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 …
Tall pines enveloping the mountains, is the image most commonly conjured up when one talks of the Himalayas. Few, however, know that many of these conifers are in fact forced entries and largely responsible for the fragile state of the mountains. Before the British entry into India, the Himalayan forests …
india can expect one or more devastating earthquakes in the near future, predict researchers from the University of Colorado, usa. An analysis of the shifting Indian subcontinent reveals enormous pent-up strain along most of the 1,200-km arc where it slides under the Himalaya and beyond the Tibetan plateau. The researchers …
the Himalayan state of Sikkim is a paradise for nature lovers. It is also thronged by those who want to exploit the area's biodiversity for financial gains. Two Russians were arrested on July 30, 2001, for illegally collecting insects in large quantity from the remote Yuksam forest of the Kanchenjunga …
Latest NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) satellite maps reveal that most of the world's glaciers are shrinking. Rick Wessels of the US Geographical Survey, based in Arizona, compared thousands of satellite images to aerial photographs dating back 20 years and found almost every mountain glacier in Patagonia, the Himalayas, …
The Himalayan newt, also called the Indian salamander, takes shelter among bamboo stumps in and around the hills of Darjeeling. It lives close to calm and still waters. During the monsoons, it feeds on algae, water beetles and bugs. After the showers, it leaps down on insect larvae, snails, slugs …
The magic of the Himalaya is heady. It has led many researchers and travelers to record their impression of this mountain range. Himalaya : Life on the edge of the world, is one such labour of love by David Zurick and PP Karan both professors of geography at the Eastern …
although the importance of Himalaya-Karakoram as the largest storehouse of fresh water in the lower latitudes, and the important role of their snow and ice in maintaining the flows of the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra during the lean period was well perceived and understood since ancient times, scientific …
the g b Pant Institute for Himalayan Biodiversity and Development at Kosi-Katarmal, near Almora, Uttaranchal, had recently organised a three-day national workshop to define a action plan for sustainable biodiversity development. The issues discussed included the need to make a list of Himalyan floral as well as faunal biodiversity, to …
In the little village of Pubong Fatak, 13 km from Darjeeling in West Bengal, sits Phul Bahadur, 97, weaving baskets to earn his living. He wears thick glasses tied to a rubber band around his head. On his wrinkled wrist is a Seiko watch that stopped functioning 20 years ago. …
this is more evidence to prove that the Earth is warming up. Ancient ice cores drilled from deep inside Himalayan glaciers reveal that the last century has been the hottest period in past 1,000 years and the last decade has been the hottest ever. The drilling has yielded a highly-detailed …
In 1990, senior government officials gathered at Paro to draft broad parameters for the country’s development agenda. The conclusion was the “Paro Resolution on Environment and Sustainable Development”, a statement that redefined sustainability in the Bhutanese context. It read as, “The capacity and the political will to effectively address today’s …
With modernisation has come the pressure on the forests. Though almost three-fourths of the country is still covered by dense foliage, the demands from a growing population can put unprecedented demands on them. Be it for construction, fuelwood consumption, infrastructure development, it cannot be underestimated. At the same time, 60 …
T he challenges that Bhutan is faced with are indeed daring, but rather than taking corrective measures, one cannot deny the fact that the government is taking proactive steps to mitigate the evils of development. For instance, air pollution. Though not of the proportion Indian metros like New Delhi are …
On the road to destiny The tradition-bound Himalayan kingdom readies itself to brace modernism In 1958, when the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, went to Bhutan on a state visit, the only way he could reach the capital Thimpu was over land. He demanded to be met at the …
massive flash floods in the Sutlej river have left a trail of destruction in the Shimla, Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur districts of Himachal Pradesh. At least 150 people are reported to have been killed and several crore of rupees worth of property damaged in what is being seen as the …
Military forces and destructive weapons system stationed in and around the Himalayan range in Tibet has posed a grave threat to the region's ecology. "The destruction of ecology has progressed hand-in-hand with militarisation and consequent nuclearisation of Tibet,' says Dawa Norbu, a professor of international studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru …
recently, the world has witnessed an upsurge of events on biodiversity-related issues. Existing trends of depletion of natural resources, the steady loss of a number of important biodiversity elements and the alarming rate of population growth
did early spring in Kargil help the Pakistan-backed intruders occupy strategic heights on the Indian side of the Line of Control ( loc )? Some experts believe so. The first signs of Pakistani intrusion became known on May 14 at Kaksar. Lt Gen Satish Nambiar, director of the United Services …
