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It is a well
known that the global warming and environmental degradation may have very
serious consequences for the present and future generations. Every segment of
the society including government, scientists, non-governmental organizations,
industries, academicians and general public are concerned about the climate
change and the current environmental issues.
The
meteorology as a subject can be made instrumental in converting a student at
school level from a passive recipient of information to active provider of
information. There is a scope of increasing the opportunity for participatory
and interactive learning for school children, help students reach higher level
of achievements in science education.
Mountains
provide water, energy, minerals, forest and agricultural products and are areas
of recreation. They also store the biological diversity necessary for the
sustainability of human life. Mountain environments are essential to the
survival of global ecosystems. The weather and climate related data are scanty
on mountains. The Indian Himalaya Region has an area of 5,31,250 square kms.
The Himalaya are relatively young with an age varying between 60-70 million
years. So they are geologically active and structurally unstable. There is
steep climatic gradient varying from sub-tropical to arctic altitudes ranging
from 300-8000 meters.
Integrating
the three above a new program PROBE has been launched at the behest of
Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The initiation of
U-PROBE in Uttarakhand during 2002 was timely as United Nations had proclaimed
2002 as International Year of Mountains. This increased the awareness on global
importance of mountain ecosystems, draw world attention to address to the
problems of the mountain regions and provide knowledge on Meteorology and
Environment among students.
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