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  New Delhi, July 20: Increasingly unpredictable monsoon patterns linked to climate change and El Niño are making it harder for India's rainfed farmers to decide when to sow crops according to an analysis. Experts say the growing mismatch between seasonal forecasts and field level conditions highlights the need for more localized weather advisories and decision support systems. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had initially forecast the southwest monsoon to reach Kerala on May 26, five days ahead of the normal onset. However, the monsoon arrived on June 4, three days later than usual, creating a nine day gap between the forecast and the actual onset. Researchers say such uncertainties can have major consequences for farmers who rely solely on rainfall for crop cultivati...

  July 21: Africa ambitious Great Green Wall initiative, launched by the African Union in 2007 to combat desertification across the Sahel, is evolving from its original vision of planting a continuous wall of trees into a broader landscape restoration programme focused on sustainable land management. The project spans nearly 8,000 kilometres from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to Djibouti on the Red Sea, covering 11 countries along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. It aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon and create 10 million jobs by 2030. While the initiative was initially envisioned as a continuous belt of trees, implementation over nearly two decades has revealed the challenges of restoring ecosystems across dive...

  New Delhi: Climate change is increasingly affecting water resources, agriculture, cultural heritage and conservation systems worldwide with recent reports from different regions highlighting how environmental changes are disrupting both ecosystems and human livelihoods. A report by Deutsche Welle noted that prolonged droughts and more frequent extreme rainfall events are intensifying groundwater depletion in many parts of the world. Researchers and policymakers are increasingly promoting groundwater recharge, river restoration and managed aquifer recharge systems as ways to store excess water during heavy rainfall and secure supplies during dry periods. Countries such as Germany, Namibia and the United States are already investing in such approaches to improve water security a...

Bhopal, July 20: Nearly 2,000 members of the indigenous Korku community from around 150 villages in Madhya Pradesh Khandwa and Burhanpur districts have demanded the removal of alleged illegal encroachments from forest land, saying continued forest degradation threatens their livelihoods and traditional way of life. The community organised a march to submit their demands to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, urging the state government to strengthen forest protection and prevent further encroachment. Korku community leader Umakant Patil alleged that since 2020, forest areas have witnessed increasing encroachment and clearing by members of the Bharela and Bhilala tribal communities from neighbouring districts, including Khargone, Alirajpur, Barwani and Jhabua. According to the community, t...

New Delhi, July 20: The Yamuna River in Delhi has narrowed by nearly 68 per cent over the past two centuries, while its discharge has declined by around 89 per cent, significantly reducing its ability to cope with extreme flood events according to a new study by researchers from the University of Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal. Published in the Journal of the Geological Society of India, the study analysed historical maps and satellite imagery to examine hydrogeomorphic changes along the 50 kilometre stretch of the Yamuna flowing through Delhi between 1799 and 2026. Researchers found that the river's average bankfull width the width when the river is full but not overflowing declined from about 658 metres in 1799 to around 210 metres ...

New scientific studies and policy developments this week underscored the growing urgency of climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration and sustainable resource management, with major developments spanning India, Europe and global climate research. India's Chhattisgarh government notified its Compressed Biogas (CBG) Policy 2026, aiming to accelerate waste to energy projects by streamlining approvals, ensuring reliable feedstock supply and promoting compressed biogas use in transport. The policy also encourages research digital monitoring and farmer participation in biomass collection, making it one of the country most comprehensive state level frameworks for the CBG sector. Urban restoration also came under scrutiny after Bengaluru's record plantation drive, during which nearly 1.5 mil...

July 20: Climate change is expected to make extreme floods in the Alps more frequent and intense by the end of the century, with floods currently considered "once in 100 year" events potentially occurring every 45 to 80 years according to a new study by the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF). The study commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), used hourly discharge data from 384 rivers in Switzerland and Austria to model future flood risks. Researchers found that previous projections which relied on daily data, underestimated the impact of short duration heavy rainfall. Unlike earlier studies that suggested flooding could decline due to reduced snowmelt, the new analysis found that increasingly intense rainfall driven by global warming outw...

July 20: Heat stress is becoming more frequent, intense and widespread across the world, exposing millions more people to hazardous temperatures and extending heat stress seasons, according to a new global study published in Nature Climate Change. The study, led by researchers from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), analysed more than seven decades of data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service's ERA5-HEAT dataset using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), which measures "feels-like" temperature by considering air temperature, humidity, wind and solar radiation. Researchers found that the maximum feels like temperature during the 10 hottest days of the year has increased by an average of 0.27°C per decade since the 1970s, while the warmest nigh...

  Madrid, July 20: Spain recent deadly wildfire has reignited calls for a shift in how wildfire disasters are assessed, with experts urging authorities to prioritise human safety over traditional indicators such as the number of fires or hectares burnt. In an article geographer Fernando Medina Morales said the July 9 wildfire in Los Gallardos, Andalusia, which claimed 13 lives, demonstrated that wildfire severity should increasingly be measured by its impact on people rather than only environmental damage. The expert noted that wildfire management has traditionally focused on the number of incidents, burnt area and firefighting efficiency. However as climate change and expanding human settlements increase fire risks, protecting lives must become the primary objective. Offi...

The Chhattisgarh government has notified the Chhattisgarh Compressed Biogas (CG-CBG) Policy 2026 introducing a framework aimed at expanding compressed biogas (CBG) production by improving feedstock availability, streamlining project approvals and promoting investment in the waste to energy sector. The policy, notified on July 10, will remain in force until March 31, 2030, and applies to both new and existing CBG projects. It seeks to utilise agricultural residue, cattle dung, municipal solid waste and industrial by-products to produce clean fuel while reducing pollution and creating additional income opportunities for farmers and rural communities. According to state officials the policy focuses on strengthening the entire CBG value chain through measures covering feedstock supply, i...