Short affidavit on behalf of the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) in terms of the National Green Tribunal order dated January 22, 2025. The application was registered suo motu by the NGT on the basis of a news item titled "Toxic kilns pollution Aravallis; wildlife and locals suffer" appearing …
Uncontrolled biomass burning in Indonesia during drought periods damages the landscape, degrades regional air quality, and acts as a disproportionately large source of greenhouse gas emissions. The expansion of forest fires is mostly observed in October in Sumatra favored by persistent droughts during the dry season from June to November. …
AHMEDABAD: The average annual minimum temperature in Gujarat is increasing by 0.02 degree celsius every year, while the maximum temperature is also increasing at the same rate. This was revealed in the 'State-Level Climate Change Trends in India' report of India Meteorological Department (IMD). The study was carried out by …
For evaluating climate change impacts on biodiversity, extensive experiments are urgently needed to complement popular non-mechanistic models which map future ecosystem properties onto their current climatic niche. Here, we experimentally test the main prediction of these models by means of a novel multi-site approach. We implement rainfall manipulations—irrigation and drought—to …
JAIPUR: The arid regions of Rajasthan are the worst sufferer of climatic changes, according to Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur. Eleven districts in this zone have seen a rise in surface heating, reduction in rainfall, change in crop pattern and low milk productivity of livestock. The inference emerged …
POKHARA: Inhabitants of two villages in the mountain district of Mustang have abandoned their homes and migrated to lower regions, thanks to climate change. With rapidly increasing temperatures in the region, sources of water have dried up in Samjung and Ghey villages of the district, compelling people to find a …
Based on 56 rainfall stations, which cover the period 1961–2008, we analyzed the presence of trends in the drought-affected area over southern South America (SSA) at different time scales. In order to define drought conditions, we used the standardized precipitation index, which was calculated on time scales of 1, 3, …
Daily rainfall totals are analyzed for the main agro-climatic zones of Sri Lanka for the period 1976–2006. The emphasis is on daily rainfall rather than on longer-period totals, in particular the number of daily falls exceeding given threshold totals. For one station (Mapalana), where a complete daily series is available …
Rainfall improving in Latin America, with dryness ongoing in parts of West Africa and Ethiopia according to Global Weather Hazards Summary (September 26 - October 2, 2014).
The strong present-day Asian monsoons are thought to have originated between 25 and 22 million years (Myr) ago, driven by Tibetan–Himalayan uplift. However, the existence of older Asian monsoons and their response to enhanced greenhouse conditions such as those in the Eocene period (55–34 Myr ago) are unknown because of …
Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long-term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS-ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. Within very …
In this study we implement and evaluate a simple 'hybrid' forecast approach that uses constructed analogs (CA) to improve the National Multi-Model Ensemble's (NMME) March–April–May (MAM) precipitation forecasts over equatorial eastern Africa (hereafter referred to as EA, 2°S to 8°N and 36°E to 46°E). Due to recent declines in MAM …
The evidence for anthropogenic climate change continues to strengthen, and concerns about severe weather events are increasing. As a result, scientific interest is rapidly shifting from detection and attribution of global climate change to prediction of its impacts at the regional scale. However, nearly everything we have any confidence in …
It is widely believed that the Sahara desert is no more than ~2–3 million years (Myr) old, with geological evidence showing a remarkable aridification of north Africa at the onset of the Quaternary ice ages. Before that time, north African aridity was mainly controlled by the African summer monsoon (ASM), …
Frontal convection (FC) and diurnal convection (DC) are the two most frequently observed weather systems affecting the pre-summer (May and June, MJ) rainfall formation over Taiwan and Southeast China. Focusing on the time period of 1982–2012 MJ months, this study found that the occurrence frequency of FC has declined, but …
World is running out of space and time and it is high time to raise ambition and take actual action to reduce carbon emission said Sunita Narain, the director general of the Centre for Science and Environment. The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) and The Forum of Environmental Journalists in …
Recent studies have pointed out an increased warming over the Indian Ocean warm pool (the central-eastern Indian Ocean characterized by sea surface temperatures greater than 28.08C) during the past half-century, although the reasons behind this monotonous warming are still debated. The results here reveal a larger picture—namely, that the western …
The devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir could be a manifestation of extreme weather events induced by climate change, the Centre for Science and Environment said Wednesday. Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, said the calamities in Mumbai (2005), Leh (2010), Uttarakhand (2013) and now Jammu and Kashmir show a …
Changing rainfall pattern part of a trend: Centre for Science & Environment The worst floods in Jammu and Kashmir in the past 60 years and the subsequent devastation are due to a combination of unprecedented and intense rain, mismanagement, unplanned urbanisation and a lack of preparedness, Sunita Narain, director-general, Centre …
Environmentalists have termed the Jammu and Kashmir disaster as a “grim reminder of increasing impact of climate change in India” and warned of more such extreme rainfall events in the years to come. Pointing towards the recent extreme events to impact the country — Uttarakhand flash floods (2013), Leh cloudburst …
Environmental think tank the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Wednesday blamed the flood crisis on badly planned development, mismanagement of the drainage system and an abject lack of disaster preparedness. Its director-general Sunita Narain said here the sudden massive rainfall event over Srinagar fit in to the growing …