Household food security in the face of climate change in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region

Abid Hussain,Bidhubhusan Mahapatra,Sabarnee Tuladhar,Golam Rasul

doi:10.1007/s12571-016-0607-5

Abid Hussain, Bidhubhusan Mahapatra + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-016-0607-5

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Abstract

This study attempts to understand local people’s perceptions of climate change, its impacts on agriculture and household food security, and local adaptation strategies in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, using data from 8083 households (HHs) from four river sub-basins (SBs), i.e. Upper Indus (Pakistan), Eastern Brahmaputra (India), Koshi (Nepal) and Salween and Mekong (China). The majority of households in SBs, in recent years, have perceived that there have been more frequent incidences of floods, landslides, droughts, livestock diseases and crop pests, and have attributed these to climate change. These changes have led to low agricultural production and income, particularly in Eastern Brahmaputra (EB) where a substantial proportion of HHs reported a decline in the production of almost all staple and cash crops, resulting in very low farm income. Consequently, households’ dependency on external food items supplied from plain areas has increased, particularly in the Upper Indus (UI) and EB. After hazards, households face transitory food insecurity owing to damage to their local food systems and livelihood sources, and constrained food supply from other areas. To cope with these, HHs in SBs make changes in their farming practices and livestock management. In EB, 11 % of HHs took on new off-farm activities within the SB and in SM, 23 % of HHs chose out-migration as an adaptation strategy. Lastly, the study proposes policy instruments for attaining sustainable food security, based on agro-ecological potential and opportunities for increasing agricultural resilience and diversity of livelihoods.

Highlights

Mountains provide 40 % of global goods and services in the form of water, hydroelectricity, timber, biodiversity and niche products, mineral resources, recreation, and flood control (Huddleston et al 2003)
This study investigates whether these scientific findings were mirrored in local people’s perception of climate change and its impacts on agriculture and household food security
Agriculture is assumed to contribute to the food security and livelihoods of households in the mountains through providing diverse foods and contributing to household income

Summary

Introduction

Mountains provide 40 % of global goods and services in the form of water, hydroelectricity, timber, biodiversity and niche products, mineral resources, recreation, and flood control (Huddleston et al 2003). 51 % of the almost 842 million people worldwide facing chronic hunger, are accounted for by six Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) countries, i.e. Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan (FAO 2013). In the HKH region, are highly vulnerable to food insecurity because of their low productivity, subsistence economies, constraints of terrain and climate, poor infrastructure, limited access to markets, physical isolation, vulnerability to natural hazards and high cost of food production and transportation (Rasul 2011; Tiwari and Joshi 2012; Ward et al 2012, Huddleston et al 2003, FAO 2008). The natural resource base in the HKH region, soil nutrients, water and biomass, has been steadily depleted over recent years, resulting in a significant decline in food production (Tiwari 2000; Andersen et al 2005). Increasing impacts of climate change have added to food insecurity, in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, where people are affected in both upstream and downstream areas (Chatterjee and Khadka 2013; Abbas 2009; World Bank 2009; ICIMOD 2008)

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