28 years of Earth’s surface changes on Google

function maps() { var popurl="http://www.downtoearth.org.in/themes/DTE/rainfalls/maps.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=820,height=450,scrollbars=yes") } It is now possible to track how the landscape across the world has changed in the recent past. Google has released a new environment monitoring platform, Google Earth Engine, which brings satellite images of the planet’s surface over the past 28 years on to viewers’ screens, giving people the opportunity to look at land surface changes at any place on the earth.

Assam not a necessary party to hydel power development in Arunachal, says green tribunal

Himalayan destruction

THE Himalayas are virtually under bombardment—of dams. They would have the highest dam density in the world, with over a thousand water reservoirs dotting the mountain range in India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan, over the next few years. These projects would have serious ecological and social impacts and would spell disaster for the biodiversity of the region. All this for the much-sought-after hydroelectricity, officially dubbed cleaner and cheaper.

Natural highways

Mukhtar Islam and his crew of 21 have just completed a historic journey from Kolkata to Allahabad in 45 days. They were steering two tugboats, each pulling a barge carrying turbines. In 50 years, no big ship has sailed up the Ganga. By road it would have taken the crew two days to reach Allahabad and by train, less than 36 hours. The turbines, weighing 0.3 million tonnes, could not be transported by road or train because of their size.

Activists Akhil Gogoi and Ramesh Agrawal attacked

Two activists, one leading an anti-dam stir and the other land grab by industrial houses, were attacked in separate incidents. Akhil Gogoi was attacked with sticks and sharp weapons in Assam while Ramesh Agrawal was shot at in Chhattisgarh.

Assam, Arunachal Pradesh face worst ever floods recorded in June

While parts of the country remains parched, northeastern states are reeling under the effects of one of the worst floods they have ever faced in the month of June. Assam has already received 104 per cent excess rainfall in a week starting June 20. Twenty-three of the 27 districts are flooded, displacing 300,000 people and killing 20.

Arunachal Pradesh postpones public hearing as anti-dam protests get violent

With the anti dam stir gaining ground in Arunachal Pradesh, the state government has postponed the public hearing for the third phase of a hydroelectric project on the Siang river.       The 2,700 MW Lower Siang project by J P associates will be built in Rottung near Aalo town of East Siang district in the state.

Siang goes dry, says Arunachal Pradesh minister

Activists campaigning against damming of the Brahmaputra river system in Arunachal Pradesh have countered the recent statement by the state’s Minister of Water Resources Tako Dabi about drying up of the Siang river, a tribuitary of the Brahmaputra.

Letters - January 31, 2012

Safe or unsafe?

Passive neighbour

India and Bangladesh breathed a sigh of relief last month after China denied it had plans to divert waters of Brahmaputra River to its arid region. At a press conference in Beijing on October 12, the Chinese Vice-Minister of Water Resources Jiao Yong said such a project on Yarlung Zangbo River, as it is known in Tibet where its headwaters is, would affect relations with downstream countries. This statement came with an admission that the project is neither technically feasible nor environmentally sound. But Beijing has not given up on its plans for the Brahmaputra.