Physiography

One of the main reasons cited for inadequate representation of biodiversity is a lack of readily available information on the status and distribution of inland water taxa.

In response to this need for information, the IUCN Species Programme, in collaboration with Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) conducted the Eastern Himalaya Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment, a review of the global conservation status of 1,073 freshwater species belonging to three taxonomic groups – fishes (520 taxa), molluscs (186 taxa), and odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) (367 taxa). 

Other groups that include freshwater species that have been comprehensively assessed are freshwater crabs (assessed in 2008, and 57 species of crab are present within the assessment region), mammals, birds, and amphibians and their assessments can be accessed on the IUCN Red List. 

 It is an attempt to understand the effect of rainfall, physiography, lithology, slope and aspect, land use practices, vegetation, altitude, soil type and anthropogenic interference (e.g., road construction and settlement etc.) and other characteristics in the spring recharge zone on the water yield and water quality of the selected springs in the mid-altitudinal belt (lesser Himalaya) in western Himalaya (Uttaranchal).

Guest Post by: Parineeta Dandekar

At the first sight, Daarche Paani (‘water at the doors’) appears unreal.. on a small flat plateau called ‘Sadaa’ in konkan, an elegant cobbled walkway leads a puzzled visitor to stairs carved in stone, which go down to an ancient grove, and here is an intricate system of tanks, channels and falls which supplies water to the Panderi village and goes down as a free flowing stream, to irrigate a plantation of arecanut, pepper and mangoes in a village called Gudaghe. When I visited the place, I could see three eminent visitors, a silent lady washing her load of clothes, a fairy bluebird splashing at a tank and a huge moonmoth in one of the trees.

Stone walkway and ancient mango trees leading to Daarche Paani.
Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

Content courtesy: Indian Meteorological Department

Mean annual temperature for the country as a whole during 2010 was +0.93 0C above the 1961-1990 average. It was slightly higher than that of the year 2009, thus making the year 2010 as the warmest year on record since 1901.

Considering different seasons, Pre-Monsoon season (March-May) in 2010 was the warmest since 1901 with mean temperature being 1.8 0C above normal

The annual total rainfall for the country as a whole was normal during the year 2010 with actual rainfall of 121.5 cm against the long period average (LPA) of 119.7 cm.

Guest Post: Text by Amitangshu Acharya, Photographs by Ayan Ghosh

Kachchh – a brilliant halfway between a turmeric yellow Rajasthan and the emerald green Sahyadris – offers an upside down version of life. It tells you that seeds of life and civilisation are often hidden beneath the sands of time in inhospitable terrains.

Content Courtesy: Flowers of India

Jungle Trees of Central India is a lovingly detailed field guide to every tree you're likely to see in the magnificent dry, deciduous forests of the region. Bigger than France and encompassing 5 of India's most visited Tiger Reserves, Central India is home to the classical types of wilderness that one associates with the term 'Indian Jungle'.

This paper by Rajasthan Pollution Control Board on climate change impacts in the context of Rajasthan seeks to address the issue of need of the society for robust knowledge to pursue strategies for mitigation as well as adaptation in order to address the challenges associated with global warming and climate change.

Accordingly, here a brief review of the available literature and an annotated bibliography of published research on climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation in order to facilitate the identification of policy options in Rajasthan is provided.

Also included is the literature on how human societies contribute to environmental change and how, in turn, become vulnerable to these changes. It also explores the available knowledge on how likely ecosystem goods and services are impacted to climatic oscillations (environmental sensitivity) and the ability of rural communities to cope (social resilience) with those changes.

This study by IWMI maps the household water poverty in a typical remote village of the northeast, understands the causes for such a scenario and reflects on the past efforts. Local water resource-based multiple-use water systems that provide water supply both for household and livestock needs and for small high-value agriculture are understood. 

The per capita and per hectare availability of water in India is highest in this region but the societal (both productive and consumptive) water use is less than five per cent of the existing potential. The unutilised and excessive water supplies during the rainy season create a mayhem of devastations almost every year with ravaging floods, landslides, soil erosion and other infrastructural failures and miseries and unrest in large parts.

This report by ICIMOD contains an assessment of the threat facing the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region from the recent (post-1950s) and rapid formation of meltwater lakes on the surface or at the end of a large number of the region’s glaciers owing to current climate warming. Individual case studies of the catastrophic outburst (glacial lake outburst floods or GLOFs) from such glacial lakes are introduced.

This document in Hindi prepared by the Gandhi Peace Foundation, is a blueprint of the Himalayan People's Manifesto. The manifesto has been brought out with the help of various documents prepared by various people and organisations at different times. It will be finalised by the next Himalayan Day on September 9, 2011.