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 …
THE book is a compilation of 42 papers contributed by social, physical and environment scientists who are working with issues that confront the Himalayas. The first three papers deal with the conceptual aspects of human ecology in relation to the environment, from the past to the present, and the effects …
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has proposed a us $25 million-plan to set up a chain of small hydel units in the Indian Himalayas in a bid to wean the local population away from their dependence on forest resources for energy needs. Around 20 units are to be set …
Two black Himalayan bears that were caught in traps in Bhutan's Begana and Yoesipang region were released into the forest by team of forestry officials. Officials said that a small male bear which was caught in a crude wire trap in Begana, had its right paw injured. In another incident, …
On the major problems besieging the Himalaya: Mountain regions the world over have been neglected. The Himalaya face a major water crisis. In spite of housing the source of three major river systems, the resource is scarce in the hills. The other issue is irrigation. Less than 10 per cent …
global warming is set to make a horrifying mark on the high altitudes. While climate changes are taking a toll on the giant glaciers on the Himalaya by melting them, they are threatening the lives of thousands of native people and a host of rare animal species. The melting glaciers …
The Nepalese minister of forest and soil conservation, Rameshwor R Yadav, recently said that the government was committed towards protecting the Kanchenjunga region by AD 2000, as part of the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) programme. "I appreciate the efforts of all conservation organisations in Nepal for their active …
GIVEN the almost explosive interest in and proliferation of environment-related documentaries in India in recent times, it is perhaps possible now to explore a defmition of the niche or slot itself. Are environment-related documentaries primarily about wildlife, or investigative reportage on environmental degradation, or merely doc- umentaries of ecological complexes …
to put a brake on vanishing Himalayan glaciers and shrinking snow cover, a 'Society of Indian Glaciologists' was recently proposed by eminent environmental scientists and glaciologists all over the country. The proposal was made at a two-day national symposium on 'Himalayan glaciers and snow cover' in New Delhi in early …
LANTANA CAMARA, a terror for cultivators, will finally see some use. Not only a menace in areas where the soil is fertile, the weed is equally at home in poor soils. Its seeds are disseminated widely by birds and have a high rate of germination. Moreover, Lantana is highly adaptable …
the hilly regions of the central Himalaya are facing problems in the storage of sufficient water, especially during summers, for drinking and irrigation purposes. The eight hill districts of Uttar Pradesh (up), spread over 51,000 sq km, have a population of approximately five million, for whom the water resources have …
the Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana), a rare tree found in the Himalayan foothills, is fast disappearing because of largescale illegal felling for an anti-cancer drug made from its leaves and bark. The tree parts are allegedly smuggled to laboratories in the us, Germany and other Western countries involved in research …
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.
geologists , earth scientists and earthquake engineers from all over the country gathered at Shimla on October 14-15 for an interaction meet on natural hazards and their mitigation in Himachal Pradesh ( hp ). The meet was organised by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun, and the hp …
Beneath the lofty Himalayan ranges lie extremely hot and radioactive rocks, the origin of which has remained a point of debate among geologists for years now. Recently, Audrey Huerta, a geophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, offered yet another explanation. She suggests that these rocks originally …
TODAY, the so-called highly developed countries are focussing their attention on traditional knowledge. On one hand, we are thinking of inhabiting the moon and on the other hand, there is a growing emphasis on the conservation of natural resources and cultures, on natural farming, traditional forest management, cropping, ecotourism and …
The Himalayan mountains constitute an ecological system naturally primed for disaster. The deep gorges through which the Himalayan rivers flow convey the impression that the Himalayan valleys would never face floods. Yet these very channels often fail to contain the fury of disastrous floods. Among the most affected valleys are …
"LARGE parts of Uttarakhand now lie denuded ... the whole region is turning into a desert. If this trend continues for another 50 years, it will become impossible to save the Himalaya from total collapse," environmental activist Chandi Prasad Batt had said at a public rally in 1980. One could …
