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WELCOME TIME TO ACT Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, methane entering our atmosphere has accounted for more than 30 per cent of global warming. As Mark Rowe reports in this month’s Dossier (Page 33), reducing methane emissions, while not halting this process, could in the short term significantly slow it down, buying us desperately needed time to transition fully away from a carbon economy. And it would be relatively straightforward to have a major impact on methane output. The oil and gas industry could stop the absurdly wasteful practice of flaring – the burning of gas leaks. Farmers could stop flooding rice paddies and improve feed types for livestock. We could all eat less beef. And we could use the methane produced by our waste for energy production. All doable and all would have a swift impact on our still-warming climate. While 155 countries have signed up to the Global Methane Pledge to reduce emissions by 30 per cent, few have done enough to hit that target by 2030. Another problem we seem to want to ignore is the plight of the refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan. Since last summer, international aid agencies have been warning that they’re running out of funds to cope with this desperate situation. Last year, we featured Peter Caton’s powerful photographs about how this troubled region was coping with extensive flooding. This month, he has sent us another moving dispatch (Page 20) from the frontline of a humanitarian crisis. You can help by making a donation on the Relief International website. Graeme Gourlay, Editor CONTRIBUTORS NEXT MONTH Andrew Brooks starts his new regular column on Page 15, challenging common assumptions on how we view the world. Andrew is a reader in uneven development and deputy head of the geography department at King’s College London. His books include Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand Clothes, and Bullsh*t Comparisons: A Field Guide to Thinking Critically. 4 . GEOGRAPHICAL Katherine Parker is a historian who specialises in the history of cartography, the history of the book and the history of European exploration of the Pacific. She’s also the cartographic collections manager at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), where she promotes and protects more than a million maps. On Page 27, she charts the early cartographic history of Mount Everest and the surrounding Himalaya. VARANASI India’s city of light is a place where millions of pilgrims wash away a lifetime of sins. But behind the piety and religion is a sleazy underbelly of people smuggling, the sex trade and corruption. Stuart Butler travels to the city to meet some of the victims and talk to the family that’s risking it all to try to help. The next issue of Geographical is out on Friday 17 May Geographical GEOGRAPHICAL July 2020 Volume 92 Issue 07 Publisher/Editor Graeme Gourlay graeme@geographical.co.uk Associate Editor Katie Burton Design Gordon Beckett Staff Writer Bryony Cottam Operations Director Simon Simmons Circulation Director Patrick Napier Commercial Director Chloe Smith Advertising Director Elaine Saunders ADDRESS Geographical, Mill Lane House, Mill Lane, Margate, Kent CT9 1LB Email: magazine@geographical.co.uk ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Telephone: 020 3900 0147 Email: elaine@geographical.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS Web: gsub.me/magazine Email: subscriptions@geographical.co.uk Telephone: 020 3576 1699 NEWSSTAND Intermedia Telephone: 01293 312 001 Email: getintouch@inter-media.co.uk NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION Fastmag, Circulation Department Telephone: 01582 475 333 Email: comments@fastmagltd.co.uk © Syon Geographical Ltd Registered No. 07457559 Printed by Buxt on Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SUBMISSIONS Editorial proposals are only required from established writers and photojournalists. Please send them to magazine@geographical.co.uk. Geographical © is the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and was founded by Michael Huxley in 1935. The publishers of Geographical pay a licence fee to the RGS–IBG. This fee is assigned to a fund for the advancement of exploration and research and the promotion of geographical knowledge. The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers or the Society. The publishers cannot be held responsible for loss of, or damage to, or the return of unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Published monthly. The paper in this magazine originates from timber grown in sustainable forests, responsibly managed to strict environmental, social and economic standards. Cover image: Abeselom Zerit/ Shutterstock
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CONTENTSMay 2024 • Volume 96 • Issue 5 COVER STORY 42MOUNTAINGHOSTS Stuart Butler on the trail of the elusive snow leopard in the highlands of India’s Ladakh region 26 33 MAPPING EVEREST The amazing cartographic story of Mount Everest and its early pioneers, as told in a new RGS book A QUICK WIN Targeting methane, the second most potent greenhouse gas, could buy us time while we get our act together to cut CO2 emissions 20 RUNNING OUT OF AID A vast influx of refugees to South Sudan from the war across its northern border is reaching crisis point 50 TEA BREAK Sharing the revenue from Rooibos tea is transforming the lives of South Africa’s indigenous Khosian people DEPARTMENTS WORLDWATCH 6 The Thar Desert 8 Shipwrecks 10 Research round-up 12 Phenomena: Lenticular clouds 18 Geo-graphic: Earthquakes WORLDVIEW 13 Geopolitical hotspot: Tim Marshall on NATO 14 Climatewatch: Technology vs politics 15 Perspective: African hospitals REGULARS 62 Gallery: Florian Ledoux 66 Book reviews 71 Equipment matters 74 Discovering Britain 76 RGS-IBG Archive 78 In Society. RGS-IBG events 80 Where in the world? 81 Crossword 82 Passport: Francesca Herrera Find out more about the benefits of joining at www.rgs.org/joinus RGS panel Find out more about the benefits of joining at www.rgs.org/joinus MAY 2024 . 5

