Western Himalayas

India's plastic ban fails to curb plastic pollution
News this fortnight Posted on 09 Oct, 2022 07:17 PM

Experts call India’s single use plastic ban weak, argue that it targets the most vulnerable

Plastic menace in Kufri, Himachal Pradesh (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
Global warming leads to vanishing glaciers
Glacier melt in Himalayas to increase rapidly till 2050, then may decrease, says study by IIT Posted on 20 Jul, 2021 03:22 PM

The Himalaya-Karakoram region in South Asia is often called the water tower of Asia or the Third Pole. It is one of the most heavily glacierized mountain regions on Earth.

Parkachik glacier, a part of the Zanskar region, Ladakh (Image: Mahua Sarkar, Wikimedia Commons,  CC BY-SA 3.0)
UP's Banda exemplifies water conservation efforts
News this week Posted on 05 Mar, 2020 02:00 PM

Limca Book of Records recognises UP's Banda for water conservation efforts

Local women and men engaged in digging trenches (Source: IWP Flickr photos). Pic for representation only
Hydropower in the Himalayas: Potential and risks
Study highlights significant hydropower opportunities in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Posted on 21 Aug, 2019 11:01 PM

Worldwide, the demand for energy has risen significantly and quickly, leading to serious impacts on environmental sustainability and hindering global efforts to mitigate climate change. Hydropower, a leading renewable option has the additional benefits of water storage for agriculture and other uses.

Hydel project near Kullu (Image: Nadir Hashmi, Flickr Commons)
Springing back to life
CHIRAG in Uttarakhand works with communities to revive local springs to achieve water security. Posted on 25 Jul, 2019 12:48 PM

In popular imagination, steeped in consumer culture, the hills are exotic and aesthetically sublime places to find solace away from busy urban life. This kind of imagination conveniently ignores and de-contextualizes the hills and the problems they face today. The Himalayas, often known as the Water Tower of Asia, are revered because many of the world's important rivers originate from them.

Image source: Water Practitioners Network
India witnesses second driest pre-monsoon spell in 65 years
News this week Posted on 04 Jun, 2019 09:22 PM

India's water situation alarming

India witnesses the second driest pre-monsoon spell (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Could the water towers of Asia be drying up soon?
As climate change and urbanisation threaten water security in the HKH region, there is an urgent need for good water governance. Posted on 24 Mar, 2019 11:03 AM

The Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) cover 3500 kms across eight countries namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.

A view of the Himalayas. (Source: IWP Flickr photos--photo for representation purpose only)
‘Our target is to reach 90 million farmers by 2020’
Indian Meteorological Department is focusing on agriculture-related advisories through network expansion. Posted on 03 Mar, 2017 06:32 PM

Anand Sharma is probably the most famous weatherman of India today. As the director of the Dehradun centre of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in 2013, he had predicted the Uttarakhand disaster two days before the actual deluge. Had the state government heeded his warnings, the heavy damage to life and property could have been averted.

A farm in Madhya Pradesh during monsoon. Source: Rajarshi Mitra/Wikimedia Commons
Curious case of disappearing fish
Fish species are rapidly disappearing from Himalayan rivers. Dams are not the reason. Human activity is. Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 09:41 PM

Jaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted.

Mahseer swim in the bracing waters of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.
International dialogue on Himalayan Ecology
Dialogue Highway in collaboration with the Centre of Research on Himalayan Sustainability and Development will host an international dialogue on Himalayan Ecology at Shoolini University, Solan
Posted on 19 Jan, 2016 11:30 PM

About the event:

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