Climate change has an adverse impact on the different spheres of life. Among the different human activities, agriculture is most affected by climate change which has been established by various studies at global and regional levels. It imposes serious constraints on the crop production which leads to changes in cropping pattern in general and in mountainous regions of the world in particular. In this regard, the present study aims to analyse the impact of rainfall variability on crop productivity and changes in cropping pattern in the north-western Himalayas. Mann-Kendall and Sen slope analyses were done to detect the changing trends in rainfall, whereas correlation coefficient was used to analyse the influence of rainfall variability on crop yield and the changing cropping pattern. The results indicate that rainfall has shown a decreasing trend from last few decades and has led to changes in the crop yield/production and cropping pattern in the region. Further, it was observed that crops in the region have shown different associations with rainfall, and as a result, area under some crops has increased while under certain other crops it has witnessed a contraction.

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Purpose This paper aims to analyse the changes in the extent of the green space in the city of Srinagar, a unique urban Himalayan destination, and examine whether the difference in the green space has a significant effect on the destination business performance measured in terms of loss of ecological attractiveness. Design/methodology/approach This study was carried out in two phases in the study area. In phase I, the changes in the extent of the green space area were analysed using Landsat TM and Sentinel Images for classification. The study has used the period from 2001 to 2018 to understand changes in the green space. The Post-Classification Comparison technique was used to investigate the variation in the green space zones in the city of Srinagar. In phase II, the paper evaluated the impact of change in the green space on the destination business performance. The data was collected from the tour operation companies through a questionnaire survey, and the impact path was examined using structural equation modelling. Findings Results reveal that the green space in the city of Srinagar has decreased over the past 18 years, and the decreasing green space has a significant effect on the destination business performance. Research limitations/implications Identifying the impact of decreasing green space on the destination business performance of the study area under investigation is essential for tourism development both in terms of new product development and resource preservation. Developing a measurement scale showing the impact of decreasing green space on destination business performance could offer destination managers a means of identifying the essence of the green space in the destination regions. These findings add to the growing literature on the attributes of tourism destinations, providing scholars with new insights into the role of green space in destination performance. The current study offers evidence of the impact of decreasing green space on the destination's performance. This provides a new perspective for future studies on visitor satisfaction as a potential mediator of the relationship between reducing greenspace and destination business performance. The main limitation of this study is that the researchers have only analysed the impact of decreasing green space on the destination business performance in terms of its ecological competitiveness. Other destinations business performance verticals, such as hotels, restaurants and grocery stores were not considered by this study and can be taken up for future investigation. Practical implications This study provides empirical insights that can have significant implications for researchers, policymakers, destination management organizations, academia and practitioners and further enrich the existing literature by establishing an empirical argument in the context of urban destinations positioned with a fragile Himalayan ecosystem. Originality/value This study aims to assist the urban administrators in improving the green space ecosystem in the region, which can help attain the sustainability of the city environment and assist in economic regeneration in urban settings.

This study is an assessment of scientist's perception regarding the role of mass media in improving their presentational skills by increased exposure on media via different training tools of mass media. The total respondents were 50 key informants from different research institutes of National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad. The study results revealed the highly significant difference of respondents before and after mass media exposure for confidence level of effective knowledge transfer, effective speaking level, conversational skills, interpersonal skills and motivational skills. The respondents perceived that training was satisfactory in reducing the communications hurdles (64%) and in improving the voice and tone and the speed of your conversation was 50% satisfactory. About 44% respondents described that Audio Visual Presentation Exercise was very useful activity, 58% mentioned that the voice over and Presentations for Documentaries was useful aspect, 46% responses were in favour of Recorded TV Programmes.

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