A Comparison of Local- and Foreign-funded Hydropower Station Construction in Nepal based on Remote Sensing

International investors in large infrastructure projects face numerous risks. To explore this issue, this paper compares the development of two hydropower stations in Rasuwa District, Nepal: Upper Trishuli 3A, which is fully funded by a Chinese government bank, and Rasuwagadhi, which is fully funded by local government banks. The construction of these two plants was compared between 2012 and 2020 using a visual interpretation method to extract data on roads, buildings, dams, and vehicles from 1-m-resolution remote sensing imagery. Two methods were used to compare the environmental impacts of each plant. Landsat 7/8 30-m imagery was used to monitor changes in the normalized difference vegetation index around the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower station from 2012 to 2020 and around the Rasuwagadhi hydropower station from 2014 to 2020. Then, 1-m-resolution imagery was used to observe land-cover differences in these areas and time periods. The results indicate that: (1) despite various challenges, such as geological disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a blockade by the Indian government, there was no difference in construction progress between the two hydropower stations. (2) The Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station was associated with better environmental protection work, as there were continuous declines in vegetation growth near Rasuwagadhi and increased overall vegetation growth near Upper Trishuli 3A. (3) Energy projects funded by the Belt and Road Initiative have benefited developing countries enormously. Finally, local conditions should be thoroughly investigated during the construction of foreign-funded power stations.     

Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Species in Gandaki River Basin,Central Himalayas

Gandaki River Basin (GRB) is an important part of the central Himalayan region, which provides habitat for numerous wild species. However, climatic changes are making the habitat in this basin more vulnerable. This paper aims to assess the potential impacts of climate change on the spatial distributions of habitat changes for two vulnerable species, Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus laniger) and common leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), using the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) species distribution model. Species occurrence locations were used along with several bioclimatic and topographic variables (elevation, slope and aspect) to fit the model and predict the potential distributions (current and future) of the species. The results show that the highly suitable area of Himalayan black bear within the GRB currently encompasses around 1642 km² (5.01% area of the basin), which is predicted to increase by 51 km² in the future (2050). Similarly, the habitat of common leopard is estimated as 3999 km² (12.19% of the GRB area), which is likely to increase to 4806 km² in 2050. Spatially, the habitat of Himalayan black bear is predicted to increase in the eastern part (Baseri, Tatopani and north from Bhainse) and to decrease in the eastern (Somdang, Chhekampar), western (Burtibang and Bobang) and northern (Sangboche, Manang, Chhekampar) parts of the study area. Similarly, the habitat of common leopard is projected to decrease particularly in the eastern, western and southern parts of the basin, although it is estimated to be extended in the southeastern (Bhainse), western (Harichaur and northern Sandhikhark) and north-western (Sangboche) parts of the basin. To determine the habitat impact, the environmental variables such as elevation, Bio 15 (precipitation seasonality) and Bio 16 (precipitation of wettest quarter) highly contribute to habitat change of Himalayan black bear; while Bio 13 (precipitation of wettest month) and Bio 15 are the main contributors for common leopard. Overall, this study predicted that the suitable habitat areas of both species are likely to be impacted by climate change at different altitudes in the future, and these are the areas that need more attention in order to protect these species.     

Biodegradation of Crude Oil by Individual Bacterial Strains and a Mixed Bacterial Consortium Isolated from Hydrocarbon Contaminated Areas

A preliminary study was undertaken to determine the optimal conditions for the biodegradation of a crude oil. Among 57 oil‐degrading bacterial cultures isolated from oil‐contaminated soil samples, Bacillus sp. IOS1‐7, Corynebacterium sp. BPS2‐6, Pseudomonas sp. HPS2‐5, and Pseudomonas sp. BPS1‐8 were selected for the study based on the efficiency of crude oil utilization. Along with the selected individual strains, a mixed bacterial consortium prepared using the above strains was also used for degradation studies. The mixed bacterial consortium showed more growth and degradation than did individual strains. At 1% crude oil concentration, the mixed bacterial consortium degraded a maximum of 77% of the crude oil. This was followed by 69% by Pseudomonas sp. BPS1‐8, 64% by Bacillus sp. IOS1‐7, 45% by Pseudomonas sp. HPS2‐5, and 41% by Corynebacterium sp. BPS2‐6. The percentage of degradation by the mixed bacterial consortium decreased from 77 to 45% as the concentration of crude oil was increased from 1 to 12%. Temperature of 35°C and pH 7 were found to be optimum for maximum degradation.     

