TR Foundation: For years, Deepa Newar and her neighbours lived with the fear that their livelihoods – and even their lives – might be swept away without warning. Newar and her fellow residents of Jhirpu Phulpingkatti, a village some 112 km (70 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, live perched on the bank of the

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Guardian: More than 32 million people fled their homes last year because of disasters such as floods, storms and earthquakes – 98% of displacement related to climate change. Asia and west and central Africa bore the brunt. Some 1.3 million people were displaced in rich countries, with the US particularly affected. Floods in India and

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The UNFCCC Secretariat has published a report on the technical workshop on ecosystem-based approaches for adaptation to climate change (FCC/SBSTA/2013/2), which was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 21-23 March 2013. The workshop sought to enhance parties’ and expert organizations’ understanding of ecosystem-based approaches for adaptation, share best practices and lessons learned, and identify areas for

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CGIAR: Almost 40 years ago, Revelle and Lakshminarayana (1975) coined the term “Ganges Water Machine” trying to find a solution to the fundamental problem of land and water development in the Ganges, where 80% of the monsoon-driven river flow occurs during 4 months from July to October. The dry-season flow of the Ganges in the

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Earthtimes: The University of Oxford’s Alexander Otto and the old Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)have stirred and issued a prediction about climate, based on how the earth is currently warming. Unfortunately, since the IPCC last said anything, people have realised that trends are accelerating and the future will probably have more pollutants than at

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Euresia Review: How will rainfall patterns across the tropical Indian and Pacific regions change in a future warming world? Climate models generally suggest that the tropics as a whole will get wetter, but the models don’t always agree on where rainfall patterns will shift in particular regions within the tropics. A new study, published online

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SMH: Sea levels may rise as much as 69 centimeters through 2100 as water temperatures rise, glaciers melt in the Andes and Himalayas and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica shed water, European scientists said. The new estimate exceeds a previous forecast of as much as 59 centimeters by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on

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BBC: More than half of common plant species and a third of animals could see a serious decline in their habitat range because of climate change. New research suggests that biodiversity around the globe will be significantly impacted if temperatures rise more than 2C. But the scientists say that the losses can be reduced if

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The Nations: This is the fourth year in a row that the once famous apple crop of the Murree area has been decimated by what can only be called ‘Hairdryer winds’ – just when the blossom fades and fruit is trying to set during the last half of April: these persistent, hot, dry winds –

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Himalayan Times: Climate change has always remained as one of the hot topics of discussion amongst the environmentalists, governments, policymakers as well as other bodies concerned. As per Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increase in global average air and ocean

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What does successful adaptation look like? This is a question frequently asked by planners, policy makers and other professionals charged with the task of developing and implementing adaptation strategies. While adaptation is increasingly recognized as an important climate risk management strategy, and on-the-ground adaptation planning activity is becoming more common-place, there is no clear guidance

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World Bank: Climate Change Cutting Crop Production in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by over 25 Percent unless Action Is Taken Now. In parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, climate change is poised to hamper food production and curb rural incomes over the next decades unless farmers get the help they need through improved

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An amendment to the old treaty between the US and Mexico promises to bring back life to the dry Colorado delta. ‘Minute 319’, apart from sending water down the river and restoring the native habitat, also calls for more water sharing between the two countries, writes Henry Fountain. German Munoz looked out at the river

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ACT Alliance members from eight Asian countries met last week in Nepal to share their experiences and develop strategies on how to better influence governments to address climate change. Some of the countries that suffer the most visible and tangible immediate effects of climate change are located in Asia. Foezullah from ACT Bangladesh explains that

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Science Daily: A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Edward L. Webb of the National University of Singapore (NUS) is calling for the global adoption of a method to identify areas that are vulnerable to sea-level rise. The method, which utilises a simple, low-cost tool, is financially and technically accessible to every country with

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Himalayan Times: Reducing green house emission is indispensable for attaining sustainable economic growth, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report has pointed out. The report on green house gas emission of South Asian countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal, prepared recently has mentioned that negative impact has been made in economic growth by

