-Down to Earth  Before the end of the century, there will be at least one large volcanic eruption, the scientists predict Amid the grim predictions emerging from the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there is a ray of hope: A major volcanic eruption can counteract anthropogenic global warming to a small extent.  All statements about global warming breaching the 1.5 degree Celsius rise over pre-industrial levels assume that no...

-Down to Earth Daniel Swain, a climate scientist from the University of California, Los Angeles, talks about the new science of extreme events attribution The planet is warming as predicted and its impacts are unfolding as laid out. Climate change is real; there is no dispute over it. But can we directly attribute these rising disasters to human-induced climate change? That is the raging scientific question. To answer this, a new stream of...

The pandemic's first wave had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of rural workers in Bihar (including the self-employed) last year, according to a survey based research, jointly done by economists from Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash University, Australia and the New Delhi-based Institute for Human Development. A recent press note issued by the authors of the study shows that almost 94.4 percent of the households participating...

-Down to Earth Never seen a drought of this magnitude, claim farmers; paddy crop affected Climate change is real. Droughts in the rainy state of Assam are not unheard of anymore. Warmer temperatures have affected the state’s tea gardens for a decade. Now, places recently experiencing unexpected and longer dry spells are catching the eye.  “Never before have I seen drought in this region,” said Dipantor Soh, a 28-year-old farmer from Mirigaon, a...

-Down to Earth Between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of humid tropical forests have been cleared since the early 1990s  Tropical forests are losing their capacity to cycle carbon and water, according to a study using a new tracking system. The system was developed by a team of international scientists to monitor tropical forest vulnerability between 1982 and 2018.  In Africa, forests show relative resilience to climate, according to the study. African...