喜马拉雅中部甘达基河流域尼泊尔国鸟(棕尾虹雉)生境分布变化

甘达基河流域(Gandaki River Basin,GRB)是喜马拉雅中部地区的一部分,该地区栖息着许多珍稀的野生动物。由于气候和人类活动的影响,许多珍稀保护物种的生境处于危险之中。本研究基于最大熵(MaxEnt)模型,运用生物气候、土地覆被和DEM数据,分析各环境要素对棕尾虹雉(Lophophorusimpejanus)的生境适宜性的影响,评估棕尾虹雉现在状况和未来栖息地分布的变化。研究表明,目前棕尾虹雉的高度适宜栖息地面积约为749 km^2,主要分布在流域北部、东部和西部,尤其是郎塘国家公园、马纳斯卢峰自然保护区和安纳布尔纳峰自然保护区等保护区内。到2050年,棕尾虹雉的高度适宜栖息地面积将减少至561 km^2,主要在流域北部和西北部(即Chhyo,Tatopani,Humde和Chame地区)。未来环境变化的模拟表明,由于适宜栖息地面积的减少,棕尾虹雉面临的生存风险将增加。     

Mid-term periodicities and heliospheric modulation of coronal index and solar flare index during solar cycles 22–23

We applied fast Fourier transform techniques and Morlet wavelet transform on the time series data of coronal index, solar flare index, and galactic cosmic ray, for the period 1986–2008, in order to investigate the long- and mid-term periodicities including the Rieger (\({\sim }130\) to \({\sim }190\) days), quasi-period (\({\sim }200\) to \({\sim }374\) days), and quasi-biennial periodicities (\({\sim }1.20\) to \({\sim }3.27\) years) during the combined solar cycles 22–23. We emphasize the fact that a lesser number of periodicities are found in the range of low frequencies, while the higher frequencies show a greater number of periodicities. The rotation rates at the base of convection zone have periods for coronal index of \({\sim }1.43\) years and for solar flare index of \({\sim }1.41\) year, and galactic cosmic ray, \({\sim }1.35\) year, during combined solar cycles 22–23. In relation to these two solar parameters (coronal index and solar flare index), for the solar cycles 22–23, we found that galactic cosmic ray modulation at mid cut-off rigidity (\(\hbox {Rc} = 2.43\hbox {GV}\)) is anti-correlated with time-lag of few months.     

Some expanding and shearing viscous fluid cosmological models in general relativity

Two cylindrically-symmetric cosmological models representing viscous fluid distributions when free-gravitational field of typeD where coefficient of shear viscosity is assumed to be proportional to the rate of expansion, are obtained. The behaviour of the models in the absence of viscosity and other physical properties are also discussed.     

Clashing interpretations of REDD+ “results” in the Amazon Fund

Results-based funding (RBF) is a governance concept that is rapidly becoming the mainstream paradigm for international collaborations in the environmental sector. While portrayed as a compromise solution between market-based mechanisms and unconditional donations, the implementation of RBF is revealing new conflicts and contradictions of its own. This paper explores the application of RBF for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) by describing the discursive conflicts between recipient (i.e., Brazil) and donor (i.e., Norway and Germany) countries of the Amazon Fund about what constitutes “results” or “performance.” Although all parties agree that the financial transfers to RBF should be based on past emission reductions in relation to a historical baseline, they hold clashing interpretations about temporal (i.e., past or future) and epistemological (i.e., how to measure) aspects of the results these payments are intended for. Firstly, while Brazil emphasizes that it deserves a reward of USD 21 billion for results achieved between 2006 and 2016, donor countries have indicated an interest in paying only for most recent results as a way to incentivize further reductions. Secondly, while all parties believe that Amazon Fund should support policies to reduce deforestation, donor countries have revealed concerns that the performance of the Amazon Fund projects in generating further reductions has not been measured in a rigorous manner. This suggests that donor countries may consider making changes to current RBF mechanisms or getting involved in new forms of finance.     

Lidar observation of aerosol stratification in the lower troposphere over Pune during pre-monsoon season of 2006

Lidar observations of aerosol vertical distributions in the lower troposphere along with observations of horizontal and vertical winds from collocated UHF radar (Wind Profiler) over a tropical Indian station, Pune during the pre-monsoon season (March–May) of 2006 as part of an ISRO-GBP national campaign (ICARB) have been examined. Lidar vertical profiles showed high aerosol concentrations in the surface layers and a subsequent gradual decrease with height. Results showed the presence of an elevated stratified aerosol layer around 2000–3500m height which persisted throughout the months of March and April. Observed strong vertical gradients in both horizontal and vertical winds in the lower troposphere seem to be a possible cause for the formation of elevated aerosol layers. Further, high daytime temperatures accompanied by dry conditions at the surface help to enhance the aerosol loading in the lower layers over this location.     

Landslide susceptibility assessment of the region affected by the 25 April 2015 Gorkha earthquake of Nepal

Nepal was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 25^th April, 2015. The main shock and many large aftershocks generated a large number of coseismic landslips in central Nepal. We have developed a landslide susceptibility map of the affected region based on the coseismic landslides collected from remotely sensed data and fieldwork, using bivariate statistical model with different landslide causative factors. From the investigation, it is observed that most of the coseismic landslides are independent of previous landslides. Out of 3,716 mapped landslides, we used 80% of them to develop a susceptibility map and the remaining 20% were taken for validating the model. A total of 11 different landslide-influencing parameters were considered. These include slope gradient, slope aspect, plan curvature, elevation, relative relief, Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), distance from epicenters of the mainshock and major aftershocks, lithology, distance of the landslide from the fault, fold, and drainage line. The success rate of 87.66% and the prediction rate of 86.87% indicate that the model is in good agreement between the developed susceptibility map and the existing landslides data. PGA, lithology, slope angle and elevation have played a major role in triggering the coseismic mass movements. This susceptibility map can be used for relocating the people in the affected regions as well as for future land development.