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PIB: There is no clear cause and effect established between global warming and excessive rains and floods. Monsoon rainfall varies on different spatial and temporal scales. Extreme rainfall events that occur at some isolated places (viz. heavy rainfall over Mumbai or in Rajasthan) are highly localized and are part of the natural variability of the

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The Atlantic: Government officials say it’s been caused by statistical inaccuracies and climate change. But is that the whole story? As recently as 20 years ago, there were an estimated 50,000 rivers in China, each covering a flow area of at least 60 square miles. But now, according to China’s First National Census of Water,

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Skeptical Science: Skeptic Argument: Climate is always changing. We have had ice ages and warmer periods when alligators were found in Spitzbergen. Ice ages have occurred in a hundred thousand year cycle for the last 700 thousand years, and there have been previous periods that appear to have been warmer than the present despite CO2

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Aljazeera: Government attempts a new insurance scheme to protect farmers from floods and other worsening weather problems. After five consecutive dry winters, Abdul Qadeer was jubilant at the prospect of a plentiful harvest of wheat after December rains soaked his farmland. But the 39-year-old farmer’s hopes were destroyed last month by torrential spring rains and

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CNN: They may be small and live in some of the most inaccessible regions on the planet, but the behaviour of Antarctic clams could be key to understanding how ocean life adapts to changes in climate. Antarctic clams (Laternula elliptica) play a vital role in the ocean ecosystem, drawing down carbon into sea-bed sediments and

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WRI: Indian cities are urbanizing at an unprecedented scale and pace. Over the next few decades, India’s urban population is expected to increase significantly, from 377 million in 2011 to 590 million by 2030. The problem is that the country’s existing urban transport infrastructure is already over-capacity. This fact–coupled with the alarmingly high rate of

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Alertnet: Pakistan’s government has boosted the funding of a state institution that researches the impacts of climate change, and granted it autonomy, in an effort to increase the quality of its recommendations on climate resilience for government policy and programmes. The Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC) will focus on research aimed at helping sectors

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Guardian: World is unprepared for changes that will see parts of Africa turned into disaster areas, say food experts. Millions of people could become destitute in Africa and Asia as staple foods more than double in price by 2050 as a result of extreme temperatures, floods and droughts that will transform the way the world

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CDKN: Dr. Govinda Nepal, IDS-Nepal, reflects at the half way point of a project in Nepal which is calculating the economic cost of climate change in key sectors on what the team has learnt so far Which climate risk screening tool is the most appropriate for Nepal? What questions does an Investment and Financial Flow

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NRDC: I found it quite interesting that an Indian city should have a proper ‘action plan’ to tackle the effects of changing climate patterns that have resulted in some severe summer temperatures in the last decade. Living in India, the action plans by city or state administrations we have mostly seen are: close schools and

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My Republica: Despite having been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, Nepal was not among the first group of countries to write a National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)—a prerequisite for accessing international support for climate intervention. It stands 44th among the 47 LDCs that prepared a NAPA and submitted

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Scidev.net: Scientists in Saudi Arabia say that by the end of 2050 parts of the country will be hotter and have reduced precipitation, which could affect agricultural productivity. The work was published in February’s issue of the Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering. [1] It predicts that average temperatures in Saudi Arabia could increase by

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Reuters: Climate change could get worse quickly if huge amounts of extra heat absorbed by the oceans are released back into the air, scientists said after unveiling new research showing that oceans have helped mitigate the effects of warming since 2000. Heat-trapping gases are being emitted into the atmosphere faster than ever, and the 10

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Telegraph India: World Bank, which is funding a $150-million project on integrated flood and erosion management in the Northeast, has called for a multi-sector approach towards management of water resources in the Brahmaputra basin. The bank’s suggestion is meant to ensure that the states involved benefit from the risks and opportunities associated with a multi-sector

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Asian Scientist: Temperatures in South-East Asia’s Lower Mekong Basin are set to rise by up to three times the global average temperature increase, according to a USAID-funded study. By Alexander Hotz – Temperatures in South-East Asia’s Lower Mekong Basin are set to rise by up to three times the global average temperature increase, according to

