The HKH Snow Update 2025 highlights a significant decline in seasonal snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with snow persistence 23.6% below normal — the lowest in 23 years. This trend, now in its third consecutive year, threatens water security for nearly two billion people. All twelve major river …
This paper presents the first Indo-French Prehistorical Mission in the Himalayan foothills, northwestern India, and introduces the results of the multidisciplinary research program “Siwaliks” under the patronage of Professor Yves Coppens, from the Collège de France and Académie des Sciences, France. This program is dedicated to the discovery of cut …
A new bird species has been found in India and it has been named after India's noted ornithologist and conservationist Salim Ali. The Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii was found by a group of researchers in the Himalayan forests in 2009. The researchers from India, along with those from China …
Precipitation associated with the South Asian summer monsoon has decreased by approximately 7% since 1950, but the reasons for this are unclear. Now research suggests that changes in land-cover patterns and increased emissions from human activities have contributed to this weakening, which is expected to continue in the coming decades.
The Union home ministry's disaster management experts have warned of a bigger catastrophe, earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.2 or greater on the Richter scale which may hit the already ruptured Himalayan region. They say quakes with higher intensity than the one that struck Manipur on Monday are likely to …
Using Landsat data at decadal interval (1980-2013), the glacier fluctuations (glacier area, equilibrium line altitude and specific mass balance) of nine benchmark glaciers in Kashmir Himalaya was estimated. The observed changes were related with topographic and climatic variables in order to understand their influence. From the data analysis, it was …
The report compares different aspects of the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) such as the climate profile, vulnerability assessments, sector-wise climate change strategies and climate change action plans in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). It also examines SAPCCs in relation to the National Missions under the National Action …
The report examines the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) in detail and explores its linkages with the Himalayan State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs). The report also seeks to answer a key question – How much scope there is for the states in the Indian Himalayan …
The cackle and cry of Kashmir’s annual bird migration has long been a welcome ruckus for those living in the Indian-controlled Himalayan territory. It signals the summer’s end, the coming snows and the global importance of Kashmir’s environment for species arriving from as far as northern Europe and Japan. But …
DEHRADUN: Scientists in the hills state have disagreed with environment minister Prakash Javadekar who told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that 87% of Himalayan glaciers, according to a study, were stable since 2001. Experts said, contrary to the minister's claims, most of the total 968 glaciers in the region, were …
As many as 248 of 2,018 or 12.3% of Himalayan glaciers are "retreating" while 18 are advancing, environment minister, Prakash Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha on Monday in a written reply. The minister's reply, however, also revealed that a majority or about 86% of glaciers have remaned stable. The minister …
The first atlas of its kind, this new publication offers a comprehensive, regional understanding of the changing climate and its impact on water resources in five of the major river basins in the region: the Indus, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Salween and Mekong. The atlas shows clearly that the region’s climate, which …
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Impact of Climate Change in Himalayas, 01/12/2015. Under the Himalayan Glaciological Programme sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, studies related to mass balance, hydrometeorology, glacier dynamics, glacier length/area changes and climate studies of the Himalayan glaciers are being carried …
Scientists are warning that superglacial ponds like this one are expanding to form lakes Lakes that have been forming near Mount Everest could threaten settlements downstream if they overflow. Ponds on the surface of the Khumbu glacier in the Himalayas have expanded and joined together to form larger bodies of …
In the present study, the strong motion data of the 4 April 2011 western Nepal earthquake (M 5.7) recorded by a dense network of 24 strong motion accelerograph stations have been used to estimate horizontal and vertical component of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) to better understand its bearing on …
The glaciers in the Himalayas are melting fast, agricultural heartland is drying up and the national capital New Delhi is choking on the world's filthiest air. Global warming is already changing the face of rapidly developing India, predicted to become the world's most populous, overtaking China, in less than a …
AHMEDABAD: Scientists from NASA and ISRO would be part of a special outreach programme organized at Gujarat Science City on Monday where the experts would talk about a joint mission Nasa and Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) along with satellites for disaster response, India-US space collaboration, climate change observations in …
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals penetrate through the dry snow and cloud providing crucial data over the Himalayan temperate glaciers and complement the optical images. In the present study, RISAT- 1 C band and AWiFS images of winter/ablation period over Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath moraine dammed lakes (MDLs) in …
NEW DELHI: A startling new report by Nasa scientists suggests that the Antarctic ice sheet may actually be expanding, growing every year, despite a warming globe! This is in direct conflict to the prevailing notions, which suggested that the ice was melting fast as global warming and climate change was …
A five-day international symposium on ‘Transforming Mountain Forestry’ was held in Dehradun, India from 18 to 22 January 2015 to explore options for sustainable forest management practices and policies that address the changing conditions in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH). The symposium was jointly organized by India’s Ministry of Environment, …
This book seeks to capture the leasehold forestry experience, with a special focus on the Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme, which has been a critical part of the leasehold forestry experience in Nepal. It will describe the origins and evolution of the various leasehold forestry programmes and projects that have …
