chinadialogue is expanding its operations south of the Himalayas with the appointment of prominent environmental journalist Joydeep Gupta as Delhi-based south Asia director of www.thethirdpole.net. Joydeep Gupta will be responsible for building transboundary cooperation on climate-change impacts and adaptation in the Himalayan watershed, and for strengthening the network of scientists, journalists, activists and policymakers participating in the project.
His appointment offers an important opportunity to bridge the north-south Himalayan divide. Commenting on his appointment, Gupta said: “The importance of the Himalayas for the well-being of Asia cannot be over-emphasised. We are all being affected by changes in the Himalayas due to global warming, deforestation, and unintended effects of development projects. It is changing the rainfall pattern, the ice, the water flowing down the slopes, the crops one can grow downstream and just about anything else you can think of."
"The only way to handle these changes is to understand them in a holistic way, rather than through national prisms. This wider understanding is what the third pole project is fostering, and I am very glad to be in the team that is taking up this challenge."
Isabel Hilton, editor of chinadialogue, added: “We are delighted that Joydeep Gupta is joining the team. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the many complex issues that lie at the core of the environmental crisis of the third pole and will strengthen our efforts to build an open and robust cross-cultural, transboundary and cross-disciplinary dialogue.”