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EBA: The government of Nepal, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) jointly launched the ‘Ecosystem based Adaptation in mountain ecosystem in Nepal (EbA)’ Project on the 16th August 2012. The project aims at implementing an emerging approach to help people to adapt to

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Life had been good for Sunyali Majhi, a farmer in Dolalghat, a small village about 50 kilometres from landlocked Nepal’s Kathmandu. She harvested enough rice to sell and feed her brood at home. But the portions have been getting smaller, the financial squeeze tighter. In the shade of a Peopaal tree, Sunyali and her children

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BioOne: This comprehensive textbook on upland management in the British Isles combines a critical understanding of upland agriculture and related environmental issues with an assessment of the political decisions that have affected these regions over the past 50 years. Lois Mansfield, an agricultural geographer, has delivered this well, in a detailed and well-illustrated textbook suitable for

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BioOne: The Hindu Kush–Himalayan (HKH) region encompasses a mountainous area of more than 4,192,000 km2 in the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The region is one of the most dynamic, fragile, and complex mountain systems in the world as a result of tectonic activity and the rich diversity of climates,

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CNN: Australia’s recent experience of more fierce and frequent floods, fires and droughts is likely only to intensify, a report says, unless the world moves fast to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. Australians have received a stark warning that climate change is already increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather, posing serious and growing

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Alertnet: In Nambeyo village in Kenya’s semi-arid Isiolo County, former pastoralist Joseph Elila and his wife Pauline are busy threshing sorghum to remove the grain from the stalks. The couple has been converted into smallholder dry-land farmers after they lost their entire animal stock to cattle rustlers two years ago. The area is well known

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Discovery: Something strange is happening on the Isle of Rum in Scotland. The wild goats in this nature preserve usually struggle to survive in the north. Now they’re poised to take over. Normally the goats on the island find themselves up against short daylight hours, cold temperatures, and increasingly poor quality vegetation to eat, Harriet

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USAID: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg and Bangladesh’s Minister of Environment and Forests Dr. Hasan Mahmud jointly announced the launch of the new USAID Climate-Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CREL) program.  U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, Dan Mozena and USAID Bangladesh Mission Director, Richard Greene also attended the launch. Since 1998, USAID has worked with the

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The Daily Beast: Welcome to a warmer, wilder world! We need to stop debating and start accepting that climate change is happening. Eugene Linden on how adaptation and market forces (hint: insurance companies) might temper the coming catastrophe. To paraphrase Hemingway, climate change first comes gradually and then all at once. Now that the negative

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The first Swiss development experts arrived in Peru half a century ago, beginning a fruitful and multifaceted partnership. In late 2011, SDC brought traditional bilateral cooperation to a close and transferred on-going projects to its local partners. In the future, Peru will actively participate in a number of SDC global programmes, particularly in the area

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CNN: Researchers say they have found a clear link between climate change and the spread of diarrhoea and similar diseases in one African country. But the nature of the link may be unexpected. Diarrhoea, which kills 1.5 million children annually, is likely to become more prevalent in many developing countries as the climate changes, a

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Alertnet: Leading climate scientists in Pakistan have called for the development of high-temperature-tolerant, climate-resilient, genetically modified crops and the construction of huge water reservoirs to mitigate the effects of climate change. Speaking after the launch of Pakistan’s National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) last month, Ashfaq Ahmad Chattha warned that rising temperatures due to climate change

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Nature: The vulnerable north eastern states of India — which bear a significant brunt of the global climate change phenomena — have finally got some serious attention from climate scientists. The eight states, least studied so far, have been thoroughly analysed over a 34-year period in a new study.1 Based on the trends observed from

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Scidev.Net: With extra funding and empowering legislation Pakistan’s autonomous Global Climate Change Impact Centre (GCCIC) is set to take on a regional and international role in climate research. Legislation passed this month (6 March) is expected to transform the GCCIC into a centre capable of providing data for decision making and formulating policy in areas

