By Aasim Sajjad Akhtar The world’s richest, most powerful people are gathered for their annual lovefest at the World Economic Forum in Davos. As they engage in small and some big talk, millions worldwide continue to fall through the cracks due to ongoing fallouts from shocks like Covid-19 and the Ukraine war. The historic peripheries of the world system, Pakistan …

By Ziauddin Ali Shah As Pakistan commemorates the 75th Independence Day, it is important to reflect upon the achievements, failures, developments and issues in Gilgit-Baltistan from different perspectives and see how, as a nation, we have reached this adversity. The region, administered by Pakistan, is home to the three largest mountain ranges and massif of snow-clad lofty peaks, scenic pastures, …

Steve Cole, Erin Guiltenane In the largest-ever study of glacial lakes, researchers using 30 years of NASA satellite data have found that the volume of these lakes worldwide has increased by about 50% since 1990 as glaciers melt and retreat due to climate change. The findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, will help researchers assessing the potential hazards …

Concerns as glaciers melt in Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, but rising global temperatures are causing them to melt rapidly.

There is a need to assess these risks and challenges, and their impacts on biodiversity, ecology and human wellbeing of Hindu Kush-Himalaya regions

Young academic cautions youth about neoliberal ‘development mantra Special Correspondent Professor Zaighum Abbas speaking on the proposed provisional provincial status for Gilgit-Baltistan at an interactive session with students of the GB Punjab University campus. Photo HAH LAHORE: Debate on the proposed constitutional setup for Gilgit-Baltistan reverberates in and outside the mountainous region. Youth and activists from GB in Pakistan and …

In the name of saving the climate, big technological and agriculture firms and corporations will uberise farmlands

Pakistan is pushing ahead with hydropower as a low-cost way of ‘greening’ its energy sector, but this ignores the latest research as well as the history of large dams in the country.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has told the BBC that summits will not lead to action on climate goals unless the public demand changes too. In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the COP26 climate summit, she said the public needed to “uproot the system”. “The change is going to come when people are demanding change. So we can’t expect everything to …

This year the Global UNWTO Students’ League competition focused on addressing the issue of plastics pollution within the sector, as well as maximizing tourism’s contributions to rural development.

In Hunza where people are still struggling to have access to basic needs including water, sanitation, electricity, health and education luxury and hotels with high inventory will have disastrous outcomes

By: Ashab Baig Commercial greed, unplanned construction and unregulated tourism are defacing the natural beauty of Hunza. HAH Photo My recent visit to Hunza was an eye-opener to me in various ways. Just one year ago and during the same months, I left a prettier, greener Hunza, though concrete walls and horrid structures had already started to deface its beauty. …

A 2,500-kilometer road trip by Anzor Bukharsky, one of Central Asia’s most beloved photographers and cultural commentators, offers a rare glimpse into everyday life on the backstreets and byways of Uzbekistan. Two local girls walk near a 900-year-old minaret in the southern town of Minor, near the border with Afghanistan. A man rests during a scorching-hot day in the courtyard …

The UNWTO initiative to search for 'Best Tourist Village' aims at making tourism a positive force for transformation, rural development and community well-being, and to maximise the contribution of the sector to reducing regional inequalities and fighting against rural depopulation.

The mining sector of the Kyrgyz Republic has been attracting a lot of diverse investments even despite frequent conflicts and violence. Investors are advised to consider volatile politics when entering the market. But for communities living in the mining areas, these investments are “life-changing, if not life-destroying”, says researcher Beril Ocaklı, published on the Voices on Central Asia.org online magazine. …