September 10th,2020

Climate in change leads to 26% habitat loss for snow trout in Himalayan rivers: Study

The study — ‘Is There Always Space at The Top’– was published in the ‘Ecological Indicators’, a journal of high international repute based at the Netherlands.

Snow trout, the iconic cold-water fish species found in Himalayan rivers, would lose their habitat by 16 per cent in the next 30 years and by over 26 per cent by 2070.
The fish species has great commercial and recreational value and its sole presence in the high-altitude cold waters makes it a flagship species to conserve the Himalayan rivers, the study underlines.

The study indicates that most of the lower altitude streams across the Himalayas would be rendered unsuitable for the existence of snow trout with the rise in temperatures.
Vulnerable snow trout would be squeezed into the high-altitude rivers in the Himalayas.
As it stands, the snow trout faces serious threats due to river valley modifications, destructive fishing practices and exotic salmonid introductions

A prime cold-water fish of Himalayan rivers, would suffer a habitat loss in the future and the high-altitude areas would act as only saviours, provided suitable habitat connectivity is offered,” senior scientist Kuppusamy Sivakumar.

Funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), the study is a part of the government’s National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE), which was launched to research the impact of climate change on the Himalayan ecosystem.

(Source:- Tribune(HP))

For strengthening the transport and road safety institutions by improving the condition, safety, resilience and engineering standards of the state’s road network.

In the project, Rs 615 crore will be the share of the World Bank and Rs 225 crore would be of the state government. This is the first project to which loan agreement has been signed with the World Bank post-COVID.

In the first component of the project, the improvement of institutions would be done under which the HP State Road and Other Infrastructure Development Corporation would be re-established.
The second component of the project included encouraging of horticulture and overall economic development, under which five 127-km roads would be improved.
The third component consisted of improvement in road safety, “Suraskshit Pranali” and “Surakshit Galiyara Pahal”.

(Source:- Tribune(HP))