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WWF: Coordination Group of the Summit for a Living Himalayas (SLH) comprising of delegates from four countries (India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh) met again on 23 February 2013. For the WWF LHGI, decisions taken by this Group in this meeting are a big step towards large scale regional action in the Eastern Himalayas. For the

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Preventionweb: Representatives of UN agencies, funds and programmes completed an action plan this week that will accelerate the integration of disaster risk reduction into all UN country level operations in response to the rising levels of disruption to millions of lives each year from disasters. The United Nations Plan of Action Plan on Disaster Risk

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IRIN: When asked what resilience means, the head of city planning for the Philippines’ second largest city, Davao, said that for Filipinos it means how high floodwater reaches before they agree to be evacuated. “In our most recent flooding, that level was chest-high,” said Roberto Alabado III, referring to flooding in mid-January that affected thousands

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UNFCCC: Developing countries are forecast to represent over 60% of global GDP by 2030.  However, given growing environmental and resource challenges such as climate change and water security, the imperative for shifting development onto a resource-efficient growth pathway is increasingly clear. Governments can use strategically targeted public monies and policies to address the risks faced

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USA Today:Weathering the change. Human activities are affecting the Earth’s climate and warming the atmosphere and oceans in ways that cannot be explained just by nature. A look at how the Earth’s climate has changed. More American children are getting asthma and allergies, and more seniors are suffering heat strokes. Food and utility prices are

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Climate Central: One of the Climate News Network’s editors, Kieran Cooke, was among a group of journalists recently investigating the impact of climate change in Nepal and the Himalayas. In the last of his reports from the region he describes the difficulties of establishing why so many of Nepal’s glaciers appear to be shrinking. Mohan

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Dawn: Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that no country — whether rich or poor — can escape from the impacts of climate-related disasters. Hurricane Sandy, a late-season cyclone, swept through the Caribbean and up the East Coast of the United States in late October 2012, leaving dozens dead, thousands homeless and millions without power.

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Times of India: GitaDevi of Kullu used to routinely visit apple orchards and jungles every morning, collect some guchhi ( morel mushroom, also known as common morel, morel or yellow morel) and leave it to dry near the tandoor and sell it for high prices to traders at her doorstep. She used to earn good

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The Tribune: The state of compilation of environmental data in Pakistan remained extremely poor, but with the introduction of the $2.1 million National Environment Information Management System (NEIMS), things might improve. The NEIM, a collaborative project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the climate change ministry, with the support from the Netherlands government,

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Preeti Soni, Advisor (Climate Change), UNDP India, talks to OneWorld South Asia, on the sidelines of an international conference held in New Delhi earlier this month. OneWorld South Asia: How do the challenges brought by climate change present an opportunity for better management of natural resources in India? Preeti Soni: Climate change is of course

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Project Syndication: Of all major world regions, Europe has worked the hardest to implement policies aimed at countering human-caused climate change. Yet the cornerstone of Europe’s approach – a continent-wide emissions trading system for the greenhouse gases that cause climate change – is in trouble. That experience suggests a better strategy for both Europe and

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MNSBC: When the next Hurricane Sandy hits New York City, Wall Street will be prepared. According to a Monday report in The New York Times, the landlords for some of the city’s ritziest office spaces have shelled out millions of dollars to upgrade electrical systems, install floodgates, and generally make their buildings resilient to what have become

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Times of India: Popular for its sweetness, apples produced in the Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh are now gradually losing their taste and even turning sour as a result of climate change. With the weather becoming erratic and a clear variation in temperature, snowfall and rainfall pattern being recorded, apple crops are no more getting

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ICIMOD: The Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) is a mountain system of extremes with great influence over the Asian continent. The system stretches 3,500 km over eight countries, from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. It is the world’s largest and highest mountain system, with more than 30 peaks measuring over 7,600 m.

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Nepal Times: Eastern Nepal’s model township is on its way to becoming the country’s first Green City. Nepal’s easternmost district of Ilam is known for its diligent citizens and scenic tea gardens, but it is also showing the way about how towns can be cleaner and greener with community participation and competent leadership. The main

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