Dawn: This month’s prospective meeting of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue Group comprising seven states sharing the rivers rising in the Greater Himalayas would be a watershed event as the group is expected to adopt a joint initiative to minimise the impact of glacial melt. The group comprises Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Nepal. [...]
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Nepali Times: Since 2007, Jean Marc Hero has been bringing students from Griffith University in Australia to Nepal to take part in expeditions that focus on learning about environmental research and teaching methods. The Program for Planned Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (PPBio) aims to establish an international monitoring system that measures biodiversity and the long [...]
The Dawn: The Abu Dhabi Dialogue Group comprising seven states sharing the rivers rising in the Greater Himalayas is expected to meet early next month to adopt a joint initiative to minimise the impact of melting of glaciers. The group comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Nepal was set up in 2006 in [...]
It is a pleasure to be asked to give my personal opinion at the end of my assignment with ICIMOD. I take this opportunity to make some personal remarks. I want to highlight the importance of the framework conditions for mountains during the past five years – first in general, then for ICIMOD, and finally [...]
BBC: Ngozumpa Glacier in Nepal snakes away from the sixth highest mountain in the world, Cho Oyo. It’s not the greatest glacier to look at – far from it. It’s smothered in a layer of rocky debris that’s fallen from the surrounding cliffs, giving it a very grey, dirty appearance. But Ngozumpa is generating a [...]
Telegraph Nepal: Combating global warming and achieving UN’s 2 degree Celsius goal by 2020 require collective political action of the rich and the poor nations. Without this, small, island and least developed countries like Nepal would remain vulnerable to climate changes causing droughts, floods, rise of sea level causing coastal tragedies, fast melting Himalayan ice, [...]
BioOne: Despite the growing number of studies and research projects on climate change adaptation, only a few have examined the gender and cultural dynamics of the adaptation process. Inequality has been identified as a major indicator of the vulnerability of individuals and groups; nevertheless, the gender and cultural aspects of inequality have not received much [...]
Hindustan Times: Nepal is known for its beautiful and challenging treks like the one to the Everest Base Camp and attracts thousands of adventure seekers from across the globe every year. But a new one hopes to test both skill and endurance limits of even the most diehard trekkers. Nepal’s prominent mountaineers will embark on [...]
Book: Because of the importance of mountains and the many services they provide, sustainable mountain development does not only regard mountain communities, but is a global concern.. Climate change, increasing natural disasters, food and energy crises, population growth, water scarcity and desertification, loss of biodiversity, degradation of ecosystems, migration, and growth of cities – the [...]
Nepal Mountain News: Despite its relatively small size, Nepal is so strategically located on the boundary between Asia’s two eco-biological domains that nearly one in every ten bird species in the world is found here. Altitude variation in the Himalaya and its climate diversity means that the country has 867 species of birds: more than [...]
The Himalayan Times: The Ministry of Environment is preparing to organise a meeting of mountain countries — that has been postponed twice — to discuss climate change in mountainous areas in March. “We are working hard to organise the climate change meeting in March,” said Environment Secretary Krishna Gyawali. At the high-level meeting held in [...]
Nepal News: Within a decade, air pollution has grown at an alarming rate in the Kathmandu Valley. The capital has turned into as one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, is located at an elevation of approximately 1,400 meters in the bowl-shaped basin. Known for its exquisite environment [...]
Daily Times: Millions of people are affected in the Himalayan Indian-Tibetan border country because of reduced rainfall and crops. Combining surface and satellite data, and high resolution computer climate models, it is clear that these trends will become progressively more serious The main aim of the UN Climate Summit at Durban, which concluded unsuccessfully, was [...]
WWF: As part of WWF’s Living Himalayas Initiative, it has recently played a leading role in securing an agreement between India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh to combat the impacts of climate change in the region. This is the first time the four countries have agreed this kind of action. And, says WWF’s Dr Liisa Rohweder, [...]
