India, China to conduct study on climate change

Controversy over the dam over Brahmaputra notwithstanding, India and China would soon start a joint study of Brahmaputra-Salween and the Kangchenjunga landscapes to find out the impact of climate change on the local habitation, as desired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jun 21, 2011, 23:47:30 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Controversy over the dam over Brahmaputra notwithstanding, India and China would soon start a joint study of Brahmaputra-Salween and the Kangchenjunga landscapes to find out the impact of climate change on the local habitation, as desired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The environment ministry has sought the external affairs ministry’s approval to spend US $ one million for these studies to be conducted, under the aegis of the Kathmandu based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a specialized body on Himalayan bio-diversity.

The initiative is part of a government bid to have a collaborative effort to study the Himalayan ecosystem spread over India, China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

The Brahmaputra-Salween landscape is an important component of the eastern Himalayan ecosystem, which is recognized as a focal point of plant biodiversity and is the last intact natural forest biosphere, which is relatively undisturbed.

The background note for the study, however, identifies shifting agriculture and illegal wildlife trade as major challenge for the Brahmaputra Salween landscape. While China has done lot of research, India and Myanmar lacks enough documents on threats to its north-eastern bio-diversity.

In addition, ICIMOD has identified climate change as a major threat and stressed on the need for having a strategy to deal with these challenges. Dehradun based G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development will represent India in the multi-lateral research project.

The bio-diversity management of Kangchenjuna landscape spread over western Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling and eastern Nepal, is equally important. In the last few decades the landscape has undergone huge deterioration and through this project the government aims at transboundary improvement.

“We took the first step in case of Mount Kailash. Now, we have sought approval of MEA for two more transboundary conservation projects,” environment minister Jairam Ramesh told HT.

PM Singh had asked the ministry to initiate regional programmes on glaciology for better understanding of their intricate behaviour. In all there are 33,000 glaciers in Himalayas, of which 10,000 to 12,000 are in India. Although satellite mapping of most glaciers has been done, the on ground study of glaciers has been minimal.

To improve understanding of glaciers, the government has decided to give US $ one million as a one time grant to the ICIMOD Foundation and increase its yearly contribution. The government will be giving US $ one million for a period of three years starting from 2012 as compared to less than half a million US dollars to ICIMOD between 2007 and 2001.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.