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Gurung, G. B.; Khan, F.; New, M.; Dixit, A.; Gyawali, D.; Upadhya, M.; Pokhrel, A.; Opitz-Stapleton, S.; Moench, M.; McSweeney, C.; Lizcano, G.; Rahiz, M.; Ahmed, A. U.; Sharma, K.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) depicts the Hindukush-Himalaya, including Nepal, as a “white spot,” a region about which scientific information on climate change is limited or lacking altogether
. Given that the rise of this mountain range, the world’s highest, has had a considerable influence on global wind circulation and climate dynamics, this knowledge gap does not speak well of our ability to understand climate change or its potential impact.
This report is a first attempt to synthesise existing scientific and socio-economic information on the likely impacts of climate change in the Nepal Himalaya and to assess the complex patterns of vulnerability such changes will expose its citizens to.
It has three goals:
- To pinpoint key areas where improvements in basic climate-related data and the capacity to analyse it can strengthen Nepal’s capacity to understand the ongoing processes of change
- To identify likely impacts of climate change in the region and their economic consequences
- To outline potential strategies for responding or adapting to the impacts of climate change that address the needs of vulnerable populations and/or protect critical national forests, biodiversity, energy and other resources.
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It is now apparent that dealing with climate change is unavoidable
. Nepal’s temperature is rising faster than the global average, and rainfall is becoming unpredictable. Many communities are struggling to cope. Experience from a three year project indicates that adapting to climate change requires an integrated approach, including socio-economic development, environmental conservation and disaster risk reduction. By focusing on a watershed, each element, such as livestock, infrastructure or education, could be addressed effectively
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Nepal's temperature is rising faster than global average with high warming rates in the Himalaya
. The precipitation is becoming unpredictable resulting extremities. Poor people, whose livelihoods are nature based, have experienced the impacts of climate change and are coping to their best. Adaptation to climate change is an urgent action for the poor communities. Practical Action Nepal is implementing a climate change adaptation project to help the communities. The project is being implemented within a watershed boundary. The project appraised the community perception to climate change, its impacts, the coping strategies and the needs for adaptation through participatory approach. Community based adaptation activities were implemented to respond to climate change and its impacts. The lessons learned from the project indicated that climate change adaptation requires an integrated conservation and development programs together with focus on disaster risk reduction. The integrated programs become effective when implemented within a watershed boundary where the biophysical and socioeconomic systems are interlinked
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Ten kilometers north from Narayanghat in Chitwan district of Nepal, on Narayanghat - Mugling highway, there is a stream called Jugedi Khola
. Jugedi Khola originates from lower Mahabharata with a watershed area of 12.2 sq km. Geologically Lower Mahabharata region is fragile and the hill slopes are steep whereas the valley bottoms are good for agriculture. The Jugedi watershed provides home to 190 households of 12 different ethnic communities spreading over 10 settlements. The main living of the people is subsistence agriculture. Because of the sub-tropical climate, local people can grow crops throughout the year. However agriculture is nature based - the climate and the weather determine the success and failure of the crops. The major crops grown are rice, maize, finger millet, beans and pulses in summer, and wheat and mustard in winter. The villagers also grow seasonal vegetables. Goat, cattle and buffaloes are the major livestock of the area. The average landholding is 0.43 ha by a family of 6.
Practical Action Nepal has implemented a project on "Increasing the Resilience of Poor Communities to Cope with Impacts of Climate Change" in the Jugedi watershed. Impacts of climate change are being perceived by the communities. One of the perceptions is the unpredictability of rains including monsoon. In the past, people could predict the rain, based on which they prepared the fields, nurseries and transplanted crops. But in recent years the rain does not match with their predictions. The main rice transplanting month, July, is not getting sufficient rain. The rain occurs late when the seedlings are too old. Late transplanting of old seedlings reduces the yield and affects the following winter crops. As the communities relied on seasonal rain for rice transplanting, they were not prepared for planting alternative crops like finger millet. So some farmers leave the lands fallow for continuous years
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