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Mallick, D.; Dilshad, T.; Naznin, Z.; Hassan, T. S. M.; Md. Syed, A.; Goodrich, C. G.; Udas, B. P.; Prakash, A.; Anwar, M. Z.; Habib, N.; Abbasi, S. S.; Khan, Q.; Ali, M.; Qureshi, A. H.; Batool, S.; Bhadwal, S.; Khandekar, N.; Gorti, G.; Mini, G.; Varma, N.; Sharma, G.; Luitel, M.; Nyima, K.; Tamang, D. D.
This synthesis report summarizes findings from a participatory assessment of socio-economic drivers, conditions, and climatic and environmental stresses leading to different levels of vulnerabilities in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region
. The study sites included high mountain, mid-hill, and downstream regions of the Indus, Upper Ganga, Gandaki, and Teesta– a tributary of the Brahmaputra River – basins. An integrated and multidimensional approach was adopted to understand social drivers, conditions, climate stresses, and multiple causes of vulnerability. Community perceptions about major socio-economic drivers and conditions were collected in geographical contexts. Upstream regions are characterized by an abrupt rise in topography, extremely rugged terrain, steep slopes, and deeply cut valleys. Midstream characteristics include hills with large areas of dense broad-leaved and mixed forest and extensive agriculture, often on terraced slopes. Downstream areas are mostly flat and characterized by vast floodplains that are prone to flood and river erosion
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Local knowledge on flood forecasting and meteorological phenomenon have received scant research attention in South Asia
. While local communities are often recognised as key producers of knowledge on adaptation and resilience, their role as producers of knowledge of meteorology and flood forecasting has drawn lesser interest than their consumption of it as end users. Moreover, the opinion that has carried through to limited research on this issue has been largely that of men. This paper attempts to address such a research gap, by recording various sophisticated means deployed by local communities living in villages in transboundary Gandak River basin in Bihar, India, to forecast floods and heavy rainfall. This research documents the gendered process by which local knowledge is produced through complex interaction between fine-grained observations and official early warning systems. It also explores how communities practice knowledge innovation by making generic and centralized flood forecasting information locally applicable, through triangulation. Our research argues that ‘local’ should not be recognised purely for dissemination of flood early warning information but also as a place of knowledge generation on flood forecasting. Current discourse on flood forecasting needs to recognize the gendered production of meteorological and flood forecasting knowledge in local communities. Furthermore, strengthening local knowledge systems on flood forecasting can work to counterbalance the drawbacks of centralized flood early warning systems, provided gender concerns embedded in both are recognised. Based on field research, this paper concludes that production and consumption of flood forecasting knowledge needs local and scientific communities to work together for reducing knowledge gaps at both ends
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Vulnerability is a set of conditions of people that is derived from the historical and prevailing socio-economic, cultural, environmental and political contexts along with understanding future scenarios, especially for climate change
. This study aimed at better understanding the nature and types of socio-economic drivers and social vulnerabilities in the context of increasing climatic stresses in four river basins in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. A multidimensional, contextual and integrated approach has been applied using participatory qualitative tools and techniques to identify major socio-economic drivers and conditions along with climatic factors in upstream, midstream and downstream of the river basins. In upstream and midstream region, people’s livelihood is dependent on subsistent agriculture, horticulture, pastoralism and tourism while in downstream, agriculture and fisheries are the major livelihood options. Climate sensitive natural resources based livelihoods are severely affected across the river basins. Poor and marginal population are not able take adequate adaptation measures due to lack of capacities, poor access to resources, services, information, which push them into greater vulnerability. The vulnerable groups in all four river basins are marginalized sections who are conditioned by economic classes, gender and social norms and living in geographically underdeveloped areas. For instance, poor, women, religious/ ethnic minorities, subordinate caste groups, char dwellers. Poor governance and the lack of access to resources and services have made the situation worse. All these factors are enhancing social vulnerability across the basins and study sites. Social protection measures, enhancement of human capitals and livelihood diversification with pro-poor and gender responsive adaptation and socially inclusive policy are needed to address growing social vulnerability
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Vulnerability to climate change is a multi-layered and multi-faceted phenomena, determined by both biophysical and socio-economic factors, leading to differential vulnerabilities for women and men from different categories, groups and locations
. Thus, there are varying gendered differences in vulnerabilities in any context, and not all women or all men are equally vulnerable, nor are they vulnerable in a similar way – vulnerabilities vary in nature and type. Vulnerabilities to climate change are often studied in isolation and compartmentalization of the various interlinked contextual conditions (e.g. social and gender, political, economic and geographical/location) and other socio-economic drivers of change, such as globalisation, urbanization, technological and infrastructure development. However, climate change vulnerabilities are manifestations of interlinkages and an intersecting of the contextual conditions and socioeconomic drivers of change against the backdrop of climate change. This thematic issue brings together studies on these aspects of intersectionality of the contextual conditions and drivers of change, which leads to various manifestations of gendered vulnerabilities, adding to the current knowledge on gender and climate change vulnerabilities especially from the HKH region perspective
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Werners, S.; Bhadwal, S.; Pandey, A.; Prakash, A.; Wester, P.; Mamnun, N.; Hassan, T.; Ishaq, S.; Ahmad, B.; Dahri, Z. H.
