The Met Department has predicted rain in North India during the next two to three days.

It said some areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi would experience rainfall.

An avalanche warning has also been issued for high reaches of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, asking people not to venture in these areas over the next 36 hours.

Higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have witnessed fresh snowfall and rain during the past 24 hours.

January and February 2016 smashed temperature records, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said today as it warned that climate change was advancing at an “unprecedented” rate.

Temperatures in the first two months of 2016 followed a year that broke “all previous records by a wide margin,” the UN’s weather agency said.

The WMO pointed to record 2015 sea surface temperatures, unabated sea-level rise, shrinking sea ice and extreme weather events around the world.

“The alarming rate of change we are now witnessing in our climate as a result of greenhouse gas emissions is unprecedented in modern records,” the WMO’s new chief, Petteri Taalas, said in a statement.

Dave Carlson, head of the WMO-co-sponsored World Climate Research Programme, said the rising temperatures this year were especially alarming. “The startlingly high temperatures so far in 2016 have sent shockwaves around the climate science community,” Carlson said in the statement.

WMO confirmed findings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last Thursday.

The US agency determined that last month was the warmest February since modern records began, with an average temperature that was 1.21 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average.

The hike in temperatures during the first two months of the year was especially felt in the far north, with the extent of sea ice in the Arctic at a satellite-record low in February, the agency said.

Carbon-dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere also crossed the threshold of 400 parts per million (ppm) during the first two months of the year, WMO said.

In 2014, CO2 levels had already risen to 397.7 ppm, which was 143 percent of levels prior to 1750, considered the start of the industrial era. Today’s report came against a backdrop of the Paris climate talks in December.

UN members enshrined a goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2 C above pre-industrial levels, with a more ambitiouis target of 1.5 C if possible.

But Taalas warned that the planet is already about halfway to the 2 C milestone, with no sign of slowing down. “Our planet is sending a powerful message to world leaders to sign and implement the Paris Agreement … now before we pass the point of no return,” he said.

“Today, the Earth is already one degree Celsius hotter than at the start of the 20th century,” Talaas said, warning that “national climate change plans adopted so far may not be enough to avoid a temperature rise of 3 C.

The reports also explained the impact of the heat wave in Indian subcontinent in 2015. It said, in the month of May last year, some stations in Odisha, Telangana and coastal Andhra Pradesh reported temperatures of about 47 °C between 23 and 26 May.

About 2 500 people died due to the heat, with over 2 000 deaths in the south Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh alone.

A period of extreme temperatures also affected southern Pakistan from 17 to 24 June, where temperatures exceeded 40 °C.

More than 1 400 people died in the heat of Karachi and about 200 people in other parts of Sindh province. Extreme heat is common in the pre-monsoon season on the Indian subcontinent.

But in 2015, the heat extended over a larger area than normal. It incorporated regions such as Andhra Pradesh in eastern India and coastal Pakistan, and was accompanied by very high humidity in places.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 3rd Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in New Delhi.

More than 700 tiger experts, scientists, managers, donors and other stakeholders are gathering to discuss issues related to tiger conservation. Ministers and government officials from countries having Tiger population are participating in the conference.

While several Tiger Range Countries like India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan have registered an increase in tiger population, the status of Tiger remains “endangered”.

In some countries Tiger population has decimated to levels that are a cause of concern.

Government of India has allotted Rs 380 crore to the Project Tiger in the current fiscal year. The amount is an all-time high.

Hyderabad :  Imagine having a wide variety of plants, exotic fish, colourful earth all in your drawing room! Now you can create the beauty of underwater landscaping called Aquascaping. How about making your kids learn bit of Aquascaping this summer, that too free of cost. Sounds incredible right.

