Himachal Pradesh, a state known for its natural beauty, snow-capped Himalayas and exquisite landscapes, attracts millions of national and international tourists every year. The hill state, however, is now caught…
Political reforms that strengthen the decision-making power of indigenous and forest-dependent communities, over the lands they use, can address challenges with forest carbon finance in India that has a poor…
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. The nexus between builders and government officials runs deep," said Ghazala Abdullah, an environment activist based in McLeodganj, near Dharamshala in the…
Madan Lal, a farmer from Bagtheru village in Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur district, was hoping for a good return this year for his wheat crop sown last December. But with scanty…
As avian flu swept through India towards the end of 2020 and early 2021, states scrambled to step up vigil and measures to control the spread of the disease. The…
Living in Haryana, the hills of Himachal Pradesh were a distant dream for young Pradeep Sangwan. He attended a military school in Ajmer, Rajasthan where he lived a disciplined life…
“I saw the flood coming in front of my own eyes,” said Harish Dhanotia, a former trout farmer from Lohardi, Kangra. “I was saving my fish by catching them with…
Land-use changes in the western Himalayan forests, a global biodiversity hotspot with huge numbers of endemic species, have resulted in a massive decline in forest birds in the region, new…
During the monsoon season of 2011, H.M. Yeshwanth, a doctoral student studying insects, browsed the bushes of the thorny Acacia catechu plant in Hesaraghatta near Bengaluru, Karnataka and came across…
As authorities race to rescue people trapped in Uttarakhand, following a devastating landslide-induced flash flood on February 7, scientists have called for deciphering the possibility of glacier-related hazards and enhance…
Till recently, the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh (HP) was only making wild guesses about the population status of the snow leopard, the state animal of HP. After three years,…
Worldwide efforts to curb climate change include widespread and large-scale afforestation activities. But a recent survey-based study finds that plantations in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh enhance vulnerabilities of…
India has pushed for renewable energy to tackle climate change, with hydropower touted as one of the green solutions. A recent study, however, shows that such projects in the Himalayan…
In India’s Himachal Pradesh, in the western Himalayas, Anuradha is doubled down into the soils of her farmland in Sudher village, donning a dhattu—the term used in the hills to…
In densely populated countries like India, people and wildlife often share the same space. Blackbucks and wolves roam the same grasslands as shepherds and their livestock. Snow leopards depend on…
Snowmelt is the largest contributor to average annual runoff for the Chhota Shigri glacier catchment in the western Himalayas, finds a team of researchers from India and France in a…
In the scenic Western Himalayan foothills, an artificial intelligence (AI) application has sniffed out how natural resource management policies are doing on the ground. The AI application used a machine…
Calling for an increase in efficiency and speed of environmental clearances and better coordination among ministries, a parliamentary committee has pushed for the development of the hydropower sector in India…
The Himalayas support about 20 percent of the world’s population. But the ecologically fragile region, the storehouse of the third highest amount of frozen water on earth, is highly vulnerable…
Unseasonal rain and snowfall is the main reason for agriculture failing in Himachal Pradesh. “Hailstorms or torrential rains are usually destructive to our crops while snowfall is not,” said Uma…