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Peruvian engineer wins Mountain Legacy medal

04.06.2016

Peruvian engineer César Augusto Portocarrero Rodríguez will be presented the 2017 Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal on 11 December 2016, International Mountain Day, Nepalese NGO Mountain Legacy announced. Portocarrero has directed projects to mitigate the danger of outburst floods from numerous glacial lakes in the Andes, saving thousands of lives and many millions of dollars, and he is now sharing his expertise with members of the High Mountain Adaptation Partnership (HiMAP), including Nepal, Bhutan, and several Central Asian nations.

Mountain Legacy was authorized by Sir Edmund Hillary to administer the award, which is presented for “remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions” every year since 2003. The Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal is intended to honour Sir Edmund's remarkable record of development assistance and encourage its emulation.

Commenting on the selection of Portocarrero, Mountain Legacy President Dr Kumar P. Mainali stressed the link between mountain recreation and development work.

“On May 29, sixty-three years ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed the final steps that carried Colonel John Hunt's 1953 British Everest Expedition to a successful conclusion. For Edmund Hillary, however, the conquest of the so-called Third Pole was not so important as the love he discovered for the mountains and the people of Nepal. Applying the same energy, imagination, loyalty and enthusiasm for the outdoors that had made him a great explorer and adventurer, Hillary now undertook to help his friends improve their lives and safeguard the legacies of their mountain environment and culture. Hillary remained an enthusiastic advocate of adventure as a means of opening the individual's spirit to unexpected challenges and opportunities. In a time of rapidly escalating challenges, we all need such adventurers, and we are quite fortunate to have César Portocarrero on our side,” he said.

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Photo: Mountain Legacy