Planning and costing agriculture’s adaptation in Nepal: Integrated maize-based farming systems in the mid hills (mixed cropping) Summary of country findings: Nepal This study is one of 5 country studies (Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, Rwanda and Tanzania) exploring planning and costing agriculture’s adaptation to climate change. The agricultural system described as an integrated, maize-based system in [...]
Bhutan Times: The formation of a group of mountain countries, as proposed by Ecuador, would have helped the group easily represent a common interest at the negotiation of the Convention of Parties (CoP) 17 meeting at Durban, South Africa, but it has left numerous such countries in a lurch following back off by some member [...]
CBS News: A half-century record of history has melted away from the Naimona’nyi glacier in southwestern Tibet, highlighting the changes coming to glaciers across the Himalayas. Ice cores from glaciers capture a detailed history of the atmosphere and climate from the time when the snow and ice fell. They record dust, ash and even minute [...]
Nepal News: The mountains are the heads of Nepal and heritage of Nepal as well as the world. Climate change and temperature rise have been gradually stripping the mountains off their white clothes. The untouched virgin layers of snow are gradually melting. Loss of this virginity is the ample evident of imminent impacts of climate [...]
K N Vajpai: This UN conference on climate change (COP) remained a place where the people from around the world discuss, debate and come to a conclusion on various confronting issues our communities face around the world on climate change. In this note I am trying to discuss three important aspects of this conference on [...]
Himalayan Times: In the main plenary meet of the UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa, Nepal has urged countries to let go of narrow short term interests to work towards a broader vision to save the planet from the perils of climate change by agreeing on second period commitments of the Kyoto Protocol. Nepal’s [...]
Durban Post by Dr.C. S. Silori*: This note is on the major happening during COP 17 at Durban in South Africa during UN Climate Change Conference on December 4-5, and how the ‘equity’ issues has emerged as major challenge for the world leaders in context to future development and climate change. December 4, Sunday, was [...]
UNEP: Investment in Green Technologies Can Improve Women’s Climate Adaptation Capacity & Livelihood Opportunities. There is increase in Human Trafficking Associated with Climate-related Disasters. Women, particularly those living in mountain regions in developing countries, are facing disproportionately high risks to their livelihoods and health from climate change, as well as associated risks such as human [...]
Durban Post by Dr. C. S. Silori direct from United Nations Climate Change Conference at Durban 2011. “We don’t’ understand the message God has sent us…..”, this is how the mountain communities of Peru react to the recent signs of climate change they observe in their day to day life. There is enough to indicate [...]
Soham Baba, leader of the Soham Baba Mission Foundation, says more efforts are needed to preserve nature than to destroy it. Speaking at the Inkosi Luthuli International Convention Centre, he stressed that climate change effects have drastically changed the livelihoods of the Himalayas. He vows to continue fighting on behalf of the indigenous people, saying [...]
Good Environment: This graph from the Energy Information Administration communicates the reality of renewable energy in America better than any other single source. Renewable energy covers only a small slice, 8 percent, of the country’s needs. And despite the focus on biofuels and solar power, the chart shows that more than a third of that slice [...]
Durban Post: Dr. C. S. Silori* writing from Durban on Day-II & III, 29-30 November 2011 I had promised to come back, and here I am again with a short report of what happened on day 3 of the ongoing conference of the parties (COP 17) in Durban. It was a hectic day, as I [...]
National Geographic: Google Earth Shows How Dams Could Worsen Climate Change. A project of two NGOs highlights far-ranging effects of damming rivers which is a new interactive Google Earth video tour aims to teach people how damming rivers around the world can exacerbate climate change. The video, created by the nonprofit conservation groups International Rivers [...]
K N Vajpai: Writes on the expected outcomes from Durban Climate Change Conference (CoP 17)in terms of growing momentum of action and alarm bells from new researches. His discourse is about the meager role played by the leaders from most vulnerable regions like Himalayas and Andes during this important global conference. With the representation [...]
The New York Times: With its massive chalk-white face of ice and snow, Thorthormi glacier in northern Bhutan looms high against a bright blue sky, nearly 4,450 meters above sea level. At the glacier’s base, a wide lake of murky water completes the dramatic scene at the rooftop of the world. But the beauty of [...]