As part of the ongoing Hyderabad Arts Festival Season 4, a free workshop on Aquascaping for kids will be organized here in city at Little Sparks Global at Gachibowli, near Radisson Hotel on 23dth April at 9.30 am. The entry for the same is free.  Parents can register their kids for free on www.hyderabadartsfestival.com

It will be jointly organised by Hydourite Arts Festival and Little Sparks Global as part of the ongoing Season 4 of the Hyderabad Arts Festival .

The workshop will be conducted by  Syed Shah from Aquascape Addicts.

Aquascaping is nothing but ‘underwater gardening’. It is a unique craft of arranging aquatic plants, rocks, stones, cavework, and other in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water. The primary aim of aquascaping is to create an artful underwater landscape

The craft of aquascaping has become increasingly popular in recent years.  Kids love to get into Aquascaping.

Aquascaping is a learned art. It is allows participants to create an underwater landscape, inspiration for many works come from both underwater locations but also natural scenes such as mountains, jungles, deserts, waterfalls and many others.

It was a proud moment for Heritage Group of Institutions for significant contribution towards a safe environment and inculcating the culture among the students towards Nation Building on this International Earth Day 2016. On April 11th, 2016, during Prarambh Management Fest, Shri Pradip Agarwal CEO, Heritage Group of Institutions along with Prof. Malay Kumar Banerjee, Dean, Heritage Business School planted a sapling to commemorate Earth Day which is celebrated as on today.

Moreover Students Council of Heritage Institute of Technology organized “Entre Spark” an awareness programme towards Social and Green Energy Entrepreneurship.from 20th April till 23rd April 2016. The programme witnessed various seminars and interactive discussions on starting up ventures in the sector of solar energy, wind energy and many more so that the economy on a large scale can be benefited with such awareness programmes. The progarmme also witness interactive session with budding women entrepreneurs like Ms. Rupanajna De, ICSI, having her own consulting firm and many more.

The students and the faculty members were involved thoroughly during these programmes.

In Odisha, there is no respite from the blistering sun as the day temperature remained above 40 degrees at 17 places.

Mercury touched 48.5 degrees Celsius at Titlagarh in Western Odisha on Sunday.

88 deaths due to sunstroke from various sources has been reported so far.

Met Department has predicted that the heat wave conditions is likely to prevail for some more days in the state.

The heat wave has also hit Andhra Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Meteorologists blame the El Nino weather phenomenon for heat wave conditions and say the temperatures are likely to remain high in the days to come.

More than 6000 personnel, three IAF choppers fitted with Bambi bucket to carry water have been deployed in Uttarakhand to douse the forest fire that engulfed large part of the hill state. The situation is under control now.

Meanwhile, a four-member Central team of experts, including Special Director Centre for Fire Explosives K C Wadha and director of Delhi Fire Services G C Misra have reached Uttarakhand to assess the situation and suggest possible remedies.

In view of the urgency of the matter, the team will submit it’s report to the Home Ministry within a week with its recommendations.

Earlier in the day, Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the forest fire situation with top officials of the Uttarakhand government and assured them of all Central assistance.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that the Centre is taking the forest fire in Uttarakhand very seriously and making all efforts to control it.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi, the union minister said that six thousand personnel have already deployed to douse the fire.

India is gearing up for the onset of Southwest Monsoon 2016.

Mausam Bhawan will be coming out with its monsoon forecast on 15th may.

There are indications that monsoon will hit the country on time this year.

The country is eagerly waiting for monsoon. The heat wave is still seen parts of the country but hopes are high that monsoon will be good.

The met department has already predicted an above normal monsoon after 2 consective year of drought.

The met has predicted Heavy rain at isolated places in Uttarakhand, interior Tamil Nadu and Kerala during next 24 hours.

Thundersquall with hailstorm also likely to occur at isolated places over Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim during the period.

15th may will be the day when MET department will come out with its official monsoon forecast.

The met has also predicted thundersquall at isolated places over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, east Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Jammu division.thundersquall are common in these regions of the country in summers.

But heat wave conditions has prevailed at isolated places in west Rajasthan and north Kerala.

