FAO: There has been a rapid uptake of the term Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) by the international community, national entities and local institutions, in the past years. However, implementing this approach is challenging, partly due to a lack of tools and experience. Climate-smart interventions are highly location-specific and knowledge-intensive. Considerable efforts are required to develop the

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MP: The development of a strategy focusing on sustainable tourism development is under way in the countries of the Carpathian Mountains – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Consultations are planned with representatives from governments, tourism agencies and NGOs along with a series of stakeholder meetings and national consultations and 14

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Indian Himalayan basins are earmarked for widespread dam building, but aggregate effects of these dams on terrestrial ecosystems are unknown. We mapped distribution of 292 dams (under construction and proposed) and projected effects of these dams on terrestrial ecosystems under different scenarios of land-cover loss. We analyzed land-cover data of the Himalayan valleys, where dams

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Himalayan Times: Minister for Agriculture Development Tek Bahadur Thapa Gharti has directed ministry officials to evaluate the performance of projects based on the benefits that the projects have provided to people. Impact on livelihoods should be the base for evaluating the projects, he said during a performance review meeting of the Agriculture Ministry. “The traditional

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C4D: Climate change is increasingly intersecting with the challenges faced by people seeking to emerge from poverty, and changing the way Canadian development organizations – and their partners in the global south – must design their programs to ensure resiliency and continued sustainability. Climate change not only permeates the entire development process, it threatens many

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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: Recent studies of future food production in South Asia generally agree that the conditions for production will radically change in the years to come, in particular due to climate change and market variations. However, because we do not know how conditions will be modified and what adaptations will be required by farmers, the article

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IIED: New systems for tracking the social impacts of efforts to adapt to climate change could soon be in place in Africa and South Asia. Working with policy and research partners in these regions, the International Institute for Environment and Development (with partners Adaptify and Garama 3C Ltd) has designed a framework and tools that

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UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark today launched UNDP’s 2013 Human Development Report, which charts the unprecedented rise of developing countries to create a new “global middle class.” “The development landscape is very different today from when the first Human Development Report was launched 23 years ago,” Helen Clark said, releasing UNDP’s 22nd flagship

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Dr. Madhav Karki discusses about sustainable mountain development- SMD agenda that was adopted during 1992 Rio Earth summit, and how the socio-economic and environmental issues were taken by countries in the Hindu Kush Himalayan- HKH region during last 20 years in terms of achieving the goals as envisioned in SMD document. He argues that mountain

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PR Web: University of Massachusetts Boston professor and leading conservation biologist Kamal Bawa and conservation photographer Sandesh Kadur announce the release of their book Himalaya: Mountains of Life. Five years in the making, the book focuses on the Eastern Himalaya—the first time the region’s threatened biodiversity and cultures have been documented together by a preeminent

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MARCC: Results from a landmark climate study for the Mekong region will be released at a press conference here Mar. 29, forecasting dramatic changes in growing conditions and yields for major crops like rice, maize, coffee, and rubber, and impacting fisheries and livestock productivity. “Our study is producing very shocking results. We’ve found that this

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SciDev.Net: India needs micro-level scientific assessment at the state, district and village levels for effective planning and implementation of measures to combat climate change, a national workshop has highlighted. The workshop on  climate-resilient development, organised last month (13 February), discussed integrating climate change into development programmes in semi-arid regions like Bundelkhand in central India. Participants

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Dr. Madhav Karki writes about the commitments made by the member countries during Rio+20 summit on various sustainable development goals (SDGs) on low carbon green economy principles and good governance practices, in socio-economic and environmental perspectives. He argues that post Rio+20 actions should be more cohesive, participatory, multi-disciplinary and simple in approach, so that they

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IRISH Times: They look like rice terraces, neat steps of land carved all the way up the steep hillsides, the mighty snow-capped Himalayan mountain range in the distance. But go closer and it’s not rice but potatoes that are growing in this lush valley about an hour’s journey north of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “We used

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WED celebrations began in 1972 and have grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action. Mongolia, which is prioritizing a Green Economy shift across its big economic sectors such as mining and promoting environmental awareness among  youth, is

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International Mountain Day 2013, Proposed theme: Mountains – Key to a Global Green Economy The United Nations General Assembly has designated 11 December, from 2003 onwards, as “International Mountain Day”. FAO is the U.N. Organization mandated to lead the observance of International Mountain Day each year. In the follow-up to Rio +20 we would like

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Thenews: Global climate change is posing serious threats to agrarian countries despite the facts that majority of them are not the major contributor in global warming. However, they are facing decline in agricultural productivity and water resources.  Speakers, during presentations in a seminar to the Agricultural Journalists Association (AJA), said the climate change cannot be

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Justmean: Over the next 50 years, we will need to face global food and farming realities. We will need to meet the challenges of providing better nutrition for more people in spite of rapid environmental change while cutting back our overuse of natural resources, ecosystems and the climate. All this calls for social innovation in

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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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ClimateNewsNetwork: 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. He reports on some of the problems facing farmers in the region. KATHMANDU, 15 February – Life has been good in the past few years for Saraswati

