Climate Change in Himalaya

The 3-month long assignment has come to the end, but the journey with the Himalayas never ends. Writing this blog is just like a self-paced trekking deep into the Himalayas, along with the magnificent landscape and incredible flora and fauna, the environmental change is also taking place in the Third Pole in recent decades. Natural climate variability and increased human activities are known to have contributed to glacial environment change, forest degradation, floods and GLOFs, landcover and biodiversity loss associated with ecosystem disturbance, which in turn affects the global climate system regulation and leads to vulnerabilities in social-economic developments at many levels. Before it is too late, more attention and actions with precise steps are needed from governments, research institutions, NGOs, local communities, you, me and everyone, to safeguard the Himalayan environment and human well-being. I will keep this blog open for more discoveries along the journey in the Himalay...

Source: JULIE LARSEN MAHER @WCS Hi there, I know you rarely see me this close, I am a medium-sized cat but not that kind of cat you often see in nature, instead I am solitary by very high altitude and one of the most elusive and vulnerable top predators of the world. My kingdom can be found in mountainous regions from Central Asia of Russia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan to Hindu-Kush-Himalayan regions through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and China. Life in these harshest environments is not easy, but I am very well evolved and superbly adapted to survive. Thanks to my woolly and dense hairs I can ward off the severe cold and easily walk on ice and snow with my large fur-covered snowshoes . I've also got enlarged nasal cavity and muscular chest to get sufficient oxygen at high altitudes, my powerful legs and long tail (as long as my body) help me to spring up to 50 feet high with a good balance , and move around my rugged kingdom without any problem. ...