Development is occurring against a backdrop of vulnerability to climate change
. In order for development decisions to be sustainable in a changing climate they need to include choices and actions that modify climate change and its impacts and sustain development efforts over time. In the context of adaptation to climate change, adaptation pathways are proposed as a promising decision-focused approach to incorporate flexibility and account for future uncertainties (e.g. Haasnoot et al., 2013, Wise et al., 2014, Bosomworth et al., 2017). Adaptation pathways sequence measures over time and allow for progressive implementation depending on how the future unfolds, on the development of knowledge, and on stakeholder inputs and priorities. Other potentials are the ability to identify ‘no or low regrets’ interventions and to avoid lock-in, threshold effects, and maladaptive consequences. Thus, adaptation pathways may hold the promise to help plan and implement activities in an overall vision of development and climate change resilience
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Cundill, G.; Harvey, B.; Tebboth, M.; Cochrane, L.; Currie-Alder, B.; Vincent, K.; Lawn, J.; Nicholls, R. J.; Scodanibbio, L.; Prakash, A.; New, M.; Wester, P.; Leone, M.; Morchain, D.; Ludi, E.; Demaria-Kinney, J.; Khan, A.; Landry, M.-E.
An increasing number of research programs seek to support adaptation to climate change through the engagement of large-scale transdisciplinary networks that span countries and continents
. While transdisciplinary research processes have been a topic of reflection, practice, and refinement for some time, these trends now mean that the global change research community needs to reflect and learn how to pursue collaborative research on a large scale. This paper shares insights from a seven-year climate change adaptation research program that supports collaboration between more than 450 researchers and practitioners across four consortia and 17 countries. The experience confirms the importance of attention to careful design for transdisciplinary collaboration, but also highlights that this alone is not enough. The success of well-designed transdisciplinary research processes is also strongly influenced by relational and systemic features of collaborative relationships. Relational features include interpersonal trust, mutual respect, and leadership styles, while systemic features include legal partnership agreements, power asymmetries between partners, and institutional values and cultures. In the new arena of large-scale collaborative science efforts, enablers of transdisciplinary collaboration include dedicated project coordinators, leaders at multiple levels, and the availability of small amounts of flexible funds to enable nimble responses to opportunities and unexpected collaborations
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This study examined local people’s perception of climate change and its impacts on their livelihoods, and identified key opportunities and threats arising in four Village Development Committees in the high mountains of Rasuwa District, Nepal
. The local people are still heavily dependent on agriculture and livestock for their food security and livelihoods, despite the involvement of a significant proportion of households in non-agricultural income-generating activities, such as tourist services and labour work in other areas (outmigration). In agriculture, farmers mainly cultivate traditional food crops such as millets, buckwheat, local beans, and barley. They also cultivate rice, potato, and vegetables. Agriculture is mainly rainfed with a few exceptions of micro-irrigation systems fed by springs and snow-melt water. The impacts of climate change are mixed to date: changes in patterns of snowfall and snowmelt, rainfall, and temperatures are having both positive and negative impacts. Households are adapting to this changing climate through changes in their cropping patterns, integration of livestock with agriculture, and adoption of non-farm income activities. There are also new opportunities coming up at the study sites such as new markets for vegetables, traditional crops, and livestock
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People living in diara villages within the embankments of the River Gandak in Bihar face high levels of vulnerability due to frequent flooding and droughts
. Using anthropological surveys, gendered vulnerabilities in four diara villages in West Champaran are explored. Such vulnerability, in the context of a changing climate, combines social, political, and economic dimensions: the patriarchal creation of gender norms and biases; unequal access to water, sanitation, credit, and public distribution services; and limited employment opportunities. These elements influence the livelihood options of women and men differently, determining their capability in responding to risks posed by climatic and socio-economic stressors
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Dandekhya, S.; England, M.; Ghate, R.; Goodrich, C. G.; Nepal, S.; Prakash, A.; Shrestha, A.; Singh, S.; Shrestha, M. S.; Udas, P. B.
The Gandaki river basin is a transboundary basin lying north-south in the central Himalayan region
. It extends from China in the north, through Nepal, to India in the south and is bounded by the Karnali basin to the west and the Koshi basin to the east (Figure 1). The basin has a total drainage area of 46,300 km2 – 72% in Nepal, 18% in India, and 10% in China – and includes part of Xiagaze prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region in China, 19 districts in Nepal (12 entirely and 7 partially within the basin), and 9 districts in India. The Gandaki river is known as the Narayani in the plains of Nepal and as the Gandak in India, where it joins the Ganges (Ganga) at Hajipur near Patna. It has seven major tributaries (the Kali Gandaki, Seti Gandaki, Madi, Marsyangdi, Daraudi, Budhi Gandaki, and Trishuli), of which all except the Daraudi and Madi have catchment areas with glaciers (Bajracharya and Shrestha 2011). There are 1,710 glaciers in the upstream catchments (as of 2005), with an area of 2,285 km2 and estimated ice reserves of 194 km3 (Bajracharya and Shrestha 2011: 56). Many smaller rivers and rivulets also drain into the Gandaki including, for example, the east Rapti river, which joins the river at Chitwan
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