The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
South Asian emissions of fossil fuel SO2 and black carbon increased 6-fold since 1930, resulting in large atmospheric concentrations of black carbon and other aerosols. This period also witnessed strong negative trends of surface solar radiation, surface evaporation, and summer monsoon rainfall. These changes over India were accompanied by an …
Concentrations of trace metals in the flesh of nine fish species commonly found in commercial catches of a hydro-power reservoir in Sri Lanka (Victoria) were detected using the Neutron Activation Technique. High concentrations of Al (37.8 - 208.0 μg•g-1 dry wt.) and Rb (20.90 - 70.75 μg•g-1 dry wt.) were …
This paper builds an analytical and practical framework for using resources more effectively by making services work for poor people. It focuses on services that have the most direct link with human development – education, health, water, sanitation and electricity – and uses examples of service delivery from India, elsewhere …
Flood hazard is one of the most severe problems in the Himalayan river basins. Although floods are essentially hydrological phenomenon, the uneven distribution of floods in the river basin highlights the control of geomorphological and geological factors. A proper understanding of these factors is critical for a successful flood management …
The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) was sponsored by research agencies within Europe, India and USA, and was mainly concerned with the haze over south Asia and the adjacent Indian Ocean. It excluded other equally or even more polluted areas in Asia. The Asian Brown Cloud is a follow on international …
The objective of the IPM policy is to enable farmers to grow healthy crops in an increased manner and thereby increase their income on a sustainable basis while improving the environment and community health.
Every year, from December to April, anthropogenic haze spreads over most of the North Indian Ocean, and South and Southeast Asia. The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) documented this Indo-Asian haze at scales ranging from individual particles to its contribution to the regional climate forcing. This study integrates the multiplatform observations …
Oral cancer is the second most common cancer in women and the third most common in men in Pakistan. Tobacco is smoked and chewed extensively in Pakistan. Paan is a quid of piper betel leaf that contains areca nut, lime, condiment, sweeteners, and sometimes tobacco, which is also used extensively. …
This report is the outcome of the South Asian Regional Review of Community Involvement in Wildlife Management. This was conducted as part of a global series of regional reviews for the IIED's project "Evaluation Eden: Assessing the Impacts of Community Wildlife Management". This report provides an ecological and socio-economic profile …
The evolution of groundwater quality at a wet zone in Sri Lanka was made clear using field investigation, chemical and isotopic analyses methods. In the wet zone, the concentrations of major ions and electrical conductivity (EC) in the groundwater are low with small seasonal change. Except for sodium, silica and …
Melting Himalayan glaciers are threatening to unleash a torrent of floods into mountain valleys, and ultimately dry up rivers across South Asia. A new study, due to be presented in July to the International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI), predicts that most of the glaciers in the region will …
The Seeds Rules provides for the institution of the National Seeds Board, its function and tasks and all the related procedures dealing with: the registration of seed varieties; the Seeds Dealers; the classification of seeds and their sources; the procedures for certification and related fees; the contents of labels on …
Global climate change is today a spectre which allows for no ostriches. Scientific data is piling up to indict human activity as the source of the current phase of warming. The debate is whether the affluent North or the developing South has been more responsible and who will be polluting …
In the past decade there has been extensive research into tropical intraseasonal variability, one of the major components of the low frequency variability of the general atmospheric circulation. This paper briefly reviews the state-of-the-art in this research area: the nature of the Madden-Julian Oscillation, its relation to monsoonal and extratropical …
The Kandy lake, situated in the heart of Sri Lanka's second largest city with a population of nearly 120,000, has been monitored to probe the extent of heavy metal pollution. Although the lake is a source of drinking water to the city, a large number of effluent canals drain into …
The mid-canal of Kandy, a 8-km effluent canal that runs through the city, collects massive quantities of domestic, municipal, and agricultural waste products. In this study, 37 samples from canal water and 13 from nearby drinking water wells were analyzed for their total Pb, Cd, V, Fe, and ferrous ion …
Brief studies of microearthquakes in four separate parts of eastern Afghanistan reveal a high level of seismicity over a broad area. In general, the activity is not concentrated on well-defined faults, nor does it define new faults, but seismicity on or close to the Chainart and Sarubi faults attests to …
Only half of the subsidy paid by the central government so far, laments the educational institute. The system is not grid-interactive yet since there is no regulation on feeding electricity into the grid The Radhasaomi Satsang in Dayalbagh is a spiritual center with a university campus (Dayalbagh Educational Institue), residential …
Indian top negotiator, R R Rashmi said yesterday at a side event we had organized on equity in climate negotiations that they could not use the word ‘equity’ in the final Durban Platform document because of the aversion to that word of a particular country. He said that they had …