The highest maximum temperature recorded over the plains was 45.8 degree Celsius at Ganganagar in western Rajasthan.

Meanwhile in some good news to drought hit maharashtra the Meteorological Department has said the state is likely to receive 27 per cent more rainfall than the annual average this monsoon.

Monsoon in South Asia can be categorized into two based on their spread over the subcontinent – Arabian Sea Branch and the Bay of Bengal Branch. Alternatively, it can be categorized into Southwest and Northwest monsoon based on the direction of rain-bearing winds.

Southwest monsoon hits the Kerala coast every year precisely on June 1. Monsoon does not come gradually, it “bursts” suddenly on a single day. The most powerful supercomputers are used to analyze monsoon, its aspects and its exact date of hitting land.

The summertime heating of the plateau of Tibet is the most important factor in the causation and maintenance of monsoonal circulation.

Sub-Tropical Jet stream (STJ) is a narrow band of fast moving air flowing from west to east [Westerlies].STJ in northern hemisphere flows between 25° to 35° N in the upper troposphere at a height of about 12-14 km p.h.

Westerly jet stream blows at a very high speed during winter over the sub-tropical zone. This jet stream is bifurcated by the Himalayan ranges and Tibetan Plateau. The two branches reunite off the east coast of China. With the beginning of summer in March, the STJ start their northward march due to the intense heating and the low pressure created over the sub-continent.

The southerly branch of STJ remains positioned south of Tibet, although weakening in intensity. The Tibet Plateau is 600 kilometers wide in the west and 1,000 kilometers wide in the east. Its length is about 2,000 km. The average height of the plateau is about 4,000 meters. Thus, it is an enormous block of high ground acting as a formidable barrier. The summer-time heating of Tibetan Plateau makes it a heat source.

A warm-core anticyclone is formed over this plateau during the summer monsoon period. It is the result of a process called anticyclogenesis.

However, on the southern side of this upper-air anticyclone, the direction of air flow is from east to west. An easterly jet emerges over peninsular India with the northward migration of STJ.

In fact, these easterly winds blowing in the mid-troposphere are known as the Tropical Easterly Jet. This jet extends far to the south of Tibet and the air flow is roughly along the Calcutta-Bangalore axis.

These upper-air easterlies descend in the permanent high pressure area formed over the south Indian Ocean (Mascarene high). This naturally intensifies the high pressure already present there and it is from this high pressure cell that the onshore winds start blowing towards the thermally-induced low pressure area developed in the northwestern part of the Indian sub-continent due to intense heating in the summer months.

It is clear that the strength of the easterly jet is directly related to the intensification of the permanent ‘high’ formed over the south Indian Ocean. Since this higher pressure makes the pressure gradient steeper, so it is the main causative factor for determining the vigor of the summer monsoon.

At the beginning of June, the STJ disappears from the southern side of the plateau. In other words, the jet disappears completely over northern India accentuated by the anticyclogenesis created by the Tibetan plateau. This sudden shift is the cause of the “bursting” of the monsoon. An immediate phenomenon !

The easterly winds become very active in the upper troposphere ,hence the south west monsoon. A timely northward shift of the subtropical westerly jet at the beginning of summer is critical to the onset of the southwest monsoon over India.

If the shift is delayed, so is the southwest monsoon. An early shift results in an early monsoon. After crossing the equator, such winds become southwesterly (due to coriolis effect) and are known as the Southwesterly Summer Monsoon.

Indian Army mountaineers led by Lieutenant Colonel Ranveer Jamwal and a team of six army mountaineers successfully summitted Mount Everest (8848M) at dawn on May 19.

Concurrently, the Lhotse Summit Team under Major Nooruddin Ahmed is attempting to summit Mount Lhotse (fourth highest peak in the world at 8501M).

The Indian Army climbers were amongst the initial lot of mountaineers to successfully climb Everest after a hiatus of two years as the peak was closed due to the devastation caused by the earthquake in Nepal last year.

