Month: January 2026

    Earth’s climate has never been static. Over hundreds of millions of years, the planet has shifted repeatedly between cold “icehouse” phases and much warmer “greenhouse” states. Scientists have long known that atmospheric carbon dioxide plays a central role in driving these swings. What has been less clear is where that carbon comes from and how it moves through Earth’s systems over deep geological time. New research now shows that the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates has had a far greater influence on long-term climate change than previously understood. The study reveals that carbon is not released only where tectonic plates collide, but also where they slowly pull apart, fundamentally reshaping our understanding of Earth’s carbon cycle. Published in the journa...

    A national park in Indonesia that was established to safeguard some of the world’s rarest wildlife has lost more than half of its forest in just two decades. New research tracking changes over time shows that the destruction did not happen overnight or through a single dramatic event. Instead, it spread quietly from the edges inward, steadily hollowing out the park’s core. The study focuses on Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau province on the island of Sumatra, a protected area created in 2004 to conserve lowland rainforest and provide habitat for critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants. Despite its legal status, satellite images and field observations reveal that forest loss has continued almost uninterrupted, raising serious concerns about how protected ...

    Most Indian rivers follow a familiar eastward route, flowing toward the Bay of Bengal from the Himalayas or central highlands. The Narmada River stands out as a rare exception. Flowing westward across the subcontinent, it challenges long-held geography lessons and highlights how ancient land formations continue to shape India’s natural systems. Often described as a river that flows “backwards,” the Narmada simply follows the natural slope of the land. Stretching about 1,310 kilometres, it is India’s fifth-longest river and one of the very few major rivers, along with the Tapi, that empties into the Arabian Sea instead of the Bay of Bengal. Geological forces that shaped the Narmada’s westward journey The Narmada originates at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, a fore...

    Pakistan has called on the international community to recognise water insecurity as a systemic global risk, warning that disruptions in shared river basins threaten food security, livelihoods and regional stability. The appeal was made amid rising tensions with India following New Delhi’s unilateral decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. Speaking at a United Nations policy roundtable on global water stress, Pakistan’s Acting Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, said water insecurity is no longer a local or regional concern but a global challenge affecting food production, energy systems, public health and human security across regions. “For Pakistan, this is a lived reality,” Jadoon said, describing the country as a climate-...

    Severe storms and flooding are becoming more frequent, and recent events in Australia show just how unprepared many people still are. In New South Wales alone, the State Emergency Service responded to more than 1,600 incidents after weekend storms, while flash floods in Victoria last week swept cars into the sea and forced people to flee with little warning. Even residents who had lived in these areas for years were caught off guard, highlighting the limits of current flood preparedness strategies. For decades, governments and risk agencies have relied on top-down approaches to prepare communities for floods. These methods usually involve warnings, advertisements and public information campaigns that tell people what to do and expect them to act accordingly. Despite ...

    India is facing a deep contradiction. Millions of people struggle with hunger and poor nutrition, yet enormous quantities of food are wasted every year. This waste is not only an economic failure but also a serious climate problem, creating a vicious cycle where climate disasters cause food loss, and rotting food further worsens climate change. While global leaders recently met at COP30 to discuss climate action, the effects of climate change were already unfolding on the ground in India. An intense and unusually early heatwave scorched large parts of the country, while unprecedented floods in Punjab, India’s key food-producing region, submerged farmland and destroyed crops. These extreme weather events directly reduced food availability and damaged farmer livelihood...

    Sacred groves in India’s northern Western Ghats are experiencing the highest levels of human disturbance among all forest protection regimes, according to a new scientific study. The findings highlight a growing paradox: forest patches that have traditionally survived through cultural protection are now among the most pressured, even as they continue to play a crucial role in conserving biodiversity. Sacred groves are community-protected forest patches linked to religious beliefs and nature worship. For generations, social taboos and cultural practices helped safeguard these ecosystems from exploitation. However, researchers found that these groves now face intense anthropogenic pressure, driven by changing land-use patterns, urbanisation and the gradual erosion of t...

    In an industrial pocket of Chandigarh, a quiet but significant transformation is taking place that could change how the world deals with plastic waste. Inside a specialised recycling facility, plastic films that usually end up in landfills are being converted into valuable liquid fuel, offering a promising solution to one of the most stubborn environmental problems of our time. While rigid plastics such as PET bottles are widely recycled, flexible plastic packaging used for chips, biscuits and food wrappers has long posed a challenge. These multi-layered films are difficult to recycle and are often dumped in landfills, where they contribute to pollution and methane emissions. Globally, recycling rates for such plastics remain in single digits. The Chandigarh facil...

    Apple production in Himachal Pradesh has dropped sharply this season, with growers reporting losses of at least 50 per cent due to unfavourable weather conditions, fungal disease outbreaks and poor road connectivity. The combined impact has badly hit both yield and trade, leaving thousands of orchardists under financial stress. After torrential rainfall during the monsoon, the hill state witnessed a prolonged dry spell, creating ideal conditions for fungal infections in apple orchards. Farmers say Alternaria leaf spot disease spread rapidly, damaging leaves, causing early defoliation and affecting fruit quality. As a result, apples were smaller in size, poorly coloured and less appealing for markets. The situation worsened due to damaged roads caused by heavy rain...

    The Centre Empowered Committee operating under the supervision of the Supreme Court has given final approval for the felling of 1,279 trees for the Bijwasan Rail Terminal project in Delhi’s Dwarka Sector 21, even though legal proceedings related to the area are still pending before the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court. The decision clears the last major environmental hurdle for the Rail Land Development Authority, allowing it to begin critical external infrastructure work near the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The project includes approach roads, footpaths, metro connectivity, skywalks, rotary ramps and other facilities required for the new terminal. The Rail Land Development Authority had initially sought permission to remove 1,293 trees. Afte...