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Union Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda has strongly criticized the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government for its slow response in utilizing disaster relief funds amid the ongoing monsoon havoc in the state. Speaking on Wednesday, Nadda pointed out that only 21.7% of the Rs 360.11 crore allocated for relief work has been used, despite the worsening disaster situation across the region. Nadda stated that the Central Government had provided substantial support to Himachal Pradesh between 2023 and 2025 including Rs 1,736 crore through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), Rs 1,071 crore via the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), and Rs 339 crore to the State Disaster Mitigation Fund. "This shows that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the Centre has cons...

In a significant move to improve air quality in Uttar Pradesh, the Airawat Research Foundation at IIT-Kanpur has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IBM to deploy artificial intelligence in air quality monitoring. The collaboration aims to provide real-time data and evidence-based solutions that can balance economic growth with environmental health. The agreement was announced at a workshop held in Lucknow on Scalable Air Quality Technology. The pilot project will begin in Lucknow, with plans to expand across the state and beyond. Professor Sachchidanand Tripathi, Dean of the Kotak School of Sustainability and Project Director at Airawat, said that the foundation has developed an AI-powered "airshed-based air quality stack" for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and neighbouring regio...

A grim United Nations report has revealed that escalating droughts, intensified by global warming, have caused widespread wildlife deaths across Africa and the Amazon Basin over the past two years. Released on July 2, 2025, the Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023–2025 report warns of starvation, heat stress, and human-led culling wiping out animal populations, altering ecosystems and deepening human-wildlife conflict. Published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the US National Drought Mitigation Center, with support from the International Drought Resilience Alliance, the report links these extreme conditions to a combination of long-term climate heating and the El Niño phenomenon, which caused global temperature spikes in 2023. Wildlife Losses Across Africa Easte...

Eastern China is reeling under an intense and unusually early heatwave, with large swathes of the country's economic and agricultural core experiencing searing temperatures between 37°C and 39°C and some areas bracing for highs above 40°C. The scorching conditions are being driven by a subtropical high-pressure system that has settled over the densely populated Yangtze River region, hitting provinces like Anhui, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Henan. This premature onset of the “Sanfu Season” the hottest period of the Chinese calendar, usually starting mid-July is raising fears of crop damage, industrial disruption, and mounting public health risks. Experts are linking the extreme temperatures to climate change, warning of compounding impacts on key sectors. Agricultural yields are at risk of d...

The recent United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3) in Nice, France, concluded with declarations and pledges but little tangible progress, especially for vulnerable coastal regions like Ennore in Chennai, which continues to face the devastating effects of erosion, mangrove loss, and unchecked industrialisation. In Ennore, the destruction is visible and worsening. Once protected by 889 hectares of wetlands and mangroves, the region has lost over 70% of that cover in just six years, leaving it exposed to rising seas and frequent flooding. A 2006 report already recorded the loss of 350 hectares of shoreline a crisis that has only grown. Despite these ground realities, SDG 14, the UN's goal to conserve oceans and marine resources, remains the least funded of all Sustainable Development G...

When the Greek island of Santorini was rocked by thousands of small earthquakes earlier this year, most were left puzzled by the swarm’s cause. Over 10,000 people were evacuated as tremors struck every few minutes for over a month. The largest quake reached a magnitude of 5.3, but the origin wasn’t immediately clear until groundbreaking new research shed light on a hidden force deep beneath the Earth surface. University of Oregon geophysicist Emilie Hooft, however, wasn’t mystified. Just days before the seismic swarm began, her lab had submitted research that turned out to hold the key to understanding the quakes: the activity wasn't tectonic but volcanic driven by magma movements buried deep below the surface. A Hidden Magma Reservoir Off the Volcanic Center Hooft team discovered t...

As glaciers retreat under the pressure of rising global temperatures, new research suggests that detailed 3D elevation models could vastly improve our ability to predict their behavior and better prepare for climate-driven disasters. Though glaciers cover only about 10% of Earth’s surface, their influence is global. They regulate sea levels, stabilize Earth’s climate, and serve as major sources of freshwater. Yet many glacier studies to date offer limited seasonal detail, especially in remote regions. In a recent study published in GIScience & Remote Sensing, researchers from The Ohio State University unveiled a method to capture the subtle and seasonal shifts of glacial ice more accurately than ever before. Using daily high-resolution imagery from the PlanetScope satellite const...

As the Fourth International Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) continues in Seville, Spain, a powerful theme has emerged: the urgent need to reform global climate finance ahead of COP30 in Belem, Brazil. With global leaders, economists, and civil society voices coming together, the discussions have underscored a growing consensus—climate and development cannot be separated, and financing systems must be overhauled to meet the moment. From Seville to Belem: Connecting Finance with Climate Action A key high-level side event ‘Bridging Global Agendas: Scaling up Financing for People and Planet from FfD4 to COP30’ brought together major actors including the Igarape Institute, Club de Madrid, the Brazilian government, and Global Citizen. The goal: to lay the political and financial ...

Facing the real threat of vanishing beneath the sea by 2036, Kariyachalli Island home to one of India’s four major coral reefs is now the focus of an ambitious marine restoration project by the Tamil Nadu government. Under the Tamil Nadu Sustainably Harnessing Ocean Resources (TNSHORE) initiative, the state will deploy 8,500 artificial reef modules, plant seagrass beds, and restore coral ecosystems around the shrinking island in the Gulf of Mannar, a region known for its rich marine biodiversity. Island Shrinking Fast Over 70% Lost Since 1969 The uninhabited island has lost more than 70% of its landmass since 1969, shrinking from 20.85 hectares to just 3.14 hectares at high tide today. This rapid erosion is being driven by sea-level rise, reef degradation, and climate change-induced...

A sobering new report by the United Nations has revealed that extreme droughts, driven by global heating and intensified by El Niño, have triggered widespread wildlife deaths across Africa and the Amazon between 2023 and 2025. The study, Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023–2025, warns that ecological stress, starvation, and rising human-wildlife conflict are reshaping entire ecosystems and may leave permanent scars. Published on July 2, the report is a joint effort by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the US National Drought Mitigation Center, and the International Drought Resilience Alliance. It paints a grim picture of how heatwaves, prolonged dry spells, and resource scarcity have killed thousands of animals and disrupted fragile balances in biodiverse regions. ...