Want to learn more about National Geographic’s feature on snow leopards and community conservation? Ajay Bijoor takes you behind the scenes of the story   Getting to know the people of Kibber My first interaction with a larger group of local people in Kibber was at a livestock insurance meeting. Winter hadn’t set in fully, but the evenings had grown …

Tourism and climate change are transforming the fragile mountain ecosystems in the Karakorams, Himalaya-Hindu Kush and Pamirs. Ang Rita Sherpa, a native of Gokyo, in an article in Nepali Times, reflects on the increasing pressure of human activities on natural spaces and the lakes in the Solokhumbu district of Nepal. Chairman of Partners Nepal, a local nonprofit organisation that helps Himalayan communities …

  The headwaters of 10 major rivers originate near some of Earth’s highest points. Known as the world’s “third pole,”  or Baam-e-Jahan (roof of the world), the land of Mount Everest and other peaks holds the largest concentration of perennial ice outside of the polar regions. Along with snow and rain from the mountains, this ice helps supply the river …

The recent military clash between India and China has transfixed the world, writes Ejaz Haider, a security analyst, in a special report in Dawn’s Sunday magazine. He analyzes the timing and the ramifications for the two countries and for the region. The recent bloody military clash between the two neighbouring powers in remote Ladakh Valley has transfixed the world and …

Tourists are getting unprecedented glimpses of snow leopards in India as attitudes toward the predators change, writes Peter Gwin in a feature that will appear in the National Geographic’s July 2020 edition The old snow leopard was well-known in Kibber. It was unclear when he’d claimed the gorges and cliffs around this ancient Himalayan village, but over the past few years, the …

Pushed to the periphery, Sino-Indian war theatre Ladakh was once a gateway of South and Central Asia as well as a melting pot of ties between Turkestan, China, and South Asia, writes Iftikhar Gilani on the web page of Anadolu Agency, a Turkish online news portal. ANKARA: Not many people know that the landlocked Ladakh region, perched in high mountains and …

The pandemic causes a 22% decline in tourist arrivals in Q1, or $80bn loss, says UNWTO reports   Herald Report The coronavirus pandemic has caused 22% fall in international tourist arrivals in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2020 and could further drop by 60-80% over the whole year, says a report. The UN tourism watchdog says 67 …

  There is a need to focus responses on women in Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) regions, write Chanda Gurung Goodrich and Kosar Bano in an essay on gender inequalities during the pandemic published on the ICIMOD website    Disasters and public health emergencies often compound gender inequalities in developing societies. They do not have to, and in fact, rather could present opportunities …

The closure of ‘Herald’ and ‘Newsline’ in Pakistan marks a larger crisis in the country’s journalism JAHANZEB HUSSAIN | 2019 was a difficult year for Pakistani journalism. Due to a history of state-orchestrated financial pressure and censorship, a faltering national economy, and poor management by media houses themselves, scores of journalists either lost their jobs, suffered significant pay cuts, or simply …

The peace deal was signed after 18 months of talks in Doha Sorin Furcoi Al Jazeera] Peace deal signed in Qatari capital, Doha, will pave the way for the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan within 14 months   Doha, Qatar: The US and the Taliban have signed a landmark peace agreement after nearly 20 years of war that could …

The key water-related issues faced by Pakistan are that of mismanagement and population growth more than water scarcity itself, argues Amir Hussain in his latest column published in The News. He suggests a strong network of researchers, policymakers, and communities in the Indus Basin region to mitigate the risks posed by climate change to the ecosystem.     by Amir Hussain …

Impact of increase in shrubs and grasses not yet known but scientists say it could increase flooding in the region

Jost Kobusch wants to experience the highest mountain peak in the world in winter without oxygen supplement and alone.

There's more to our Hazara town than just bomb blasts: Shahida Abbasi

Unprecedented ocean and cryosphere change requires urgent action, IPCC report finds Herald Report Our oceans are warming, ice sheets are melting, and sea levels are rising – and all at an unprecedented rate, according to a report, published by the Geneva-based Mountain Research Institute. The most recent report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), highlights the severe impact …