Climate Change

Featured Articles
November 6, 2022 In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
August 11, 2022 This could lead to water quality crisis reinforcing the need for basin-specific management strategies
Around the world, more than a fifth of nitrogen released by human activity ends up in aquatic ecosystems (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
July 29, 2022 New study from the University of East Anglia challenges the widely held view that restoring areas such as mangroves, saltmarsh and seagrass can remove large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere
Mediterranean seagrass (Image: David Luquet, CNRS-Sorbonne University)
July 10, 2022 People in India fleeing disasters like drought more likely to have experienced trafficking or modern slavery than those fleeing floods or cyclones
The country's climate change assessment suggests things are only going to get worse (Image: Saurav Karmakar, India Water Portal Flickr)
July 8, 2022 Indian rivers are experiencing rising temperatures, which can lower the oxygen carrying capacity of their waters and spell doom for living organisms, small and large living in the waters.
The Karamana river in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala (Image Source: India Water Portal)
June 15, 2022 The River Front Development project planned by the PMC is nothing but a cosmetic makeover for the already choked Mula Mutha river in Pune, argues Dr Gurudas Nulkar while speaking to the India Water Portal.
The highly polluted and encroached Mula Mutha river in Pune (Image: Alexey Komarov via Wikimedia Commons)
Skymet Weather releases kharif crop estimate 2019
With over 50 percent of the cultivable area being rain-fed, the farm economy could be in a precarious situation with the ongoing rain deficiency. Posted on 11 Jun, 2019 04:25 PM

India’s leading weather and agriculture risk monitoring company has released a Kharif Report, sharing the prediction for the upcoming monsoon and its impact on the production of kharif crops.

Cotton production in the country is expected to go up by 10 percent as compared to last year. (Image: Kimberly Vardeman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Food security with flood, drought-resistant rice crops
New drought and flood tolerant rice varieties can ease water constraints and ensure food security, study says. Posted on 07 Jun, 2019 11:23 AM

In recent years, cycles of extreme drought and severe flooding have affected the country’s water availability and crop production. The trend can be attributed to climate change. Scientists have been exploring drought and flood tolerant crop varieties to offset stress conditions that significantly constrain rice production.

Determining the long-term effects of the flood-tolerant rice variety Swarna-Sub1. (Image: Centre for Effective Global Action)
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)
Revolutionising coastal monitoring, one social media photo at a time
A citizen science project led by engineers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, is using crowd-sourced photos to understand changing coastlines. Posted on 31 May, 2019 03:25 PM

A citizen science project led by UNSW engineers in Sydney, Australia is leveraging thousands of crowd-sourced photos from social media, helping create new insights into how beaches respond to changing weather and wave conditions, and extreme storms – and now a new study has shown the program to be nearly as accurate and effective as professional shoreline monitor

Dr Mitchel Harley (far right) at the installation of a CoastSnap station in Fiji. Photo credit: Navneet Lal
Monsoon to arrive late, less rain expected: Skymet
The forecast shows monsoon to begin under the shadow of El Niño and could be below normal across all four regions. Posted on 30 May, 2019 11:25 AM

Skies in several parts of Kerala are overcast with pre-monsoon but monsoon is progressing sluggishly, as per meteorological predictions. “This year’s monsoon rains will arrive on India southern coast in Kerala on June 4 and deliver less rain than average year,” says Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.

Monsoon in Sikkim Himalayas (Image: Marina, Wikimedia Commons, CC-A-2.0-Generic)
Ganga's faecal coliform level high at inter-state boundaries
News this week Posted on 29 May, 2019 11:25 AM

At most inter-state boundaries, Ganga's faecal coliform level exceeds limit

The Ganga river (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Environmental implications of Pancheshwar dam
A study assesses risks associated with Pancheshwar dam in the light of environmental impact observed for the Tehri project. Posted on 26 May, 2019 11:47 AM

Mahakali, also known as Sharda in India, gushes through the hilly tracts of Nepal and Uttarakhand, collecting its water from the numerous streams it receives on the way.

The proposed Pancheshwar dam raises concern about safety due to seismicity, slope instability and large sediment mobilization. (Image: Vimal Bhai)
Borewells: Boon or bane for women?
A study shows that although borewells have improved women’s access to water in the short term, they have increased water insecurity and the suffering of women in the long term. Posted on 23 May, 2019 08:29 PM

Tamil Nadu is one of the most water-vulnerable states in India that depends heavily on groundwater for irrigation. As high as 56 percent of land in the state is currently irrigated by groundwater and the remaining by tanks and canals.

Collecting water, a daily backbreaking task of women. (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Climate change affects glacier health
A study suggests chances of half of the glaciers in Satluj basin disappearing by 2050. Posted on 21 May, 2019 02:47 PM

Changing climatic patterns are affecting the health of glaciers in the Himalayan region. A new study has warned that as many as 55 percent of glaciers in the Satluj basin may disappear by 2050 and 97 percent by 2090 under extreme climate change scenario.

A glimpse of The Himalayas. Photo: Pixabay
Evacuation measures during cyclones in Odisha
Study indicates need for institutional capacity-building programmes in order to have high compliance with evacuation orders during cyclones. Posted on 10 May, 2019 02:55 PM

Life is getting back to normal after an ‘extremely severe’ cyclonic storm Fani hit India’s eastern coastline. It ripped through several districts of Odisha and West Bengal and brought in torrential rains and winds of up to 200 km/hr.

The trail of destruction after cyclone Phailin in Odisha on October 15, 2013 (Image: EU/ECHO, Samuel Marie Fanon; Flickr Commons, CC BY-ND 2.0)
×