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This study is an effort to contribute to the empirical literature on the diverse patterns of migration, adaptation measures by households facing environmental changes, and the role of migration in augmenting household adaptive capacities in four river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, namely the Gandaki, the Indus, the Upper Ganga and the Teesta
. Recent studies indicate that migration can be a powerful adaptation strategy for populations facing global environmental changes, by increasing the ability of the households to rely on their existing resource base. However, there still exist gaps in empirical findings, particularly quantitative studies investigating migration and adaptation, to fully support this. Migration patterns in the study sites are diverse, ranging from seasonal/circular migration to international migration. However, most migration is internal and international migration is limited mainly to South-South movement. Migration is mostly male-dominated; however, female migration is increasing with women getting more educated and seeking employment opportunities in urban destinations. The major driver of migration decisions is economic, but environmental displacement was also prevalent in the study sites. The reasons for migration were consistent across the study basins, but differed between different streams of the same basin. The adaptive capacities of households in four key sectors are analysed – agriculture, livestock, forestry, and water. The capacity of households to adapt to the negative effects of environmental changes and shocks in the study sites was low, and the adaptation measures undertaken mostly autonomous, except in the case of the water sector. The linkage between migration and household adaptive capacity was found to be positive, but statistically significant only in the agricultural sector. Thus, migration helps households’ adaptive capacity by spatially diversifying household income sources, but this potential is limited at present as remittances are small and mostly invested in meeting basic requirements. Thus, at present, migration is more a response strategy of the households to various changes, including environmental changes and their effects on local livelihoods
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Werners, S.; Bhadwal, S.; Ahmad, B.; Gioli, G.; Regmi, B.; Pandey, A.; Mamnun, N.; Hassan, T.; Varma, N.; Saeed, B. A.
This framework document aims to introduce a proactive approach to assess adaptation needs and encourage timely adaptation
. The idea behind this approach is that if an assessment shows that specific policies and practices of stakeholders are at risk of failure due to climate change, corrections are encouraged and losses or damages can be prevented. The approach focuses on identifying whether and when the performance of policies, management, and social-cultural practices drops below a decisive level due to climate change, and adaptation is required. We call the moment at which a decisive change in performance is reached an ‘adaptation turning point’. The assessment of turning points shows there is an imperative to act, and it aims to help proactively and timely plan alternative strategies. In cases with a development or implementation deficit and where the performance of the existing policies and practices is already unsatisfactory, the turning point lies in the past. If, in these cases, changes can be attributed to climate change, the assessment of turning points helps identify the adaptation gap. With respect to new practices, the assessment of turning points shows when these practices become viable in order to facilitate a smooth transition to alternative systems and practices. For development policies, an adaptation turning point assessment asks whether development goals are achievable under climate change and can be sustained. By introducing this approach in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region we want to ascertain whether the assessment is a meaningful addition to adaptation approaches by allowing, in particular, for a substantial dialogue between stakeholders and scientists about the amount of change that is acceptable, when conditions could be reached that are unacceptable or more favourable, how likely these conditions are, and what adaptation to consider. The approach is not to be understood in isolation, but connects to other work in the HI-AWARE project, in particular the development of adaptation pathways and the assessment of critical moments. With this document we aim to deliver a framework for identifying adaptation turning points. The document offers a broad scoping of the approach, next to the identification of its potential application in HI-AWARE. This also marks the start of the dialogue in the HI-AWARE project on the applicability and value of the concept in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. The assessment of adaptation turning points will be a contribution to other research in HI-AWARE, such as adaptation pathways development
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Faced with a complex and uncertain future, the coming years are even more so for mountains that contend with rising temperatures, dwindling natural resources, and rapidly increasing outmigration
. Therefore, the need to focus on affordable and replicable solutions that can affect significant change is more important than ever. The solutions in this book are based on years of hard work and collaboration between ICIMOD and its partners. These solutions provide valuable information about approaches and technologies that can inform communities, practitioners, decision makers and governments alike. In this way, we believe the “small” solutions presented can make a great contribution to global development agenda
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Excessive demand for ecosystem services arising from rapidly growing human population and several anthropogenic activities have led to the extensive modification of vital ecosystems of the world
. This has generated global concerns as this undermines ecosystem functioning and resilience and thus threatens the ability of ecosystems to continuously supply services. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals can only be met when ecosystem degradation is halted and further loss of ecosystem services is controlled, and only if the natural capital and assets can be utilized in a sustainable way. Therefore, regional, national and local assessments of ecosystem and their services are needed to identify and develop an effective policy in response to ecosystem degradation. Despite the multi-dimensional (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) importance of ecosystems to human society, there have been no serious efforts to assess the ecosystem services of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). The benefits provided by ecosystems are inadequately recognized and resource users do not take into account the cost of ecosystem degradation in their resource management decisions, since there is very limited understanding of ecosystem dynamics and the values that are being lost through degradation