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UN News Centre: Top officials from the United Nations and the Andean community of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru today launched the ‘International Year of Quinoa’ to raise awareness of the nutritional, economic, environmental and cultural value of a food that has been traditionally cultivated for thousands of years. “I hope this International Year will

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RTCC: The latest Globe Climate Legislation Study was published in January 2013, focusing on 33 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. For the first time climate policymakers have a clear idea of how countries around the world are attempting to control their greenhouse gas emissions. We have selected the highlights from Globe’s analysis

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UNDP: Poverty reduction and economic growth can be sustained only if natural resources are managed on a sustainable basis. Greening rural development can stimulate rural economies, create jobs and help maintain critical ecosystem services and strengthen and strengthen climate resilience of the rural poor. Conversely, environmental challenges can limit the attainment of development goals. The

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RTCC: Nepal nestles beneath one of the greatest wonders of the world – the Himalayas – and this gives Nepalese a unique perspective on the effects of climate change. As the world warms our vast glaciers will melt, causing torrents of flood water to cascade through our country. We are sandwiched between China and India,

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CHI: In recent disasters in Indian Himalayan region we lost many human lives, livestock population, agriculture land, livelihood opportunities and huge infrastructure overnight.  The most affected states due to these calamities in India are Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim and part of West Bengal. The flood in Kosi and Indus basins in Nepal and Pakistan

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Book: This paper examines the public financingof climate change actions in Nepal, including the role played by communities, civil society, the private sector and international support. The objective of the study has been to develop an appropriate methodology and then conduct an exploratory Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR), at both the national and

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Daily Climate: India has made giant strides in increasing rice production, both to feed its own people and for export. But the price has been massive water consumption, and rising greenhouse gas emissions. India has to find a new model of development if the twin challenges of job creation and climate change are to be

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LCCCRSP: Local communities in Nepal participate in livestock climate change vulnerability study and field tour. On January 2, 2012, local communities in the Thulokhola watershed in Nuwakot gave the SLPS project research team a heartfelt traditional welcome with garlands and red powder, as well as flowers, fruits, coconuts and water jars adorned with flowers as

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Nature: Rising demand for yarsagumba threatens to cause ecological damage. Yarsagumba, the world’s most expensive medicinal fungus, is in serious decline in Nepal because of over-harvesting, researchers warn in a study due to appear in the journal Biological Conservation1. Known as ‘Himalayan Viagra’ because of its supposed libido-boosting powers, the fungus can fetch as much

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UNDP: The Ministry of Rural Development, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today released a report “Greening Rural Development in India”. The report presents strategies for inclusive rural development embodying the principles of environmental sustainability. The Report assumes particular significance in the light of the Twelfth Five Year Plan, which has as

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Sevensisterspost: A new study has confirmed the worst fears of Assam’s anti-dam activists who are opposed to building mega hydel projects in the highly-seismic Northeast, known for its rich biodiversity. Unprecedented dam building in the Indian Himalayas holds serious consequences for biodiversity and could pose a threat to human lives and livelihoods, a team of

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Environmental Expert: The weak wording of the Rio+20 summit agreement and delays in setting up the UN working groups on sustainable development have left progress on some of the post Rio+20 agenda in limbo, according to a science officer at the International Council for Science (ICSU), which represented the scientific community at the summit. The

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The James Rinaldi article ‘Flaw of Big Aid’ raises questions about the efficiency and honesty of aid money pouring into mountain countries like Nepal, which, some feel, has been turned into a political playground by powerful neighbours in the north and the south and a holiday destination by far away interests in the west and

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Alertnet: Palestinian olive growers make a living from trees that are, in some cases, 2,000 to 3,000 years old – proof that these farmers have been working in harmony with the environment for centuries, according to Nasser Abufarha, a representative of Fairtrade producers in the Middle East. Now the time may finally have come for

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WoTR: Recommendation to the Adaptation committee. Adaptation has been given short shrift – in terms of priority, focus, and resources, particularly finance. In spite of the much greater attention on mitigation, it has not delivered; nor is it likely that it will. This makes adaptation even more important an issue. Because of near-inaction on mitigation

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SDC: Improving market access for small Andean farmers and making more out of the biodiversity of their crops – that is the basic challenge underlying the Papa Andina regional project, launched in 1998 by the SDC and the International Potato Center (CIP). This innovative and sustainable solution won a prize announced on the occasion of

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The Herald Online: Indigenous knowledge and active community participation will be critical in any strategy that seeks to deal effectively with the impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe. These are the findings from a report, “Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation in Zimbabwe”, released last month by the International Institute for Environment and Development. The

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CSD-I: Tim Magee, and his colleagues at CSDi, are to be commended for producing a book which should change the way development is practiced, and so directly contribute to the improvement of millions of lives around the world.’ – Howard White, Executive Director, 3ie, USA ‘A fascinating and informative guide to a subject of growing

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Dawn: As the Bay of Bengal is cooling down and the North Arabian Sea is warming up, the number of tropical cyclones has increased owing to the temperature shifting trend. Data collected from 56 meteorological stations in Pakistan shows a sharp rise in temperature during the first decade of the 21st century, except the year

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SciDev.net: China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, are beset by stagnation in the production of staples like rice, wheat, soybean and maize (corn), says a new study on crop yield growth. Based on statistics from around the world during the 1951– 2008 period, the study ‘Recent patterns of crop yield growth and

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Alertnet: It is a well acknowledged fact that the impacts of climate change will be more severe in regions wherein the dependency on climate sensitive sectors for securing livelihoods is high. People associated with these sectors have a great deal to lose from exposure to increased variability in the climate, its extremes and changing contours.

