the government authorities to secure permissions for the scientific work.

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