Nepal was forced Thursday to defend a climate summit for Himalayan nations next week after it emerged China had not been invited and no leader had so far agreed to attend.

Environment Minister Krishna Gyawali looked flustered at a media conference to announce details of the regional meeting co-organised by Nepal as he fended off hostile questions from journalists who suggested it would be "waste of time, money and resources".

"I'm not sure I can convincingly address this question," he admitted when asked why China had not been invited, before adding that the world's most populous nation was not a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

When it was pointed out that China had been invited as an observer at the ongoing SAARC summit in the Maldives, Gyawali said China "might be invited into the process later on".

The Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas in Thimphu, Bhutan, on November 19 groups Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India in talks on food and water security, biodiversity and alternative energy sources.

Gyawali admitted no leaders had yet agreed to attend but said the possibility was "very high" that Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai would be there.

The Himalayas, the world's tallest mountain range, divide China from south Asia and many of the its tallest peaks are located on the Asia giant's western border.

They include the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) summit of Everest, the world's tallest mountain, and the world's second tallest peak, K2, on the border with Pakistan.

"We have tried before in this region to bring in different countries on the issue of climate change with very little effect," said Tariq Aziz of WWF Nepal, a partner at the summit.

Aziz said bringing in nations other than those on the southern slopes of the eastern Himalayas would "bring in complexities with Pakistan, with Afghanistan -- you bring in issues which cloud this whole need for us to actually empower our people to fight the oncoming impact of climate change".

The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu was not immediately available for comment.

Gyawali announced Nepal was planning to hold a ministerial-level climate change meeting of mountain countries across the world early next year.