Himalaya's human face
HIMALAYA LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD·David Zurick and P P Karan·John Hopkins University Press Baltimore and London·1999&…
High risk
Problem: Tall buildings risky in high seismic zones; Status: Hill-stations are getting concretised and growing vertically; Challenge: Use local …
What goes down
Problem: Lack of space for garbage disposal; inadequate sewerage; Status: Garbage disposed on hill slopes ends in streams/rivers; Challenge: …
Defying gravity
Problem: Terrain forbids water supply systems that work in plains; Status: Water crisis in peak season every year; Challenge: Develop …
Local travails
Problem: Tourist influx too large; earnings flow downhill; Status: Residents forced to share meagre facilities with tourists; Challenge: Regulate …
Shrouded in controversy
A mountaineering expedition into the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve revives the debate on ecotourism and people's rights over forests.
Ecological well-being of Jammu & Kashmir stands at a critical juncture
Impending deforestation, shrinking lakes and potential lithium mining pose significant environmental challenges
‘One snow leopard gets killed every day’
As India has a sizeable proportion of the global snow leopard distribution range, it has an important role to play in conservation of the world&…
The cold rush
What has India got to show after 20 years on the Antarctica research bandwagon? Lack of focus
Keep on the grass
Alpine pastures are thriving despite policies to encourage grazing. But Himalayan pastures languish despite strong conservationist policies
Boom
Problem: Terrain forbids sprawl as in cities in the plains; Status: Alarming population density (people per sq km); Challenge: Policy question is:…
Monarch butterfly numbers rise even as scientists sound extinction alarm
Monarch numbers rose to 56. 5 million this year from a record low of 34 million last year
Why we celebrate rivers
More than 100 groups in at least 36 countries again pay their respects to rivers on this International Day of Action for Rivers
Himalayan plunder: Hydroelectric plans in Arunachal will effect downstream Assam too
Arunachal Pradesh is highly susceptible to landslides; debris flowing downstream will change river behaviour, fear experts
Grasslands in Western Ghats diverted for resort construction
The 120 room, five-star luxury resort is being built in Chikkamagalur district of Karnataka in association with international hotel chains
Ecotourism: Scrambling for paradise
Does tourism always have to be a threat to the environment? Not anymore, claim the promoters of the globally emerging industry of ecotourism. …
Magnetism of Himalayan rocks reveals the mountains’ complex tectonic history
The tectonic collision that formed the world’s largest mountain range was actually a complex, multi-stage process — and not a …
Book Excerpt: Jerusalem, the isolated hill town high in the Judean Hills
‘Jerusalem Through the Ages: From Its Beginnings to the Crusades’ presents a broad yet detailed account of how Jerusalem …
What are Western Disturbances? How do they impact rain and snowfall in India?
It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern that induces low pressure systems in the lower layers of the atmosphere; this, ultimately, causes …
The invisible mountain
Mountains that matter
The United Nations declares 2002 as the International Year of the Mountains
String of peaks
A mammoth ring of mountains could have once stretched from Spain to New Zealand
Missing every mountain
Weathering the change
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