Mountain Day On 4 Dec 2011, By ICIMOD, Nepal Mountain Day will assemble a high-level panel of global personalities, ministers, and scientists to advocate the value and critical role of mountains and share scientific evidence and examples of challenges and opportunities. The day-long programme will also include plenary presentations and discussions, working groups, and panel [...]
Guardian: Fears rise of huge outburst flooding in the Himalayas as glaciers melt due to climate change. It’s strangely calming to watch the Imja glacier lake grow, as chunks of ice part from black cliffs and fall into the grey-green lake below. But the lake is a high-altitude disaster in the making – one of [...]
Science 2.0: Although the fundamental tenets of many religions may have some bearing on conservation activities, the relationship between spiritualism and environmentalism is perhaps most obvious in the case of Buddhism. The close ties between Buddhism and conservation-mindedness were recently described by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in an essay published [...]
The Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region is highly dynamic as there are many socioeconomic and environmental drivers of change at play, including climate change. The impacts of these changes challenge the resilience of natural and human capacities and environments in the region. Climate change is believed to contribute to extreme weather events and possibly to increase [...]
MyRepublica: Experts from different countries including Nepal have expressed concerns over decreasing pollinator populations, as it results in low pollination rate posting threat to food security. About 25 experts and pollination management project managers from seven countries, who recently participated at international workshops in Chitwan and Kathmandu, stressed the need to formulate country strategies to [...]
Brettonwood Project: The Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), part of the World Bank-housed Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), intends to help integrate climate resilience in national development planning of climate vulnerable countries. The PPCR offers recipient countries a mix of grants and loans for climate adaptation projects. Nepal, the world’s fourth most vulnerable country to [...]
The SERVIR Web Mapper allows you to access and display data or functionality from several external sources to create a new service. Using the Web Mapper interface, you can choose specific data sets and information products by type and date, display them on a base map, and further manipulate them for analysis. If a layer [...]
The Bhutan Climate Summit for A Living Himalayas was successfully convened in Thimphu on 19 Nov 2011. Presided over by the Honourable Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley; Environment Ministers from the four countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal adopted a declaration on behalf of their Governments wherein a regional ‘framework of [...]
Amrit Banstola: It is surprising to see that after 61 years of initiation of improved cook stove (ICS) by Government of Nepal (such initiative dates as far back as 1950 with the introduction of Indian models of Hyderabad and Magan stoves) traditional and primitive chulas (stoves) are still in extensive use in Chidipani rural community. [...]
Oxfam: Review of Climate Change Adaptation Practices in South Asia. Climate change is predicted to have severe consequences for South Asia, particularly in agriculture, which employs more than 60 per cent of the region’s labor force. Some of the predicted impacts of climate change include: increased variability in both monsoon and winter rainfall patterns; increases [...]
Washington Post: Amid regional tensions, only 4 of 7 Himalayan nations meet for climate summit on the mountains. Four Himalayan nations, faced with erratic weather and the threat of melting glaciers and catastrophic floods, are hashing out a plan for preserving the vast mountain range and helping millions living in the foothills cope with climate [...]
Radio Netherlands Worldwide: The Climate Change Risk Atlas ranked Nepal as the fourth most vulnerable country in the world last year. Given the vulnerability of the Himalayan country, USAID donated $30mn for the Hariyo Ban project last week. The programme hopes to build mechanisms that will help Nepal cope with climate change risks. Along Nepal’s [...]
IndiaChinaInstitute: Everyday Religion and Sustainable Environments in the Himalayas is a multiyear initiative that endeavors to uncover new dimensions to the current discourse on global environmental policy. The project aims to create an enabling environment for knowledge-sharing and production on the complex role of religion with particular emphasis on sustainable environmental issues. Given the diversity [...]
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 [...]