Scientists have discovered the oldest known population of plant root stem cells in a 320 million- year-old fossil, providing a window into how ancient roots developed.

The research marks the first time an actively growing fossilized root has been discovered – in effect, an ancient plant frozen in time.

The cells, which gave rise to the roots of an ancient plant, were found in a fossilized root tip at Oxford University in the UK.

“I was examining one of the fossilized soil slides as part of my research into the rooting systems of ancient trees when I noticed a structure that looked like the living root tips we see in plants today,” said Alexander Hetherington, a PhD student at Oxford.

“It gives us a unique window into how roots developed hundreds of millions of years ago,” he said.

Stem cells – self-renewing cells responsible for the formation of multicellular organisms – are located in plants at the tips of shoots and roots in groups called meristems. The 320 million-year-old stem cells are different to all those living today, with a unique pattern of cell division that remained unknown until now.

That tells us that some of the mechanisms controlling root formation in plants and trees have now become extinct and may have been more diverse than thought.

These roots were important because they comprised the rooting structures of the plants growing in the Earth’s first global tropical wetland forests with tall trees over 50m in height and were in part responsible for one of the most dramatic climate change events in history.

The evolution of deep rooting systems increased the rate of chemical weathering of silicate minerals in rocks – a chemical reaction that pulled carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, leading to the cooling of the Earth and thus one of the planet’s great ice ages.

The fossils studied during this research are the remains of the soil from the first giant tropical rainforests on Earth

. The rock in which the soil is preserved formed in the Carboniferous swamps that gave rise to the coal sources spanning what is now Appalachia to central Europe, including the coal fields in Wales, northern England and Scotland.

The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

Today is world environment day. Every year on this day issues related to environment are debated and discussed worldwide.

This year United Nations has called for an international campaign to take a strong action to curb the illegal trade of wildlife products that are threatening the biodiversity of our home planet.

Several programmes are being organized throughout the country to raise awareness about environment protection.

Vizag :  Gangavaram Port Limited, India’s deepest and multi-purpose port today celebrated the World Environment Day by initiating a massive Green belt development program at the port premises to create awareness and express their commitment towards the environmental sustainability. Nearly 500 people along with the employees of Gangavaram Port Limited   participated in the celebrations and pledged to maintain clean & green surroundings.

Apart from sapling plantation at the port premises Gangavaram Port Senior Officials and Employee voluntarily participated in the “Green Rally” event organized by AP Pollution Control Board, Visakhapatnam. The event was flagged at Rama Krishna Beach and was attended by people from all walks of life . The Week long Environment Day celebrations which started from 31st May 2016   consisted of a massive green drive of planting more than 10,000 saplings, cleaning & housekeeping of the port premises. Under the Green belt development program GPL, during this year, plans to plant 60,000 saplings in the port premises and neighborhood area also.

This year theme for World Environment day 2016 “Go Wild for Life..Fight against the illegal trade in wildlife” was incorporated in the weeklong celebrations through special themed posters stressing upon the need to stop poaching and illegal trade of wildlife.

GPL’s initiative for green environment is reiterated with launch of “Green port” all along 22 zones created in Port Operational area. Every zone headed by the respective department head and their teams plans to develop and maintain the zone for sustainable growth , greenery and cleanliness

Mumbai: GVK CSIA, the company that administers Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) is hosting a 3-day event to commemorate World Environment Day starting from June 5. The company assiduously follows its philosophy of sustainable living by virtue of which the Environment Day celebrations are mindfully devised placing immense emphasis on the need for environmental protection.

During the course of the event, environment experts interacted with kids – the special guests for the launch of a book titled ‘The Peepal, the girl and the city’, authored by Kalyani Mazumdar and based on the botanical garden set in the midst of the hustling Mumbai airport. The botanical garden spread across 90000 sq meter of green landscape, which has 77,000 plants of  100 plus species is an initiative to uncloak the beauty of nature and sensitise everyone to safeguard it in every act. The bonsai and the terrarium shows at the event were an effort to introduce the magnificence of these miniature plant estates to the audience. The talk show on birds, butterflies and garden during the event apprised the attendees about the rich and diverse wildlife and its importance to Mother Nature.

