Climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves. This extreme heat, compounded by wildfires and desert dust, is having a measurable impact on air quality, human health and the environment, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The 2023 WMO Air Quality and Climate …
The northern part of India, adjoining the Himalaya, is considered as one of the global hot spots of pollution because of various natural and anthropogenic factors. Throughout the year, the region is affected by pollution from various sources like dust, biomass burning, industrial and vehicular pollution, and myriad other anthropogenic …
This report captures a range of cost effective and sustainable community-led solutions to meet the challenge of water scarcity in the Marwar region of Rajasthan.
One of the biggest challenges in climate research is to arrive at reliable future projections. However, while there now exists a firm scientific basis and procedure for climate forecasts, numerical climate models still suffer from large uncertainties.
Vegetation of Indian Thar region is ecologically important, though fragile. Any change in its composition and trait will ultimately impact the productivity and sustainability of the system and the region. This region has 682 species belonging to 352 genera and 87 families of flowering plants. Among them, Prosopis cineraria, locally …
Tharparkar peafowl are under threat as the Newcastle disease has returned to the district and killed 22 peafowl within two weeks while many others are inflicted with the disease, Dawn has learnt. However, the wildlife department has taken no action to save the birds considered sacred and the beauty of …
The Thar desert is rich in biodiversity of flora and fauna. In this region, despite of harsh climatic conditions several plants of medicinal and other importance occurs. In recent past due to various regions several plants have either completely lost their habitat or left in few patches only. Some of …
Empowering the Thar Desert Communities by Rahul Mishra, GRAVIS at CSE Climate change adaptation workshop: Towards Climate Resilient Communities in South Asia: Emerging Policies and Practices (New Delhi, December 13 - 14, 2012).
A recent order may have exempted PV solar projects from environmental clearance, but experts have their concerns about the rationality of this decision.
Barren land glares at you from either side of the national highway from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. A few dry wild bushes and cacti line the tough terrain. Although there are random patches of ploughed land, they look parched. Greenery is quite hard to find here, but wildlife isn't. One can …
Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences to submit paper Why did the Harappan civilisation, which flourished for hundreds of years and once extended across a vast area from northwestern India and across Pakistan, suddenly go into a terminal decline some 4,000 years ago and wither away? Like their script that …
In northern desert states, farmers are scrambling to harvest as much as they can of a bean with the power to lift them out of poverty. In the United States, the multi-billion dollar shale energy industry is banking on their success. US companies drilling for oil and gas in shale …
For long, widely divergent views (based on isolated pieces of historical evidence or broad geological evolution of the subcontinent, notably the rise of the Himalayas in mid-late Miocene), had prevailed regarding origin and antiquity of the Thar Desert. Studies of the past few decades have since provided a wealth of …
River Saraswati is believed to have flown through the Thar Desert, as reconstructed by several experts based on critical data gathered by them. A careful observation of the channel shows that in most of the places these are fault-controlled. Studies of palaeochannels in many parts of the world proved successful …
Dying Wisdom: Rise, Fall and Potential of India's Traditional Water Harvesting System provides a comprehensive overview of India's millennia-old traditions of water harvesting. This book triggered a nationwide interest in community-based water management.
Driven by perpetually rising demand for energy, more than 100 countries including India have enacted policies and programmes for harnessing solar energy. The achievements, however, have been mixed so far. This review provides the practitioner perspective and reviews the progress made in development of solar energy in Thar desert, Rajasthan— …
Till a few years ago, women of Bisha Bedi village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district hardly slept at night. Throbbing pain in the neck and the back kept them awake till early morning. It was caused by fetching water over long distances. “We used to wake up at four in the …
Everyone knows about Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and, now, Fukushima. But what about Semipalatinsk, Palomares and Kyshtym? The world is full of nuclear disaster zones -- showing just how dangerous the technology really is. http://www.firstpeoplesfirst.in/admin/pdf/74_Atomic%20Deserts.pdf
Illegal hunting and inadequate resources available to the Wildlife Department are threatening the existence of `chinakara`, a beautiful antelope species of Indian gazelle or in Thar desert. Frequent droughts and loss of habitats are other problems the endangered species of gazelle is facing. There appears to be no well-defined conservation …
THE Great Indian Desert, Thar, is expanding, swallowing and degrading about 12,000 hectares of productive land every year. An alarmed Rajasthan government recently asked the state pollution control board to suggest how to arrest the land degradation and soil erosion. The board reviewed about 200 research papers on the impact …
