Pune: A team of city-based geologists, hydrologists, environmentalists and mountaineers from Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering will be going on ‘Mount Kangchenjunga Eco-Expedition 2019’ on April 6 from Nepal.
This is the first-of-its kind expedition as the geological, hydrological or flora-fauna mapping of Khangchendzonga National Park has not been done even after the Biosphere Reserve was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2016.
The 60-day Eco-Expedition will be themed ‘Clean Mountain, Clean Glacier’. The team of experts and mountaineers will collect soil, water, rocks and flora-fauna samples by which mapping, dating, geotagging and international research papers will be written for further studies. Umesh Zirpe, Founder Director of Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering will be leading a team of 10 climbers.
Avinash Kandekar, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) will be leading the eco-expedition where there will be three experts who will be going till the base camp.
Dr Shrikant Karlekar, former head of Department of Geography in Pune’s SP College and expert in Earth Sciences, said after collecting all samples they will be able to identify how many glaciers have retreated and what will be its after-effects in the future.
Kandekar said his team will study geomorphology and landform study, alpine flora study, geology and environmental hydrology, biodiversity and fauna, environmental communication along with GIS mapping and hydrochemical analysis.
Zirpe, said, “Till now not more than 300 people from the entire world have climbed Mt. Kanchenjunga. Ecological studies have been made on other mountains, but Mt Kanchenjunga has not been studied yet by anyone.”
Samples to be studied