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In the present publication, thirty technologies and approaches from the Nepal Conservation Approaches and Technologies (NEPCAT) database, documented using the WOCAT tool, are being published as printed fact sheets to facilitate sharing with a wider audience
. The fact sheets are designed to support the efforts of rural development, especially in Nepal, and provide impetus and ideas for decision makers, development actors, and land users. They cover adaptations of methods and new options for land use and rehabilitation and growing and processing crops that increase productivity and support income generation. Users are encouraged to print out, copy, and distribute the sheets in any form that facilitates sharing. All new contributions to the database and fact sheets are welcome
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This paper develops a conceptual and generic framework design for the study of upstream-downstream linkages (UDL) in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region
. The framework application will to define changing upstreamdownstream linkages (UDL) and likely impacts on downstream regions. The results of such applications will be useful for policy makers, planners, decision makers, and researchers. It also addresses actors involved in Integrated Land and Water Resources Management (ILWRM) challenged by changing UDL processes, triggered by broader environmental changes such as climate change and human activities. This framework document defines the upstream downstream relationship. It describes the issues related to UDL mainly around land use and land cover (LULC) changes, erosion and sedimentation, climate change and infrastructure, which affect the availability of water in downstream areas
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Groot, A.; Singh, T.; Pandey, A.; Gioli, G.; Ahmed, B.; Ishaq, S.; Raza, N.; Hassan, M.; Hassan, S. M. T.; Syed, M. A.; Mamnun, N.; Eijrond, V.
This resource kit presents a compilation of information on critical climate-stress moments in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region
. The information is based on a literature review on critical-climate stress moments in agriculture and health due to heat stress and discusses critical moments emerging from downstream and upstream floods. The literature study was carried out by the Himalayan Adaptation, Water and Resilience (HI-AWARE) research project under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development and the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada
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The Action Research in Udayapur district of Nepal set out to assess the role of the gender-sensitive capacity building along with community level extension services in enhancing the adaptive capacity of migrant-sending households
. The interventions were in the form of customized training events (e.g., financial literacy, flood preparedness, and livelihood diversification) and village-level extension services (e.g. weekly group meetings and household visits), and peer-learning (e.g. exposure visits and short-documentary) for women from migrant-sending households. The process took over two years of collaboration between stakeholders from various backgrounds. The process started in November 2014 and was completed by June 2017. This process documentation primarily serves two purposes: (i) to comprehensively and systematically compile the Action Research process and (ii) to present the reflections of the team members regarding their own practices. It offers an operational guideline beyond project boundaries, if replication of this research is sought. The intended audiences of this report are the government institutions, NGOs and development partners
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Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) is an innovative climate-friendly agricultural practice for adaptation, resilience and mitigation of climate change impacts
. It integrates the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable agriculture to address food security and climate challenges and increase incomes. Land, water and inputs should be utilized effectively to enhance productivity. This can be done through integrated nutrient management, pest and disease control by bio-pesticide, water recharge, harvesting and (re)use, and other climate resilient measures. Further, CRA practices can ensure a high rate of production and technological adaptability. These practices help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions or the amount of required labour or equipment. CRA is geared towards three main objectives: i) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, ii) adapting and building resilience to climate change, and iii) reducing greenhouse gas emissions
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The ‘Support to Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica)’ Project has been implemented by ICIMOD in collaboration with partner organizations across the Himalayas (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan) and funded by the European Union (EU)
. Himalica is a demand-driven project and focuses on developing national and regional capabilities to adapt policies impacting on mountain rural livelihoods, conducting collaborative action research in relation to mountain livelihoods and ecosystems, and piloting activities in a collaborative and integrated manner to strengthen the resilience of mountain men and women. In Taplejung, Nepal, the pilot as well as action research activities have been implemented to address some of the issues identified by Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Project (KLCDI) in large cardamom-alder agroforestry system. It uses ‘climate-resilient value chain development approach’ as an entry point to build the resilience of farming systems for transformative change. The approach is guided by a ‘social-ecological system’ perspective that acknowledges the symbiotic ‘nature-people’ relationship in the mountains
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