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Scidev.net: Agricultural research should be a strategic priority of the UN’s efforts to lessen the impacts of climate change, according to a report launched at a UN climate change conference in Doha, Qatar. The report, released by a group of leading international experts in climate change and agriculture last month (30 November), is intended to

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ClimateAdaptAsia: This report scopes out knowledge gaps and unmet needs relating to climate change adaptation in China, and proposes ways to address them. It is the product of an international collaboration between Stockholm Environment Institute(SEI) Asia and Beijing Zhi Dao He Xie Management Consulting Co. Ltd., and their work with local and community development organisations.

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The contribution of tourism to climate change, and the likely consequences of climate change for key tourist destinations, has been well reported and discussed. Yet, there is a lack of evidence-based systematic practical advice as to how the tourism industry should respond to the challenge of climate change. Building on a sound conceptual understanding of

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First Post: Climate change leading to natural disasters, particularly flood and erosion, has affected the livelihood options of thousands of people across Assam, a study has found out. The impact of the climate change is most pronounced among marginalised women, but it has also pushed people from prosperous families into taking up work of domestic

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MP: The Mountain Partnership is a United Nations voluntary alliance of partners dedicated to improving the lives of mountain people and protecting mountain environments around the world.  The Task Force meeting took place in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during 29-31 October 2012 of Mountain Partnership that is coordinated UN’s FAO based in Rome,

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PTI/Rediff: Climate negotiators from 200 nations are currently locked in bitter and acrimonious discussions in an 11-day long conference being held in Doha, writes Rajni Bakshi. A report about rich countries cheating poor countries of about $30 billion in climate funds made headlines last week. Research by Oxfam, an international NGO, has shown that countries

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IRIN: In a formal letter to Qatar – host of the 18th conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a coalition of 40 NGOs, backed by academics, has called for urgent action on loss and damage caused by climate change. The NGOs have drawn up a framework to

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Climate Himalaya, an initiative of Prakriti group wins prestigious Manthan eNGO Challenge Award for its outreach knowledge networking work on climate adaptation and mountain development issues in Himalayan region. Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was also present during the award ceremony at New Delhi, India. The eNGO Challenge aspires to create an ecosystem of

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Dunya News: At Friday prayers in Qatar s most popular mosque, the imam discussed the civil war in Syria, the unrest in Egypt and the UN endorsement of an independent state of Palestine. Not a word about climate change, even though the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar is hosting a UN conference where nearly 200 countries

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Huffingtonpost: In a world where almost one billion people are chronically hungry and the current and future state of food security is beset by challenges such as climate change, knowledge and information are powerful. Powerful in terms of understanding the problems, in terms of deriving solutions and in terms of advocating where, how and when

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The Bhutanese: One of the key issues to be considered during the Doha Climate Change Conference is the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding obligations on industrialized countries as the foundation for any future climate regimes. The first commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol is scheduled to expire at the end

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NATO Review Magazine: Few would predict that growing populations, decreasing resources and climate change will have an effect on security. But what could they be? And how will they affect heavily-populated areas of the world? Michael Kugelman looks at the potential changes for South Asia in general, and India in particular. Few regions are more

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Scidev.net: A pledge to increase support for biodiversity targets in developing countries is welcome, but care for indigenous people is vital too. This month’s (October 2012) meeting of the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Hyderabad in India, came as a reality check on the

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Worldcrunch: Sometimes described as the engine of the global climate system because of its role in climate and water systems, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China, with its fragile and sensitive ecosystem, is considered a “canary-in-the-mine” for global climate change. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, also called the Tibetan Plateau, covers about 25% of China’s surface area

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PHYS.org: No success for REDD+ without understanding possible impacts on forest biodiversity and people. The world’s rapidly dwindling forests should be valued as more than just “carbon warehouses” to mitigate climate change, according to a new report released today from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations(IUFRO), the world’s largest network of forest scientists. In

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Taylor Wilmot: In the twentieth century big dams and other development projects were often associated with progress and prosperous economic development for many countries, including India (Khagram, 2005). Dam development projects entice governments with the promise of hydroelectricity, irrigation, and drinking water for their growing populations. They represent an abundant resource to developing countries (Khagram,

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Countercurrent: Climate Change and its Effects on Food Production In a recent post I wrote about Overpopulation: Food Crisis and future Hunger Wars. The article focused on the impact of the population explosion on food supplies – will there be enough food for a population of 9 billion in 2050? There are many interrelated and

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Scidevnet: The impact of climate changeon key food crops in Africa and South Asia may be much worse than previously estimated — with reductions of up to 40 per cent by the 2080s — according to a study, which synthesised results from related studies published over the last 20 years. It also identified “major gaps

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