At GVK CSIA, the company wholly understands the pertinence of wildlife for nature’s balance and has been closely working towards protecting it. The company aligned this initiative with United Nation’s theme of ‘Go Wild for life’ that aims to protect endangered species by emphasizing on the crucial role of wild life in nature’s protection.

The exhibition of recycled bags stressed on the importance of making the optimum utilisation of available natural resources. Similarly, GVK CSIA has been ensuring efficient use of available natural resources and minuscule dependence on artificial resources through use of solar power and recycling waste water. The solar plants at the airport will generate 1.6 MWp of solar power by the year end.

The company’s effort of minimising stress on the environment has resulted in remarkable reduction of carbon emissions. The carbon emissions at the busiest airport in the country have lowered from 2.93 kg per passenger in 2014-15 to 2.56 kg per passenger in 2015-16. These measures in totality have earned the terminal the Indian Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) gold rating for green buildings for sustainable and environment friendly design features. The airport was also awarded the prestigious Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) level 3 optimization accreditation honour by international agency by airport council international (ACI).

GVK CSIA is deeply committed towards spreading the message of positive environmental protection for a better future. In view of this, environment experts at the event interacted with 30 kids on the need to protect save environment. These kids took an oath to shield the environment from getting depleted. The children were informed about lucrative career options focusing on environment that are now available for them to pursue in the near future.

Source : Lokesh Shastri

The Assam state capital Guwahati on Monday become the first city in the country to have its own City Animal with the Kamrup Metropolitan district administration declaring the Gangetic River Dolphin as the mascot.

In a press conference, Kamrup Metropolitan Deputy Commissioner M Angamuthu said that the animal, locally known as ‘Sihu’, would be the ‘City Animal’ of Guwahati.

The district administration had organised online and off-line voting among three protected creatures, which are on the verge of extinction, to decide the mascot.

Along with Gangetic River Dolphin, the other two animals were Black Softshell Turtle (Bor Kaso) and Greater Adjutant Stork (Hargila).

While less than 2,000 Gangetic River Dolphins remain in the Brahmaputra along Guwahati, a recent survey said only a small population of Black Softshell Turtle were found in the river and its tributaries.

The number of Greater Adjutant Stork is less than 1,200 in and around the state capital.

The three-month long voting process attracted 60,003 participants to decide the City Animal and Gangetic River Dolphin received 24,247 votes.

While Greater Adjutant Stork got 18,454 votes, Black Softshell Turtle was the choice of 17,302 people. In the off-line voting, 76 schools and colleges across Guwahati participated.

Bhopal, A tigress was today found dead at Hinauta range of Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Panna district.

“We got to know that a tigress around 11-year-old christened as T-5 has been found dead today in the core area of the reserve,” PTR field director Vivek Jain told PTI.

“I don’t have much details of it as I am in Delhi right now. But I have been informed that initial findings suggest that the striped animal died in a territorial fight with another big cat,” he said.

We are going to conduct the postmortem of the tigress according to the guidelines of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), he added.

PTR made headlines in early 2009 when it became devoid of the striped animal following poaching and other reasons.

After that a tiger reintroduction and revival programme was launched there following which the big cat population has reached over 25 now.

New Delhi ; In Uttarakhand, intermittent rain in high altitude areas and other parts of the state is being experienced since morning. The Meteorological Department has issued an alert of heavy rain, likely to occur at isolated places especially in hill and border districts of Nainital, Tehri, Champawat, Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi in the next 24 hours. Keeping in view of the MeT Dept alert all District Magistrates of the respective district have been asked to remain alert and to take all precautionary measures. People living in low lying areas near the rivers have been asked to move to safer places. Meanwhile, Char Dham yatra and Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is going on uninterrupted.

