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 …
Some glaciers in the Himalayas mountain range have gained a small amount of mass between 1999 and 2008. Some glaciers in the Himalayas mountain range have gained a small amount of mass between 1999 and 2008, new research shows, bucking the global trend of glacial decline. The study published on …
Some glaciers in the Himalayas mountain range have gained a small amount of mass between 1999 and 2008, new research shows, bucking the global trend of glacial decline. The study published on Sunday in the Nature Geoscience journal also said the Karakoram mountain range in the Himalayas has contributed less …
The alarming increase in global warming and unusual climatic shift have mainly triggered the recent natural disasters in South Asia, including Pakistan, as 97 percent of the world’s total floods during the last decade occurred in this region, a media sensitising workshop on the effects of climate change observed on …
At least 52 glacial lakes in Gilgit and Astore districts have been identified as ‘potentially dangerous’ by a project sponsored by the European Union and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project report titled “Managing climate risks in the Himalayas: A community-centric approach” says that in the sub-basins of Swat, …
Against the backdrop of a Supreme Court direction asking the Centre to constitute a committee for rivers inter-linking, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said before inter-basin transfer of water a variety of issues needed to be settled first. While hoping that the proposed committee under the Water …
Terming groundwater a common resource, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday advocated strong laws to regulate its extraction. He also favoured transparent and participatory pricing to prevent water misuse. “Inadequate and sub-optimal pricing of power and water are promoting misuse of groundwater,” Dr Singh said, while inaugurating the …
India's Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday said a variety of environmental, economic and technical issues need to be settled before implementation of the ambitious inter-linking of rivers. Referring to the Himalayan component of rivers inter-linking, Ahluwalia said “effective exploitation” of capacity of these rivers is critically dependent …
Pakistan's military hoped for a miracle on Sunday as rescue teams searched for 124 soldiers and 11 civilians buried by a Himalayan avalanche near the Indian border, with no sign of survivors more 24 hours later. The avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near a glacier early on Saturday, …
With the health of the world’s highest glaciers in dispute, an international team is planning a long-term campaign to measure the vital signs of the ice atop Tibet and its surrounding mountains.
A parliamentary committee in Nepal has given the go-ahead for China Three Gorges Corp.'s $1.6 billion hydroelectric-power project after the Chinese state-owned company threatened last month to pull the plug on its investment. Lawmakers had raised concerns that Nepal's government had awarded the contract without opening it up to international …
A parliamentary committee in Nepal has given the go-ahead for China Three Gorges Corp.'s $1.6 billion hydroelectric-power project after the Chinese state-owned company threatened last month to pull the plug on its investment. Lawmakers had raised concerns that Nepal's government awarded the contract without opening it up to international bidding, …
Cultural diversity is closely linked to biodiversity. The study of these interrelationships need to be studied mainly for the simple reason that culture is not only the ethical imperative for development, it is also a condition of its sustainability; for there exists a symbiotic relationship between habitats and cultures, between …
In Uttarakhand Himalaya traditional agriculture is the mere way to meet the subsistence needs of the local farming communities. In traditional system of agriculture, local seed material of traditional crop varieties plays an important role for crop production. In such a situation, the protection of seed material and its conservation …
The Regional Climate Risk Reduction Project (2009-2010), a pilot initiative from UNDP and the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, spanned across four countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region: India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan. In a limited time span of 15 months, the project worked towards generating awareness on climatic …
This publication presents 15 case studies solicited by ICIMOD during the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. ICIMOD called for case studies from the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region on initiatives dealing with mountain biodiversity, with a focus on success stories. Twenty-eight case studies were received from most countries in the …
One of the manifestations of the impact of climate change has emerged in the form of GLOF hazard – glacial lake outburst floods. With a view to strengthen GLOF risk mitigation efforts, the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), UNDP has been focusing on emerging hazards in the Himalayan …
The idea of interlinking rivers is appealing because it is so grand, but this is also the reason it is nothing more than a distraction The Supreme Court recently issued a diktat to the central government about the scheme to interlink rivers. The directions are straightforward. The government shall set …
Involving people in forest conservation is the best way to achieve the desired results. Tribal people and those residing along the ecologically sensitive forest areas should be sensitised, said S. Sasikumar, Passport Officer, Coimbatore on Sunday. Mr. Sasikumar, hailing from Tamil Nadu, is an Indian Forest Service Officer attached to …
It was a relatively minor earthquake but it left many Delhiites shaken, if not quite stirred, on Monday. An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale was recorded in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh area at 1.11pm, about 30km from the capital, causing many people to rush out of homes and offices. Fortunately, …
Tremors from what appeared to be a sizeable earthquake struck the Indian capital Monday, with the aftershocks lasting several seconds. The quake was felt at approximately 1:10 p.m. local time. A spokesman at the Earthquake Operations Center at the India Meteorological Department, based in New Delhi, attributed the tremors felt …
