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Indigenous residents protest huge coal mine plan in India0
- Blog
- October 21, 2020
West Bengal government’s dream to develop the world’s second-largest coal mine becomes a nightmare as elections loom Residents from indigenous communities protesting the plan to start a coal mine in Birbhum district of West Bengal, India [Image by: Gurvinder Singh] Gurvinder Singh, October 9, 2020 Sunita Hansda almost broke down at the thought of
READ MOREPakistan government aims to protect new parks but neglects the old0
- Blog
- October 17, 2020
The Third Pole The government has expressed a commitment to increase protected areas as part of its Green Stimulus package, but its failure to pay the salaries of wardens at key national parks exposes a flawed approach to conservation Over 4,000 of the screw-horned goat, the markhor, are found in the Chitral Gol National Park
READ MOREAir pollution in winter could exacerbate the severity and spread of coronavirus in South Asia0
- Blog
- October 15, 2020
Long-term exposure to pollutants before the pandemic may be associated with severe symptoms from Covid-19 and a greater risk of death. Air quality in Delhi slipped to ‘poor’ for the first time in three months in October. | Reuters 15 October 2020 Soumya Sarkar, Zofeen Ebrahim & Ramesh Bhushal The dramatic drop in air pollution after large swathes of
READ MOREPakistani military in charge, provinces sidelined in a revived CPEC0
- Blog
- October 5, 2020
A new CPEC Authority aims to centralise decision-making and take autonomy away from the provinces where the corridor’s key projects will be built. This makes the future of CPEC and its environmental consequences even more opaque A coal power plant in Sahiwal, Punjab. Six coal plants have been built under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor so
READ MOREIgnored minority peasants crushed by poverty after Sindh floods0
- Blog
- October 2, 2020
While the media focused on havoc in urban centres, rural Sindh – particularly marginalised minorities – suffered badly in heavy rains this year due to displacement and loss of income An elderly displaced woman peasant sits on a roadside near her cot while trying to cover her face on Digri road in Digri taluka of
READ MOREGlacial lakes become more deadly as Himalayan ice melts0
- Blog
- September 29, 2020
Researchers map the most dangerous lakes and call on China and Nepal to work together to reduce the threat of catastrophic flooding A glacial lake in front of Ama Dablam, a mountain in Nepal [Image by: Zoonar GmbH/Alamy] Ramesh Bhushal, September 29, 2020 New research has found that more glacial lakes in the Himalayas are forming,
READ MOREWhy are landslides so deadly in Nepal?0
- Blog
- September 28, 2020
Despite having the highest fatality rate in the world relative to population, Nepal’s authorities have failed to face up to landslide risks, with haphazard road building and climate change making things worse Landslide in the district of Sindhupalchowk, Nepal (Image: Richard Friedericks) Ramesh Bhushal, September 14, 2020 Basanta Raj Adhikari, an engineering geologist at the
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To India’s chagrin, Bangladesh turns to China to transform the Teesta river0
- Blog
- September 28, 2020
The Thirdpole.net 28 September 2020 After failing to sign a water-sharing agreement with India, Bangladesh receives support from China to develop a USD 1 billion engineering scheme on the Teesta The Teesta comes down from the Himalayas and enters the plains of West Bengal, before flowing into Bangladesh [image by: Alamy] Pinaki Roy, September
READ MOREPhoto story: Abandoned houses haunt rural Bhutan0
- Blog
- September 19, 2020
The Third Pole Bhutan’s rapid urbanisation means abandoned houses in the countryside are falling into disrepair – with social, economic and environmental consequences for those who stay An empty traditional house, which has been locked up for more than 15 years [image by: Dawa Gyelmo] Dawa Gyelmo, September 18, 2020 A few kilometres from Dagapela,
READ MORENomadic nature of Pakistan’s Bakarwals in danger, as community faces weather, administrative issues0
- Blog
- September 17, 2020
By: The Third Pole By Shabina Faraz Even as the summer drew to an end in the last week of July, the snow had not completely melted in the pastures of Deosai in northern Pakistan. This was a problem for Abdul Rauf and 400 other Bakarwal families, who had been stuck at an altitude of 12,479 feet in Deosai National
READ MOREPakistan: Fishing communities of Sindh forced into destructive practices0
- Blog
- September 16, 2020
The Third Pole Poverty-stricken people of Sindh have turned to ‘trash fishing’, an illegal practice that is pushing native species to extinction. Muhammad Abbas Khaskheli 16 September 2020 A father and son emptied their fishing nets. They had set them up the previous night in the Mir-Wah canal near Seerani, a small rural settlement
READ MOREExtreme rainfall events have more than doubled in Himalayas0
- Blog
- September 10, 2020
New studies show the chance of sudden, catastrophic river flooding in the western Himalayas has doubled as climate change leads to an increase in extreme rainfall events A statue of the Hindu god Shiva in the middle of the Ganga river, which overflowed due to heavy rains in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, in 2011 [image by: Scarabea
READ MOREBarges carrying toxic ash from India to Bangladesh keep sinking0
- Blog
- September 5, 2020
The Thirdpole No attempt made to salvage the cargo that keeps poisoning the Ganga and other rivers A barge carrying coal to a power station moves upstream on the Hooghly in Kolkata. Many similar barges carrying flyash downstream have capsized in the waterways of India and Bangladesh [image by: Joydeep Gupta] Rishika Pardikar, June 25,
READ MOREBangladeshi fishers cannot find Hilsa in peak season0
- Blog
- September 4, 2020
TheThirdpole.net Perpetually indebted, and hit by recurrent fishing bans, millions of fishers are in danger of slipping below starvation level Seeking the elusive Hilsa at the mouth of the Meghna near Tajumuddin in Bhola district, Bangladesh [Image by: Rafiqul Islam Montu] Rafiqul Islam Montu, September 3, 2020 “Half the season is gone. Where are
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