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The Gangotri glacier is retreating like other glaciers in the Himalaya and its volume and size are shrinking as well. Reoccupying the historical snout positions using Global Positioning System (GPS) in rapid static mode indicates the varying rates of retreat during different time-spans of the last century, with the total retreat of 1519.13 m in the last 69 years. Post 1971, the rate of retreat of the glacier has declined. Monitoring of glacier terminus using GPS survey in kinematic mode reveals that the glacier has retreated at much lower rate (12.10 ± 0.041 ma-1) between 2004 and 2005. The study further shows that the southern portion of the snout is retreating at significantly lower rate in comparison to the northern part. However, maximum recession (13.76 ± 0.048 m in 2004-05) took place along the centreline of the glacier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the Regulating Tourism and Pilgrimage in the Himalaya meeting in New Delhi, India on December 11, 2013 is presented. Topics include guidelines related to regulated tourism and pilgrimage, interventions in isolating tourism from pilgrimage and ecotourism, and scientific zonation mapping. The meeting featured several speakers including B.M.S. Rathore, G.B. Mukherji, and S.C. Bagri.

The regular monitoring of glaciers is important to determine their retreating rate and mass balance for overall glacier health. Chaturangi glacier, a major inactive tributary of the Gangotri glacier system was selected for the present study due to its dynamic nature and also because there are no previous records of its retreating rates. In order to reconstruct past retreat- ing rates, total area loss, volume change and shift in snout position were measured through multi-temporal satellite data from 1989 to 2016 and kinematic GPS survey from 2015 to 2016. The results obtained from satellite data indicate that in the last 27 years Chaturangi glacier snout has retreated 1172.57 ± 38.3 m (average = 45.07 ± 4.31 m/year) with a total area and volume loss of 0.626 ± 0.001 sq. km and 0.139 km3 respectively. The field measurements through differential global positioning system survey revealed that the annual retreating rate was 22.84 ±0.05 m/year. The large variations in results derived from both the methods are probably because of higher difference in their accuracy. Nevertheless, the results derived from both the methods are in agreement that Chaturangi glacier is retreating at a considerable rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response to a letter to the editor about the article regarding the position coordinates of snout in different years from 1935 and 1971 that was published in the previous issue is presented.

Mountains are considered as the early indicators of climate change. The study aims to understand how the Himalayan communities perceive climate change, and how this change has impacted the livelihood and sustenance of local people particularly in the remote and rural areas of the region. In view of this, 994 households of 25 villages were interviewed from five basins five villages per basin) of the Indian Himalayan Region. Their perceptions mainly of climate change were validated/compared with the available climatic indices. People perceived rainfall pattern to be less predictable, greater change in land-use pattern, adverse impacts on forests and human health and overall reduction in their harvests. Seasonal increase in temperature was also reported. Capacity-building programmes for the inhabitants, including the most vulnerable communities in the wake of climate change would be significantly fruitful by way of mitigation and adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Indian Himalayan Region's (IHR) water source and security from springs and its spring-ecosystem and management as of October 2021. Topics covered include the spring dry up issue that has led to migration of people and disturbance of social and cultural relevance in the IHR, and the transformative programme to boost knowledge on biotic and abiotic interaction in the IHR spring-ecosystem. Also noted are recommendations made in the programme meeting.

The article offers information on the national consultation meeting for sustainable development in the Indian Himalayan Region. Topics of the meeting includes the objective of the meeting which aim to foster cooperation in the implementation of the program and develop strategies to address climate change. Also discussed are presentations from notable speakers including R. M. Pant, Shirish Sinha, and P. P. Dhyani.

The Himalayan mountain system to the north of the Indian land mass with arcuate strike of NW-SE for about 2400 km holds one of the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar regions in its high-altitude regions. Perennial snow and ice-melt from these frozen reservoirs is used in catchments and alluvial plains of the three major Himalayan river systems, i.e. the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra for irrigation, hydropower generation, production of bio-resources and fulfilling the domestic water demand. Also, variations in the extent of these glaciers are understood to be a sensitive indicator of climatic variations of the earth system and might have implications on the availability of water resources in the river systems. Therefore, mapping and monitoring of these freshwater resources is required for the planning of water resources and understanding the impact of climatic variations. Thus a study has been carried out to find the change in the extent of Himalayan glaciers during the last decade using IRS LISS III images of 2000/01/ 02 and 2010/11. Two thousand and eighteen glaciers representing climatically diverse terrains in the Himalaya were mapped and monitored. It includes glaciers of Karakoram, Himachal, Zanskar, Uttarakhand, Nepal and Sikkim regions. Among these, 1752 glaciers (86.8%) were observed having stable fronts (no change in the snout position and area of ablation zone), 248 (12.3%) exhibited retreat and 18 (0.9%) of them exhibited advancement of snout. The net loss in 10,250.68 sq. km area of the 2018 glaciers put together was found to be 20.94 sq. km or 0.2% (± 2.5% of 20.94 sq. km). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the necessity of strengthening mountain-specific research. It states that the Himalaya holds a special position with vast, complex and highly variable in space and time, making difficult to understand and characterize with the best scientific efforts. Information on workshop which mainly targeted stock of the present state of research, and associated gaps and discrepancies, is offered.

Information about the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) Researchers Fellowship programme' two-day Himalayan Researchers Consortium (HRC) is presented which was organized with an aim to provide a platform for Himalayan researchers in India to present and discuss their research findings for peer evaluation. Topics include lectures by subject experts for promoting biodiversity-based research in the mountains.

The article discuss the need of strategic environmental assessment of hydropower projects in India, to meet the demand and supply of energy. It mentions needs of harnessing hydropower projects in Indian Himalayan Region for maximum economic development. It discusses strategic plan for the future development of hydropower projects.