Monthly Archives: November 2012

The green mountain

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Where else in the world can you find Shitake mushrooms from East Asia, Kiwi fruit from China and red chilli peppers from Bhutan growing on the same mountain? Nowhere except the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)’s field station, which is located in a place called Godavari, just outside Kathmandu in Nepal.
An entire degraded mountain side has been rehabilitated by ICIMOD’s researchers and scientists since 1992 and turned into an experimental field station. It is hard to believe that the lush green area, spread over 30 hectares, was once denuded of trees. http://dawn.com/2012/09/16/earthly-matters-the-green-mountain/

Taking nature back to people

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The Ghunsa helicopter crash on 23 September 2006 devastated Nepal’s nature conservation movement by taking the lives of 24 people, among them six of Nepal’s pioneer conservationists. Six years on, the void is slowly being filled by community-based environmental groups who are protecting the legacy of putting local people at the centre of conservation activities. http://nepalitimes.com/issue/2012/09/22/Nation/19647#.UJJQPWmH7yC

Ice age: In the shadow of glaciers

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The beautiful Bagrote Valley is not far from Gilgit town, only around two hours drive away, but the road to Bagrote is a narrow, winding track that wraps around a mountain and the going is slow. Even before one reaches the main village of Bagrote with its green terraced fields and fruit orchards, one can see the valley glaciers in the distance. http://dawn.com/2012/10/21/ice-age-in-the-shadow-of-the-glaciers/

A tree frog leaps into the list of endemic amphibians

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Researchers worry that the only known population of new endemic tree frogs Polypedates ranwellai, named in honour of Dr. Sanjeewa Ranwella, could soon become extinct.

Sri Lanka, already known as an Amphibian hotspot, reveals another new frog at the Gilimale Forest of Peak Wilderness. Leading researcher Mendis Wickramasinghe of the Herpetological Foundation of Sri Lanka, who, together with the late Dr. Amith Munindadasa and Dr. Prithviraj Fernando, published a scientific paper in a world’s leading journal, recently updated Sri Lanka’s Amphibians to 112.

http://window2nature.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/a-tree-frog-leaps-into-list-of-endemic-amphibians/

Desperate farmers seek help

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The crippling drought that has ruined thousands of cultivated acres across the country has driven more than 230,000 farmers to seek compensation from the Government. Scientists warn that extreme weather could become a pattern and that agriculture could be a repeat victim. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120916/news/desperate-farmers-seek-help-12684.html

Women on the frontline of climate change

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“In a tattered mud-and-twigs hut, some 16 kilometers away from Jati Tehsil in Thatta district, Hanifa lights up her cigarette confidently telling us she can handle a natural disaster if it comes. She sounds pretty brave as she narrates her tales of survival from a series of natural disasters in the last two decades….” Desiree Francis writes…
Read more http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-137665-Women-on-the-frontline-of-climate-change

Hanifa and her villagers talk to the scribe in her hut.