Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
developed a low cost ICT tool in eight villages
aimed at providing detailed queries about local
agricultural and weather patterns to village com-
munities through the use of a desk top based system
connected through an Internet Hub. A local NGO
coordinates these rural knowledge centers through
maintenance of the records of responses and solu-
tions provided by technical experts. (Sreedhar et
al, 2009). The rural knowledge centers have also
helped build capacity for local women to under-
take their own weather measurements of rainfall
temperature. Generation of local level drought
vulnerability maps using GIS based colour coding
mapping tools have helped raise awareness about
drought impacts in the region.
Community perception about past weather
patterns and drought vulnerability assessments
is a key component in developing a knowledge
based adaptation practices besides useful use of
technology and communication tools. ICT tools at
community level will ensure availability of critical
information at the right time apart from getting a
better understanding of future climate risks.
studies as well as through mountaineering expe-
ditions. In earlier times most of our knowledge
of glaciers came through historical and anecdotal
knowledge mainly through expeditions in differ-
ent parts of the world. The quest to explore the
vast frontiers of nature has often led man to the
remotest corners of our planet and consequently
a vast storehouse of information and knowledge
is documented through various mountaineering
groups and societies.
Changes in the behaviour of glaciers are
considered as important indicators of climate
change.Synoptic climate change expresses itself
as micro-scale perturbations in meteorological
variables, such as incoming radiation, temperature,
cloudiness and precipitation, which are translated
through glacier surface mass balance into changes
in glacier geometry
(
Kumar et al, 2007). Thus, the
changes in glacier characteristics are a sensitive
indicator towards the variation in the meteorologi-
cal and environmental features.
According to Fourth Assessment Report
(IPCC, 2007b) of the Inter Governmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), mountain glaciers and
snow cover have declined on an average in both
hemispheres. Widespread decreases in glaciers
and ice caps have contributed to sea level rise and
increased runoff and earlier spring peak discharge
in many glacier- and snow-fed rivers. This has
also caused enlargement and increased numbers
of glacial lakes. In the course of the century, water
supplies stored in glaciers and snow cover are
projected to decline, reducing water availability
in regions supplied by melt water from major
mountain ranges, where more than one-sixth of the
world population currently lives. The Himalayan
region which has been for long a major focus for
the scientific community has attracted much atten-
tion in the recent past as a very fragile ecosystem.
The Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF)
has been instrumental in providing a platform
for mountaineers and other explorers to travel to
various parts of the Himalayas and record their
Himalayan Ecosystem
Climate change is now recognized one of the most
prominent threats facing civilisation and with
the prospect of a series of impacts in a climate
constrained world. Apart from the likelihood
of impacts on our natural ecosystems there are
various underlying uncertainties in terms of the
magnitude, range and timing of these impacts.
The only way by which these uncertainties can be
reduced is to understand and monitor the global and
regional climate systems extensively. One of the
most important indicators of climate change is the
phenomenon of retreating glaciers with potential
implications for future freshwater availability and
flows and water resource management.
Over the past two to three decades various
scientific institutions, academics, mountaineers
across the world have been documenting the
