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The Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest is showing how the gradual impacts of climate change can undermine ecosystems and livelihoods long before a major disaster strikes. Researchers visiting the Sundarbans in May 2026 found dry and cracked ponds where fish had previously supported local families. For communities across the Ganges Brahmaputra Meghna delta, declining freshwater availability is becoming part of a wider pattern of environmental and economic stress. The Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spans parts of Bangladesh and India and provides food, income and shelter for millions of people. Its mangrove forests are also considered an important natural defence against cyclones and rising sea levels. But communities are increasingly facing failing embankmen...

  The El Nino event developing in the equatorial Pacific has intensified rapidly and is now firmly established, with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warning that it could strengthen further and peak towards the end of 2026. The WMO estimates there is an almost 100 per cent probability that El Niño will continue through February 2027. Sea surface temperatures in the Niño 3.4 region have already risen more than 2°C above average and could reach 3.6°C above normal, potentially making this the strongest El Niño in four decades. The Niño 3.4 index, which measures sea surface temperature anomalies in the central eastern equatorial Pacific, increased from about 1.5°C above average during May-July 2026 to 2°C above average in July. Between late July and mid-August, temper...

  Nearly 300 metres beneath Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert lies the Cave of Crystals, a chamber filled with enormous gypsum crystals that grew over hundreds of thousands of years under exceptionally stable underground conditions. The crystals were discovered in April 2000 when miners working in the Naica lead, zinc and silver mine broke through into a previously inaccessible chamber. Some of the translucent gypsum beams measured up to 11.4 metres long and around a metre thick, making them among the largest natural crystals ever documented. The chamber was located inside a horseshoe shaped cavity measuring roughly 109 metres across. Although gypsum is a common mineral used in products such as plaster and plasterboard, the extraordinary size of the Naica crystals has made the site ...

The August 26 Nepal flash flood has exposed major gaps in the Himalayan region’s early warning systems, with experts warning that existing networks are often designed for known hazards and may fail to detect sudden, complex events. The disaster began when a partial glacier collapse near Langtang Lirung triggered a powerful flash flood and debris flow that travelled roughly 100 km downstream. The event damaged villages, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure, while also creating temporary barrier lakes that complicated rescue efforts. Dr Farooq Azam, senior cryosphere specialist at ICIMOD, said current systems are largely focused on glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). In Nepal, however, there was no lake involved the failure occurred beneath a rocky surface, making visible war...

  Nepal devastating flash floods have killed at least 1,259 people and left more than 5,000 missing, as rescue teams continued operations for a ninth consecutive day across flood and landslide hit areas. The disaster, triggered by an ice rock avalanche near the Nepal Tibet border on August 26, sent huge volumes of water, mud and debris through settlements in northern and central Nepal. The destruction has cut roads and communication links, severely complicating relief and rescue efforts. According to Nepalese authorities, the number of missing people rose sharply to 5,083 on September 3. Chinese state media reported another 21 deaths and 541 people missing in Tibet, taking the combined toll from the disaster to 1,280 deaths and 5,624 missing. Chitawan recorded the highest ...

  The UN summit on desertification ended in Mongolia without resolving demands for greater participation by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities or advancing stronger coordination among the global conventions dealing with land, climate and biodiversity. The 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), held in Ulaanbaatar, had been expected to build on a decision taken at COP16 in Riyadh in 2024 to create dedicated caucuses for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Instead, those caucuses were not operationalised and their terms of reference were pushed to COP18, leaving Indigenous communities without the formal participation mechanism they had been promised. For communities living on the frontlines of dese...

  The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken up a series of environmental matters involving sewage treatment in Delhi, wetland protection in Bhopal and alleged pollution from an ethanol plant in Karnataka. In Delhi, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has told the NGT that progress on intercepting and treating sewage from identified drains is being delayed in several locations because of pending permissions and the lack of technically feasible discharge points. The DJB said five of the 22 drains identified for trapping have been completed. Work on a modular decentralised sewage treatment plant at Hill View Sewage Pumping Station in Vasant Vihar is underway and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2026. For eight drains associated with jhuggi-jhopri clusters, the DJB said it ...

  Parts of Chile Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth were covered in snow in August 2026 after an unusual series of winter storms swept across northern Chile. NASA satellite imagery captured the rare transformation showing snow extending from the Andes across the normally arid desert and approaching the Pacific coast near Antofagasta. The snowfall was particularly notable for the distance the weather system travelled across the desert. One storm affected the high altitude Chajnantor plateau home to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Heavy snow and strong winds forced the observatory to suspend operations and place its antennas in protective mode. A second storm later in August carried snow much farther west, crossing the heart of the Ata...

The devastating floods that struck Nepal’s border with Tibet have raised concerns in India, where several major rivers originating in Nepal flow into the northern plains. Experts say the disaster is a warning not simply because floodwaters cross the border, but because India and Nepal share an increasingly volatile Himalayan river system. Nepal has more than 6,000 rivers and streams, most of which drain southwards into India and eventually the Ganges. The Kosi, Gandaki, Karnali and Mahakali are among the major transboundary river systems, while smaller rivers such as the Bagmati, Kamala, Rapti and Babai can produce rapid and unpredictable floods. Bihar faces the greatest exposure. Nearly three quarters of north Bihar is classified as flood prone with major rivers including the Kosi, ...

  A European research project is developing a portable sensor system that could detect multiple pesticides in surface and groundwater on site, helping authorities respond faster to pollution triggered by floods, heavy rain and landslides. Researchers are developing a next generation sensor system that could detect pesticide pollution in water in real time, potentially helping authorities respond faster to contamination caused by floods, heavy rainfall, droughts and other extreme weather events. The technology is being developed under the STARDUST project, coordinated by SINTEF in Norway, with researchers from Norway, Romania, Poland, Ireland and Denmark. The project aims to develop an optical sensor capable of detecting multiple pesticides in both surface water and groundwate...