360 Yale: Renowned biologist George Schaller has been traveling to the Tibetan Plateau for nearly three decades, studying its unique wildlife. But with climate change and overgrazing taking a toll on the landscape, he reports, scientists and the Chinese government are working to preserve one of the planet’s wildest places. Chang Tang. It is a

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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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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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Pabitra Mukhopadhyay: Writes about the history of Darjeeling town in Indian Himalayan region, its ethnicity, the administrative setup and various social, economic and ecological aspects. He talks about the fragile ecology and increasing demand for environmental resources due to  growing tourist influx and poorly planned urbanization. He feels that hill town like Darjeeling has unique

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Commodity Online: The implementation of climate smart agricultural practices will go a long in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The theme has now become the main agenda of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) scheduled to start later in November at Durban, according to carbon-investments.co.uk. The importance of the reduction of greenhouse gas

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Deccanchronical: At a time when the world recognises that mere GDP growth as a development goal is a false promise, and with the UN now making “happiness” a development goal, a number of countries are turning to the little Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for lessons. Bhutan pioneered the concept of Gross National Happiness some 35

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Searching for scientific truth in the realm of climate. Last month the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project released the findings of its extensive study on global land temperatures over the past century. Physics professor Richard Muller, who led the study, heralded the findings with a number of controversial statements in the press, including an op-ed

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Pabitra Mukhopadhyay: The pristine water quality of the mountains is under question despite bottled water manufacturers campaign to the contrary. This issue attempts to examine the dogma and the policy responses in India to protect environmental water quality of the mountains. Bottled water manufactures do a great job of enticing thirsty buyers to pick up

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Chinadialogue: Indian planners need to radically rethink flood prevention strategies in the Ganges basin, as a new World Bank study debunks old myths. For decades, Indian planners working to harness the waters of the Ganges and its tributaries have believed building dams in Nepal will save Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh from the floods that

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Image via Wikipedia Suman K: The river Ganga is sacred to India and holds immense spiritual, social, cultural, recreational, and economic value to Indians. It originates in the Himalayas and traverses through a stretch of 2500 km across the north and eastern plains of India serving as a life force for close to 40% of

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Conference: Green Economy and Sustainable Mountain Development Opportunities and Challenges in View of Rio+20 Dates: 5-7 Sep 2011 Key Questions to be addressed What is a green economy? Why are mountain systems important for the green economy? What are the important costs, benefits, and challenges of the green economy in the mountain context? What policies

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Tribune: South Asia has a highly integrated ecology with shared mountains, rivers and monsoons. Therefore, the policy measures for addressing the socio-economic impact of climate change will have to be undertaken on the basis of cooperation between the nation states of South Asia. Let us briefly examine the vulnerability to, and the impact of, climate

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IHRR Blog: In order to understand the impacts of climate change in the regions of the world that are most vulnerable, why not ask the locals?  One study did just that by interviewing people in village communities in Darjeeling Hills, West Bengal, India about the changes in weather and water availability that they have experienced

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ChinaDaily: This is a column wrought with grief. My colleague, Li Xing, who had been pouring her heart out in her contributions on Fridays, was snatched from us by death, suddenly and prematurely. Hers was a life and journalism of conviction and integrity not many in today’s world of self-centeredness can claim. Li Xing was

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Kuensel: The Royal University of Bhutan will become the 24th university under the Earth Institute’s consortium of 23 universities, through which Bhutanese graduates will be provided a two-year degree course on sustainable development, such as poverty, population, health, resource optimisation, climate change and rural development. Called the master’s in development practices (MDP), the courses offered

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SierraClub:Do you despair that the developing world is starting to consume like we do? That our energy budget is spiralling out of control? Know, then, that Bhutan, the hidden kingdom of the Himalayas, is determined to develop sanely and sustainably. While you wouldn’t want to visit — tourist visas cost hundreds of dollars per day,

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Chinadialogue: Rock avalanches cause destruction, but also provide benefits to people living in Asia’s mountains. Opening a three-part article, Kenneth Hewitt explores the impacts in the upper Indus valley. Large rockslides and the rock avalanches they can generate will destroy any living thing or built structure in their path. In mountain valleys, they can form

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Anamika Barua: Liverman (1994), who is a Professor of Geography and Development, in University of Arizona, once stated that “The most vulnerable people may not be living in the most vulnerable places-poor people can live in productive biophysical environments and be vulnerable and wealthy people can live in fragile physical environment and live relatively well”

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The Independent: Russia’s vast permafrost areas may shrink by a third by the middle of the century due to global warming, endangering infrastructure in the Arctic zone, an emergencies ministry official said Friday. “In the next 25 to 30 years, the area of permafrost in Russia may shrink by 10-18 percent,” the head of the

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Guardian UK: Japanese researchers say three glaciers have shrunk over the past 40 years due to climate change and two may disappear altogether. Photo (left): The Himalayan glacier AX010 in Shorong, Nepal. Photograph: Koji Fujita/Nagoya University Three Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking over the past 40 years due to global warming and two of them,

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UN Solution Exchange India and Bhutan: Query: Enhancing the Reach and Effectiveness of Climate Himalaya Initiative Knowledge Sharing Platform – Advice. Reply by 24 June 2011 Moderator’s Note: Enhancing the reach and effectiveness of knowledge platforms like the Climate Himalaya Initiative (CHI) is crucial as they play a critical role in knowledge sharing, advocacy, research

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