Profile
EvK2Minoprio was born from the encounter among project, professionals and researchers of EvK2Cnr and Minoprio Foundation.
EvK2Minoprio - Profile
EvK2Minoprio was born from the encounter between project, professionals and researchers of EvK2Cnr and Minoprio Foundation a prestigious institution of Lombardy dedicated to agricultural and environmental studies, education and knowledge.
EvK2Minoprio’s objective is to give life to scientific research projects, sustainable development and scientific and cultural activities aimed at providing concrete and tangible support to the improvement of well-being, quality of life and opportunities for mountain populations, as well as the protection and enhancement of its natural resources, acquiring at the same time scientific information on climate change and on programs for adapting to them.
The Pyramid International Laboratory is now jointly managed by EvK2Minoprio and Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).
The Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory is a high altitude scientific research center.
It is located at 5.050 m a.s.l., in the Khumbu valley, within the Sagarmatha National Park, at the base of the Nepalese side of Mount Everest.
Since its founding in 1990, the Pyramid Laboratory provides the international scientific community with a priceless opportunity to study environment, climate, human physiology and geology in a remote protected mountain area.
To date, 580 scientific missions have been carried out by 220 researchers from over 170 different Scientific Institutions in different countries.
The main research fields are: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Medicine and Physiology, Anthropology, Development of new technologies.
EvK2Minoprio in Nepal
A story of research that comes from afar
Ev-K2-CNR project begins in 1987, when Prof. Ardito Desio (born in 1897), an explorer and geologist, launches a new campaign of scientific measurements in Himalayan and Karakoram mountains together with Agostino Da Polenza, mountaineer and manager.
Two years later, the “Ev-K2-CNR Committee” is registered as a non-profit Association dedicated to technological and scientific research with a particular focus on the study of natural and human environment and climate change in the Hindu Kush region of Karakoram and Himalayas, with particular attention to Nepal and Pakistan.
In 1990, in collaboration with the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Ev-K2-CNR installed the “Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory” in the Sagarmatha National Park, in Nepal, at 5.050 m asl. near Everest base camp. The highest and most famous mountain in the world, a physical, cultural and even spiritual symbol and emblem of the encounter between earth and sky. One of the best known geographic “brands” in the world.
EvK2CNR and its Pyramid have been working on research and environmental monitoring projects for over 30 years, with a permanent research structure known all over the world. EvK2CNR and today EvK2Minoprio is the only company in the world to have the privilege and the permission to carry out scientific research and cooperation in such a special place.
The historical series of meteorological, climatic but also geophysical data are an inestimable scientific heritage, unique in that region of ASIA.
The Pyramid today:
A resource for high-altitude research unique in the world
The Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory is a unique and irreplaceable resource also for the future acquisition of meteorological, climatic, environmental and natural – territorial data useful for the international scientific community, as the General Secretary of the World Meteorological Organization has recently confirmed, but also for the local management of the territory that in 1979 became a “World Heritage Site”, proclaimed by UNESCO, besides being the oldest mountain National Park in Asia (it was established on 19 July 1976).
EvK2Minoprio in Pakistan
The Central Karakoram National Park
In 2004 EvK2CNR for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of K2 (accomplished by the mountaineering and scientific expedition led by Prof. Desio) strengthened its collaboration with the institutions of Pakistan and Gilgit Baltistan, consolidating some environmental research activities about climate and proposing the activation of a project that would concretely lead to the functioning of K2 National Park.
An “ancient” idea by prof. Desio within the Government of Pakistan through Ambassador Fornara, at the beginning of the 90s. In 1993 the Central Karakorum National Park CKNP was included in the list of National Parks established by a specific Federal law of Pakistan, but its activation remained dormant until in 2004 EvK2CNR relaunched the initiative.
In 2009, during the cancellation of a Pakistan’s debt towards Italy, the SEED-Social Economic Environment Development project in the Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP), was activated in Gilgit Baltistan Region, with an investment of 9 million dollars.
Today EvK2Minoprio is the only italian entity in Pakistan that is registered as an NGO and is authorized by the Government of Pakistan to operate in Gilgit Baltistan.
Central Karakoram National Park Management Plan
Italy has taken on the role of tutor and first consultant for projects of sustainable socio-economic development and environmental protection of the Province of GB by promoting and supporting the preparation of the Management Plan and the Operational Plan of the Central Karakorum Park (K2) and the subsequent study for the management plan of other Park areas such as DEOSAI and the Corridor that unites them (18.000Kmq in all) .
Evk2Minoprio is in fact one of the very few international organisations that develops and implements study activities, scientific research, planning and legislative support, projects of sustainable economic development for local populations and creation of protected areas. But also promotional and advertising activities for the territory and its sustainable development, as recently happened for the first ski crossing of the Deosai park.
