A year after a devastating earthquake triggered killer avalanches and rock falls in Nepal, scientists are wiring up mountainsides to forecast hazards.

Rapid changes in Tibetan grasslands are threatening Asia's main water supply and the livelihood of nomads.

The devastating magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal in April caused surprisingly few landslides, researchers say — confirming the early impressions of scientists who raced to map collapsed terrain in the quake’s aftermath. However, there is still hot debate over just how severe the event’s impacts were.

A comprehensive environmental assessment of the Plateau of Tibet has found that the region is getting hotter, wetter and more polluted, threatening its fragile ecosystems and those who rely on them. The plateau and its surrounding mountains cover 5 million square kilo­metres and hold the largest stock of ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic; the region is thus often referred to as the Third Pole. And like the actual poles, it is increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, but rapid development is putting it doubly at risk, the report says.

Study under way on Mongolian steppes aims to improve knowledge of warming effects on vegetation.

Toxic chemicals are accumulating in the ecosystems of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau, researchers warn in the the first comprehensive study to assess levels of certain organic pollutants in that part of the world.

The days when the gigantic Indian rivers — the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra — roar freely down the steep slopes of the Himalayas may be numbered. Roughly 300 dams are proposed or under construction in the deeply cut valleys of India’s mountainous north, part of a massive effort to meet the country’s spiralling energy demands. But the projects are facing fierce resistance from local communities, as well as from scientists who predict that the dams’ ecological impacts will be much greater than official environmental assessments suggest

The days when the gigantic Indian rivers — the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra — roar freely down the steep slopes of the Himalayas may be numbered.

The majority of glaciers on the Tibetan plateau and in the surrounding region are retreating rapidly, according to a study based on 30 years of satellite and field measurements.

With the health of the world’s highest glaciers in dispute, an international team is planning a long-term campaign to measure the vital signs of the ice atop Tibet and its surrounding mountains.