The Stellenbosch Municipality and Aurecon have partnered together in adopting the ‘Bergzicht Market Trees’ in support of the ‘Champion Trees’ project initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The goal of this partnership is to assist the Department in raising awareness and informing the public about, amongst other things, the historical, cultural and tourism value those trees which have been declared as being of national significance.

René O’Connell, Quality, Environment & Sustainability Manager at Aurecon, says that all of the trees which have been identified as ‘Champion Trees’ have a rich history and the Bergzicht Market Trees, located in the Stellenbosch, are no exception. “The three trees were planted in front of the ‘Heerenhuys’ in 1880 and, in spite of this property being rezoned as a taxi rank in 1952 and almost completely burning down in 1992, the trees have continued to flourish, providing as they do shade for an entire informal market.”

An information board describing the history of the Bergzicht Market Trees was unveiled during a ceremony held at the Bergzicht Market Precinct on Wednesday, 11 May, by the Executive Mayor of the Stellenbosch Municipality, Councillor Conrad Sidego. “We must all take lessons from the ‘Champion Tree’. Just like the branches of the tree work together to grow the strongest tree, we are also like the different branches of the same tree. We must all work together to ensure extraordinary achievements and results,” says Sidego.

Also in attendance at the event were prominent local horticulturalists, representatives from the Department together with experts who served on the panel which assisted in the identification and shortlisting of the ‘Champion Trees’.

Portia Bolton, Head of Greening, Department Community and Protection Services, from the Stellenbosch Municipality, says that the Municipality is proud to be supporting the ‘Champion Trees’ project by raising public awareness about these magnificent trees. “As the first municipality to do so, we would like to encourage other municipalities across the rest of South Africa to do the same.”

Aurecon too is proud to be supporting the ‘Champion Tree’ project. “Our involvement is based on our belief of the important role that companies such as ours should play in protecting the world for future generations. Our passion for sustainability lies in our commitment to growing a sustainable business; and a sustainable and resilient world around us,” concludes O’Connell.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday released a book titled “The Birds of Banni Grassland” in New Delhi.

The book was presented to the Prime Minister by the Scientists of Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology.

The Book is a compilation of the research work, relating to more than 250 species of birds found in the Banni area of Kutch, Gujarat.

The Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, located at Bhuj, has been studying the plant, bird and marine life in the Rann of Kutch for over 15 years.

On the occasion of International Environment Day commemorated on the 1st of July 2016, the organised by the government of Maharashtra has initiated a plantation drive for more than two crore trees.

On this very occasion, GWRL has pledged to plant approximately 2 thousand trees in the vicinity of their Wai plant. The activity was inaugurated by Mrs. Vijayatai Ghosle – Host of Pratapghad Utsav Samiti.

The villagers of Chandak and the forest department of the Wai also participated in the drive by planting 200 saplings.

GWRL and social forestry planted 300 trees on the outskirts of Wai Mandhardevi – located nearby Renuse.  Mr. Prabodh Kant from Garware Wall Ropes Limited on the occasion stated that GWRL this year plans to actively participate in the drive and has pledged to plant 3 thousand saplings.

For this programme several dignitaries like Vijayatai Bhosle – Host of Pratabghad Utsav Samiti, Mr. Prabodh Kamat  of Garware Wall Ropes, Shri. S.G Paluskar, Shri Vaibhav Joshi, Shri Abhijit Joshi, Shri Ravindra Garde,  Dr. Abhay Gupta, Union representatives Shri Mahindra Shanve, Shri Sampat Jagtap, Shri Kiran Nayakwadi  along with other employees were present, for the program. The Vice Sarpanch of the Chandak village – Shri Khamkar, the sarpanch of Dhawdi village – Shri Sateesh Mandhre and the sarpanch of Bopordi village – Shri Suneel Gawde were also present to express their enthusiasm for the drive and their love and fondness for Mother Nature.