-The Hindu The projects, including mining and a highway, were brought up during virtual conferences; but site inspections are ‘a crucial component’ of project evaluation, say scientists Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh has a decidedly other-worldly feel. “Yeh kaunsi duniya hai,” my colleague exclaimed as we climbed the towering mountains — home to the endemic goat-antelope Mishmi takin, the ‘bright-eyed’ butterfly Callerebia dibangensis, and the Mishmi wren-babbler. I had read about the...

-Mongabay.com * Uttarakhand has vast water resources and is a lifeline for millions of people living in downstream areas. However, many areas in the state are facing a water shortage. * The hill state is going to polls in the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on April 11. In some constituencies, voters, dissatisfied with authorities for failing to provide water facilities, aim to register their protests, by boycotting the...

-The Indian Express Agrawal had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24, and again on June 13 and June 23, requesting steps to be taken towards a clean and free-flowing Ganga. A month after environmentalist and Ganga activist Professor GD Agrawal’s death, a reply to an RTI query has revealed that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had received Agrawal’s letters demanding specific steps for the conservation of the...

-Deccan Chronicle Critical to human life as they provide all of world’s freshwater. Kochi: Wetlands, the most economically valuable and among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, are disappearing three times faster than forests. A new report by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands warned of severe consequences for the future unless urgent action is taken to ensure their survival. Approximately 35 per cent of the world’s wetlands were lost between 1970-2015 with...

-The Hindu Business Line A new study has suggested that the government must consider changes occurring due to climate change while planning new hydropower projects. The generation of hydropower from top seven hydropower projects in India has suffered due to climate variability in the past six decades. Future projected climate change may also hit reservoir operation for power generation from these projects, says the study done by researchers from the Indian Institute...