The Third Pole

The Third Pole is a multilingual platform dedicated to promoting information and discussion about the Himalayan watershed and the rivers that originate there. The project was launched as an initiative of chinadialogue, in partnership with the Earth Journalism Network. It is a registered non-profit organisation based in New Delhi and London, with editors also based in Kathmandu, Beijing, Dhaka and Karachi. The region that encompasses the Himalaya-Hindu Kush mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau is widely known as the Third Pole because its ice fields contain the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions. This region is the source of the 10 major river systems that provide irrigation, power and drinking water for over 1.3 billion people in Asia – nearly 20% of the world’s population.

Climate Crisis

Pakistan’s Trans Community battles Climate Catastrophe and Exclusion

The Third Pole

Trans people affected by floods in Pakistan’s Balochistan province gather to receive aid from the non-profit Al-Khidmat Foundation, in partnership with Unilever Pakistan (Photo courtesy of Al-Khidmat Foundation) Adeel Saeed ( The Third Pole) – This winter was very hard for Bunti, a transgender woman, or Khawaja Sira as trans people are known in […]

Children

After the Worst April-May Heatwave in History, Indians and Pakistanis must Demand these Urgent Climate Actions

The Third Pole

Aditi Mukherji ( The Third Pole ) – When heatwaves disrupt our children’s education, it is time to demand climate action. I am writing this as a climate scientist and a mother of two young children. I was a member of the team that wrote the latest climate report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on […]

Climate Crisis

Shrinking Glaciers threaten Chinese and Indian Energy Transitions

The Third Pole

By Alok Gupta ( Third Pole ) – As glaciers shrink and monsoon rainfall becomes more unpredictable due to climate change, uncertainty around the viability of hydropower projects in the Hindu Kush Himalayas is increasing. A recent study on the state of a glacier on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau raises questions about the region’s long-term water supply and […]

Climate Crisis

Working with Local Knowledge only way to save Pakistan from Flood Disasters

The Third Pole

By Daanish Mustafa | – ( The Third Pole) – How would a decolonised water perspective and practice mitigate the effects of the type of floods that Pakistan is witnessing in 2022? If decolonising water is about recentring the multiple layers of meaning and practice that are associated with water at the local and indigenous […]

Books

Review: ‘The Nutmeg’s Curse’ by Novelist Amitav Ghosh traces Climate Crisis Origins to European Colonialism

The Third Pole

By Joydeep Gupta | – ( The Third Pole) – In his latest book, Amitav Ghosh identifies the beginning of the climate crisis as the point where total exploitation – of both lands and people – became the prevailing mode of growth in the world economy I did not ‘like’ The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav […]

Asia

Will this Year’s Conference of Parties (COP) 26 Seek Climate Justice for Global South, too?

The Third Pole

By Omair Ahmad | – ( Third Pole ) – Unless the connection between economic security and a green transition is made clear by the media and politicians, the climate summit will remain full of high talk with little content Woman loading charcoal in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. There will be little progress in combating climate […]

Climate Crisis

COVID death Tolls are Horrific, but those of Global Heating are much Worse

The Third Pole

By Soumya Sarkar | – ( TheThirdPole.net) – Unless the world curbs greenhouse gas emissions significantly, extreme heat could become a major global killer by the end of this century, equalling death rates for all infectious diseases combined, including tuberculosis, HIV and malaria. In the largest international study till now on health and financial impacts […]