Daily Star: 17th Saarc Summit ends in Maldives with 20-point Addu Declaration; South Asian leaders also agree to forge effective cooperation for full implementation of Safta, better connectivity and steps towards Saarc Market for Electricity. The 17th Saarc summit ended at Addu in the Maldives yesterday with the adoption of a 20-point Addu Declaration to [...]
Practical Action: This briefing focuses on the impact of climate change on Nepal’s rural poor. A great deal has been written on the challenges of providing clean energy and the risks to urban populations but, as this paper outlines, climate change also has many other consequences. Rural communities, whose livelihoods are intimately tied to the [...]
CLIMATE 2011: Relatively little scholarly work has focused on comparative evaluation of South Asian countries’ environmental performance (EP) in addressing issues of vulnerability to climate change. It is an accepted fact that climate change induced problems in South Asia have been increasing over many years, but their effects largely have been blamed on extreme poverty [...]
Coinciding with Bhutan’s ‘Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas’, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan, will hold a series of events to draw the attention of policy makers, government agencies, development agencies, community workers, youth and children to the potential for using remote [...]
WorldWatch: Scientists, policymakers, and community representatives from across South Asia met earlier this month to discuss the many threats that climate change poses to the continent’s Greater Himalayan region. Across Nepal and Tibet, average temperatures have been up to six times warmer in the mountains than in the plains, triggering changes in regional weather patterns. [...]
WWF: Himalayan nations must move rapidly to commit to efforts that build resilience to the impacts of climate change and generate resources for adaptation, capacity building and technology transfer. The Himalayan glaciers are the water towers of Asia, and the source of many of the world’s great rivers: The Yangtze, the Ganges, the Indus and [...]
Down to Earth: His field-based scientific thrust and the fearlessness with which he put forth uncomfortable truths made him stand out. These are sad times for Nepal’s nature conservationists: five years ago, on September 23, 2006, the country lost its crème de la crème in a tragic helicopter accident in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area. While [...]
Republica: limate change is considered the greatest environmental challenge faced by mankind in human history. Changed pattern and quantity of precipitation in concert with temperature extremes manifests itself in a number of catastrophic outcomes like drought, slides, snowmelts, floods, agricultural productivity loss, and upsurge in diseases which impact both the natural and the human systems [...]
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 [...]
Business Bhutan: As the global summit for climate talks approaches, vulnerable countries make a point to form a united voice. A group of 32 vulnerable countries, which created the Climate Change Vulnerable Forum, including Bhutan is set to meet in Dhaka, two weeks ahead of UN climate talks (the 17th Conference of Parties) in Durban, [...]
Amrit Banstola: The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that ―warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from scientific observations of increases in global average temperature, melting of snow and ice, and rising of global average sea level. And from various evidences from recent studies, the climate change [...]
Himalayan Times: The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011, is now warming up, and preparations are taking place. It will bring together representatives of the world’s governments, international organizations and civil society. The discussions will seek to advance the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan, [...]
Himalayan Times: Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gyan Chandra Acharya has stressed on the strong need for providing continued support for strengthened and effective voice and participation of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in decision- and rule-making and standard- and norm-setting areas in all relevant international forums. Delivering a speech on behalf of LDCs [...]
Dr. R. S. Tolia: Writes this article as his ‘Third Inning’, days those have been happily spent on reflecting over and about mountains and mountain people. This has taken him to various mountainous parts of India, neighbouring Nepal and recently to the beautiful city and canton of Switzerland, Luzern, in the northern Alps. Besides learning [...]
Republica: Climate change has drawn global attention. Enunciation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC, 1992) is testimony to this, which is desperately trying to save the world from impending climate catastrophe through deliberations at annual Convention of Parties (COP) meetings. This is conceived both through mitigation (direct reduction of green house [...]
Digital Journal: Of late, all is not well with the world’s most wanted caterpillars: the Cordyceps mushrooms, grown exclusively in the Himalayan region. Cordyceps is a rare species of mushroom widely used both in clinical medicine and as a household remedy. There are few countries where Cordyceps grow in the wild. These are Nepal, Bhutan [...]
