Recent studies have shown an increasing trend in hydroclimatic disturbances like droughts, which are anticipated to become more frequent and intense under global warming and climate change. Droughts adversely affect the vegetation growth and crop yield, which enhances the risks to food security for a country like India with over 1.2 billion people to feed.

Glaciers in the high mountains of Asia (HMA) make a substantial contribution to the water supply of millions of people, and they are retreating and losing mass as a result of anthropogenic climate change3 at similar rates to those seen elsewhere. In the Paris Agreement of 2015, 195 nations agreed on the aspiration to limit the level of global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius ( °C) above pre-industrial levels. However, it is not known what an increase of 1.5 °C would mean for the glaciers in HMA.

Judgement of the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata) in the matter of Subhas Datta Vs State of West Bengal & Others dated 13/09/2017 regarding construction work being undertaken in the name of Ganga river bank development towards Kolkata and Howrah side thereby encroaching upon the river Hoogly.

Order of the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata) in the matter of Krishna Roy Choudhury Vs The Secretary, Irrigation & Waterways Department of Government of West Bengal & Others dated 11/09/2017 regarding sand mining in Damodar river.

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of National Green Tribunal Bar Association Vs. Dr. Sarvabhoum Bagali (State of Karnataka) dated 11/09/2017 regarding mechanical mining of minerals in rivers and flood plains in Karnataka. Counsel for the State of Karnataka submitted before the Tribunal that they would permit regulated dredging for removal of clay and sand from the river for the purposes of maintaining its free flow only. There shall be no mining contract granted for in river and flood plain mining.

The ancient destructive capability of earthquake faults is well chronicled by historians and their cultural impact widely uncovered by archaeologists. Archaeological and geological investigations at some of the most renowned sites in the ancient Greece world, however, suggest a more nuanced and intimate relationship between seismic faults and past human settlements.

In most Mediterranean climate (MedClim) regions around the world, global climate models (GCMs) consistently project drier futures. In California, however, projections of changes in annual precipitation are inconsistent. Analysis of daily precipitation in 30 GCMs reveals patterns in projected hydrometeorology over each of the fve MedClm regions globally and helps disentangle their causes. MedClim regions, except California, are expected to dry via decreased frequency of winter precipitation.

Cities are concentrations of sociopolitical power and prime architects of land transformation, while also serving as consumption hubs of “hard” water and energy infrastructures. These infrastructures extend well outside metropolitan boundaries and impact distal river ecosystems. We used a comprehensive model to quantify the roles of anthropogenic stressors on hydrologic alteration and biodiversity in US streams and isolate the impacts stemming from hard infrastructure developments in cities.

Increased energy demand has led to plans for building many new dams in the western Amazon, mostly in the Andean region. Historical data and mechanistic scenarios are used to examine potential impacts above and below six of the largest dams planned for the region, including reductions in downstream sediment and nutrient supplies, changes in downstream flood pulse, changes in upstream and downstream fish yields, reservoir siltation, greenhouse gas emissions and mercury contamination.

River flood risks are expected to rise as climate change intensifies the global hydrological cycle and more people live in floodplains. Changing risk may be revealed by trends in flood frequency, magnitude, or seasonality, as well as by shifts in the mechanisms that generate inundations. However, detection and attribution of climate signals in flood records is often hampered by brief, incomplete, or poor-quality flood data. Additionally, it can be difficult to disentangle the effects of changing climate, land cover, channel morphology, and human activities.

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