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Cambridge Forum for Sustainability and the Environment

 

Mountains have always captured the imagination of travellers and the people who live near them and more recently, they have turned into important indicators of the world’s changing climate. A panel including eminent mountaineers, a glaciologist and two Tibetan scholars will use their experiences of mountain landscapes to talk about changes they have seen over their lifetimes, what those changes indicate and the future challenges surrounding environmental stewardship of these extreme environments.

Speakers include Doug Scott, Kurt Diemberger and Georg Kaser. Tsering Dawa and Lobsang Yongdan will also give an insight into the significance of mountains in the “Land of Snow” and the role they play in local environmental knowledge.

Tickets are free and although you can turn up on the day, you can also follow this link to register

Details of the speakers

  •  Kurt Diemberger An accomplished Austrian mountaineer, writer, filmmaker and speaker and one of only three climbers ever to have made two first ascents of 8000m summits on Broad Peak with Herman Buhl in 1957 and of Dhaulagiri in 1960. Earlier this year, he received the Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award, one of mountaineering’s highest honours.
  • Doug Scott An English mountaineer who has made 45 expeditions to the high mountains of Asia. He has reached the summit of 40 peaks, half of which were climbed by new routes or for the first time in Alpine Style. He has reached the highest peaks on all seven continents – “the seven summits” – and in 2011 received the Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Georg Kaser Professor of Climate and Cryospheric Research at the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics (IMGI) at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Head of the Innsbruck University Research Centre of Climate and Cryosphere. A glaciologist and a keen mountaineer, his research focuses on how glaciers respond to changes in climate.
  • Tsering Dawa Born in the Yamdrog area of Central Tibet, he is a teacher of the Tibetan language and calligraphy at Minzu University and is currently a visiting scholar at the Mongolia and Inner Asia studies Unit of the University of Cambridge.
  • Lobsang Yongdan Born in the Dohi area of Eastern Tibet, he was trained as a monk at Kumbum monastery and is currently completing his PhD in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge

Time

  • Doors open at 5pm for a slideshow of photos by the speakers
  • Panel discussion: 5.30pm – 6.30pm, followed by questions until 7pm

After the questions, there will be an auction of framed mountain prints signed by Doug and Kurt to raise funds for Community Action Nepal.

Date: 
Friday, 22 November, 2013 - 17:30 to 19:00
Contact name: 
Rosamunde Almond
Contact email: 
Event location: 
Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Site, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA