Climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves. This extreme heat, compounded by wildfires and desert dust, is having a measurable impact on air quality, human health and the environment, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The 2023 WMO Air Quality and Climate …
Thar Rural Environment and Economic Society, an NGO has urged the authorities to take measures for saving trees in Thar. Directors of the NGO arranged a press conference on Wednesday for creating awareness among people to protect this valuable asset of the area. Kimatrai, Shahab and Ashok Kumar pointed out …
The erratic and heavy rainfall last year has turned a large part of the deep desert country into a vast submerged landscape. Barmer District, Thar Desert, Rajasthan has an average rainfall of 280 mm annually, but during the monsoon of 2006 it received about 600 mm of rain within 2
One of the biggest challenges in climate research is to arrive at reliable future projections. However, while there now exists a firm scientific basis and procedure for climate forecasts, numerical climate models still suffer from large uncertainties.
The hot arid regions of India in economically and environmentally disadvantaged part of the country with unique problems. These, ecosystems are highly fragile and large liabilities causing severe impediments in development programmes. Despite of hostile conditions, Indian hot arid zone are fairly well vegetated and tree species diversity perhaps much …
geologists have found that there are sudden and pronounced changes in the water level of wells in the Thar Desert before an earthquake. The observation raises the possibility of using wells to predict the seismic activity. The geologists, D Muralidharan, Rolland Andrade and U Satyanarayana of the Hyderabad-based National Geophysical …
Kheechan village on the edge of the Thar desert lies on the migration route of demoiselle cranes travelling from their breeding grounds in Eurasia to bask in India's milder winter. In late September, the first flocks take to the skies from the plateaus, steppes and wetlands of Mongolia and the …
It is quintessentially Rajasthani. But if you have the nose to find the local Marwari shopkeeper, you will find that it has travelled the length and breadth of the country along with this business community. Sangri ki phali (pods of the khejari tree; Prosopis cineraria) grows in Rajasthan but can …
rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has asked the Union government to verify newspaper reports according to which the government is planning to bury nuclear waste in Thar desert. Down To Earth (Vol 9, No 3) had reported that plans are afoot to dump radioactive waste at Sanawada village near Pokran. …
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.
IN PRESENTING the two films - Thar: Secrets of the Desert and The Village Republic - Anil Agarwal defines the basic concept of the series as studies in the organic relationship between ecology -and culture *. There is a direct link between the cultural and ecological diversity of India. In …
Dilip M Salwi, who has devoted more than 25 years to the cause of popularising science, has authored a number of science-based books for children. Among the more popular ones are Our scientists, A Passage to Antartica, Robots are Coming, Story of Zero, and Science in the 21st Century. His …
The US firm, Amoco-Enron Solar Power Development Corp of Houston, Texas, has proposed a solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plant in Rajasthan's Thar desert. The 150 mw project is estimated to cost Rs 1,000 crore (Solar Today, Vol 9, No 1). This proposal comes in the wake of a breakthrough in …
THE sight of young forests in a dry desert is a breathtaking sight. Marusthal par vijay is the story of the Haryana Forest Department's afforestation efforts to block the sinister advance of the Thar desert. The film shows how Hissar in Haryana and Jodhpur in Rajasthan sandbag off the assaults. …
THE WORST fears of the people living in the Thar Desert are coming true: Hoppers -- new-born locusts -- that could not be eliminated by pesticides, have formed mature swarms in the westernmost parts of Jaisalmer district. The locusts have now taken wing in search of green food, and havoc …
With the desert locust infesting an area of 30 million sq km in 66 countries and constantly migrating over political boundaries, multilateral contact between countries for locust control is unparalleled. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is at the hub of efforts to combat the locust -- probably the only …
A STUDY of meteorological records indicates drought has been a recurring problem in Pakistan"s Thar region. When it occurs now, it creates severe shortages of food, fodder and water, but such shortages never occurred during more serious droughts in the past. That"s because these shortages are the result of major …
TRIALS conducted in Pali, Rajasthan, indicate, that the ramkathi babul (Acacia nilolica, variety cupressiformis), indigenous to Andhra Pradesh arid Maharashtra, is an appropriate agroforestry species in and areas, according to a report in Indian Farming. (Vol 4 1 No. 11) The tree rp-sprouts when cut provides nutritious fodder and tough …