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WELCOME

TIME TO ACT

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, methane entering our atmosphere has accounted for more than 30 per cent of global warming. As Mark Rowe reports in this month’s Dossier (Page 33), reducing methane emissions, while not halting this process, could in the short term significantly slow it down, buying us desperately needed time to transition fully away from a carbon economy. And it would be relatively straightforward to have a major impact on methane output. The oil and gas industry could stop the absurdly wasteful practice of flaring – the burning of gas leaks. Farmers could stop flooding rice paddies and improve feed types for livestock. We could all eat less beef. And we could use the methane produced by our waste for energy production. All doable and all would have a swift impact on our still-warming climate. While 155 countries have signed up to the Global Methane Pledge to reduce emissions by 30 per cent, few have done enough to hit that target by 2030.

Another problem we seem to want to ignore is the plight of the refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan. Since last summer, international aid agencies have been warning that they’re running out of funds to cope with this desperate situation. Last year, we featured Peter Caton’s powerful photographs about how this troubled region was coping with extensive flooding. This month, he has sent us another moving dispatch (Page 20) from the frontline of a humanitarian crisis. You can help by making a donation on the Relief International website. Graeme Gourlay, Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

NEXT MONTH

Andrew Brooks starts his new regular column on Page 15, challenging common assumptions on how we view the world.

Andrew is a reader in uneven development and deputy head of the geography department at King’s College London. His books include Clothing

Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and

Second-hand Clothes, and Bullsh*t Comparisons:

A Field Guide to Thinking Critically.

4 . GEOGRAPHICAL

Katherine Parker is a historian who specialises in the history of cartography, the history of the book and the history of European exploration of the Pacific. She’s also the cartographic collections manager at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), where she promotes and protects more than a million maps. On Page 27, she charts the early cartographic history of Mount Everest and the surrounding Himalaya.

VARANASI India’s city of light is a place where millions of pilgrims wash away a lifetime of sins. But behind the piety and religion is a sleazy underbelly of people smuggling, the sex trade and corruption. Stuart Butler travels to the city to meet some of the victims and talk to the family that’s risking it all to try to help.

The next issue of Geographical is out on

Friday 17 May

Geographical

GEOGRAPHICAL

July 2020 Volume 92 Issue 07

Publisher/Editor Graeme Gourlay graeme@geographical.co.uk Associate Editor Katie Burton

Design Gordon Beckett Staff Writer Bryony Cottam Operations Director Simon Simmons Circulation Director Patrick Napier

Commercial Director Chloe Smith Advertising Director Elaine Saunders

ADDRESS Geographical, Mill Lane House, Mill Lane,

Margate, Kent CT9 1LB Email: magazine@geographical.co.uk

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT

Telephone: 020 3900 0147 Email: elaine@geographical.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS Web: gsub.me/magazine Email: subscriptions@geographical.co.uk

Telephone: 020 3576 1699

NEWSSTAND

Intermedia Telephone: 01293 312 001 Email: getintouch@inter-media.co.uk

NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION Fastmag, Circulation Department

Telephone: 01582 475 333 Email: comments@fastmagltd.co.uk

© Syon Geographical Ltd Registered No. 07457559

Printed by Buxt on Press, Buxton, Derbyshire

SUBMISSIONS Editorial proposals are only required from established writers and photojournalists.

Please send them to magazine@geographical.co.uk.

Geographical © is the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and was founded by

Michael Huxley in 1935. The publishers of Geographical pay a licence fee to the RGS–IBG. This fee is assigned to a fund for the advancement of exploration and research and the promotion of geographical knowledge.

The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers or the Society. The publishers cannot be held responsible for loss of, or damage to, or the return of unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Published monthly.

The paper in this magazine originates from timber grown in sustainable forests, responsibly managed to strict environmental, social and economic standards.

Cover image: Abeselom Zerit/ Shutterstock

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