Environmental Research Web: University of California, Berkeley, scientists are drilling into ancient sediments at the bottom of Northern California’s Clear Lake for clues that could help them better predict how today’s plants and animals will adapt to climate change and increasing population. The lake sediments are among the world’s oldest, containing records of biological change [...]
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Glaciers around the world may hold clues about how Earth’s remote ecosystems have been influenced by the industrial revolution. They capture large amounts of carbon-containing dissolved organic matter (DOM) that is later released to downstream ecosystems where it provides food for microorganisms at the base of the aquatic food web. While many scientists believe the [...]
SciDevNet: This policy brief, published by the International Project Office of the Global Water System Project and produced to inform the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), outlines how scientists and policymakers can advance water security by focusing on interdisciplinary research, and ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in developing sustainable solutions to water problems. [...]
UNDP Regional Centre: As a matter of national urgency, the Bhutanese Government – with assistance from an international climate change adaptation fund that was established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and partner organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility, the World Wildlife Fund and the Government [...]
Kuenselonline: The Wangchu river that runs through Thimphu city, Bhutan’s biggest and fastest growing urban centre, is more polluted as it passes through the main town and flows downstream, a report prepared by the National Environment Commission concludes. The report collected data between March last year and April this year, from monitoring sites set up [...]
University of Minnesota: Over the past 50 years, 60 percent of all ecosystem services have declined as a direct result of the conversion of land to the production of foods, fuels and fibers. This should come as no surprise, say seven of the world’s leading environmental scientists, who met to collectively study the pitfalls of [...]
Environmental News Network: The soils and sediments at the bottom of rivers are rich in organic material. They can store carbon for thousands of years according to a study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Despite often high rates of erosion and sediment transport, the riverbed can hold organic carbon for 500 to 17,000 [...]
Assam Tribune: The Planning Commission has accorded investment clearance to implement anti-erosion works to protect Brahmaputra dykes. This project is estimated to cost Rs 8.35 crore. The dyke works relate to 69 km (Uluberi) and 78 km (Borigaon). The proposed scheme envisages anti-erosion measures for a 9000-m long reach on the south bank of the [...]
WWF-Nepal: A five-year program to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and threats to biodiversity in Nepal, was officially launched at a ceremony in Kathmandu on 8 Nov 2011. The Hariyo Ban program is a new investment in biodiversity conservation in Nepal, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The program will [...]
Brisbane Times: Time is running out for Kashmir’s premier tourist attraction, writes Ben Doherty, in Srinagar. Through the dawn mist, Dal Lake is beautiful. As the first shafts of sunlight break over the Himalayan foothills that hug the lake’s perimeter, the still waters are slowly brought alive by the silent ferrying of the shikaras back [...]
Asian Age: Wetlands consist of marshes, swamps, bogs and similar areas. The functions of wetlands are filtering out of sediments and nutrients from the surface water and support all life forms through extensive food webs and bio-diversity. Wetlands contribute to a number of important processes including movement of water into streams and rivers, decay of [...]
Mega dams have the multipurpose applications and considered as the greener energy source than most alternatives. But as compensation to this development it may result a wide range of environmental degradation. This study aims to search the fact of environmental impacts due to the existing and proposed mega dams of the Himalayas and also to [...]
Kuenselonline: The Big Four ought to do their bit to reduce the waste created from consuming their products. Cold Drinks Companies It is a very common sight to find disposed plastic bottles littering an area almost anywhere in Bhutan. The most common brands on these disposed plastic bottles belong to four major companies of Bhutan Agro, [...]
IDSA: In recent times, the world has witnessed a major surge in regional unrests caused primarily by the shortage of water. Tension builds up between two or more countries when an effort is made by any upper riparian country to control the waterways of transboundary rivers. Factors like population surge, industrialization and other development activities [...]
KashmirLife: Week the rains stopped just before the water could spill over the banks of river Jhelum and flood Kashmir. But we are facing the danger of a devastating flood. Can Kashmir save itself? A Kashmir Life report. Given the behavior of the Jhelum river, hydrologists and engineers at the Irrigation and Flood Control would [...]
BoiOne: The Indus River Basin is characterized by downstream areas with the world’s largest irrigation system, providing food and energy security to more than 215 million people. The arid to semiarid basin is classified as a net water deficit area, but it also suffers from devastating floods. Among the four basin countries, Pakistan is most [...]
Environment News Service: Hydropower, the biggest economic driver in the Himalayan country of Bhutan, is threatened by serious water shortages as the country’s glaciers melt due to climate warming, finds Bhutan’s latest National Human Development Report. Many of Bhutan’s glaciers are melting at a higher rate than those in other mountain ranges, according to the [...]
Tribune Paskistan: The government knew the floods would be back. It had at least eight months to prepare for it. But its focus lay elsewhere — cutting deals, juggling power, privatising public assets. No greater callousness could have been exhibited than that towards the fate of the abandoned four million flood victims who never received [...]
IPS: Years of poor policies and neglect are taking a toll on Kashmir’s unmatched ecological assets, that also happen to be international tourist attractions. Typical of damaging policy inconsistencies is the case of the Wullar lake – once regarded as Asia’s largest freshwater body – that has shrunk in size from its original 204 sq [...]
AsianAge: Receding Himalayan glaciers are resulting in the formation of glacial lakes which climatolgists warn are growing at an alarming pace. The Himalayas have 55,000 glaciers but the creation of these lakes could destroy the settlements located close to them. Prof. G.M. Bhat of the department of geology in Jammu University warned that the increasing [...]
ClimatePrep: PRBO Conservation Science is a non-profit organization with a mission to conserve birds, other wildlife, and ecosystems through innovative scientific research and outreach. PRBO’s highest priority is to develop and promote conservation practices that address the challenges of rapid environmental change. Since the early 1980′s, we have focused a large amount of our work [...]
Lakes and other wetlands are an important source of methane, the third most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. However, the absolute contribution of methane from these ecosystems to the atmosphere and the role of abiotic and biotic factors in determining overall methane fluxes are still under debate. As a consequence it is presently difficult [...]
Approximately 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from land use and land use change. Sustainable land management (SLM) projects have the potential to not only reduce GHG emissions, by reducing emissions from biomass burning, biomass decomposition and the decomposition of soil organic matter, but also to sequester carbon (C) through practices that increase biomass [...]
Indian Express: Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the Ministry will now declare wetlands by referring to a detailed wetland atlas produced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Ramesh said he had written to chief mninsters of all states six months ago for declaring wetlands within their states, but not a single [...]
