Comparison of Adaptive Capacity and Adaptation Practices in Response to Climate Change and Extremes among the Chepang Households in Rural Mid-Hills of Nepal

Abstract

Study of the community level adaptive capacity and adaptation practices is important to capture the ongoing processes, constraints and opportunities at the local level where adaptations ultimately occur. Even at the local level, emphasis must be placed on marginalized communities as they are the ones who are the most vulnerable. This study focuses on the Chepang community, one of the highly marginalized indigenous nationalities in Nepal. This paper presents micro-level analysis of the inherent adaptive capacity and the ongoing adaptation practices based on the information obtained through direct interaction with Chepangs at the household level. The adaptive capacity, taken as the function of asset possession by the households, and measured in terms of an aggregate index is compared across the four study sites. Ongoing adaptation practices are categorized according to fivefold classification based on risk pooling across space, time, assets, and households and measured in terms of adoption rate by the households. Finally adoption rate of adaptation practices is compared with adaptive capacity across the four study sites to analyze if the adoption rate is indeed determined by the inherent adaptive capacity. Results show that balanced possession of all asset categories is necessary to translate adaptive capacity into adaptation actions. There is thus a need for integrated development activities that aim to promote a balanced growth in terms of infrastructure, human capabilities, financial capital and social networks.