Mount Everest region’s Sherpas have said they are angry at the way studies of glaciers and glacial lakes have been conducted in recent years.

They say the studies do not involve them and that results are often spread through alarmist media reports that cause panic among locals in the area.

Threats such as glacial lake outburst are not being addressed, they say.

Some organisations involved in the studies insist they have always worked with the local community.

But members and some leaders of the Sherpa community have warned that they will not allow any new studies in the region if their concerns are not taken into account.

“We have made this clear to a few international organisations that came here recently for further studies,” said Ang Chhiri Sherpa, chairman of an association of tourism entrepreneurs in Pangboche and Dingboche village, on the route to the Everest base camp.

Some glaciers in the region are reported to have undergone remarkable retreats, and the melt has been found to have produced large glacial lakes, some of them dangerously full.

The region has witnessed a few incidents in which glacial lakes have burst through their moraines and flooding human settlements, bridges, trails, and hydropower stations downstream. A number of lives have been lost.