Climate Change In Nepal Research Articles

Global effect of climate change and food security with respect to Nepal

The effect of global climate change in Nepal could be observed by glacier retreat in the Himalaya region and change in the pattern of the south west monsoon which is the only reliable source of water for farming. Climate change has been occurred in Terai, hills and mountain of Nepal resulting change in agriculture systems leading to the emergence of new insect, pest and disease of crops and animals. There are frequent losses of lives, crops and, human settlements due to occurrence of flash floods, droughts, typhoon and hurricanes in the world mainly due to climate change. Global food production and trade have been affected by the negative consequences of climate change as a result countries like Nepal are also victimized due to the negative effect of climate change. Increase in C02concentration in the atmosphere and change in precipitation are being the main cause of floods, droughts, glacier retreat, and melting of snows, hence, change in the flora and fauna globally. To address such measures of climate change, Nepal has been trying to develop some adoptive ways such as development of climate resilient technology including crop varieties, animal breeds; agronomic practices that could address vagaries of climate change and sustain food and nutritional security. In Nepal, the effect of climate change is more pronounced in hills and mountains with respect to increase in temperature than that of Terai. This paper tries to address issue of global climate change with respect to food security of Nepal by applying some of the pragmatic adoptive measures to follow in agriculture for sustaining food security in Nepal.

Climate Change and Its Impact on Tourism in the Manaslu Conservation Area, Nepal

The Hindukush Himalayan region including Nepal, a country reliant on tourism, is particularly sensitive to climate change. However, there are considerable gaps in research regarding tourism and climate change in Nepal. The present research assesses the impact of climate change on tourism in the Manaslu Conservation Area of Nepal. Seventy-six households were interviewed followed by three focus group discussions and five key informant interviews. The empirical data collected at the site are complemented by secondary information on climate and tourism. Local people perceived that temperature and rainfall have been increasing in the study site as a result of climate change. In response to gradually warming temperature and decreasing snowfall, there seems an urgent need for tourism promotional activities in the study area. This would spread the tourist base and increase foreign tourist expenditure in Nepal.

Role of renewable energy technologies in rural communities' adaptation to climate change in Nepal

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of renewable energy technologies (RETs) such as biogas, improved cooking stoves (ICSs), micro hydro (MH) and solar power (SP) in helping rural communities in Nepal to adapt to climate change. The analysis considers the energy efficiency of different RETs as well as their socio-economic and environmental impacts. The efficient use of biomass in new technology, such as biogas and ICSs for cooking, has increased energy security and reduced the negative effects of traditional biomass usage. MH and SP systems are replacing candles and kerosene lamps, and are the most promising RET models for electricity generation in rural Nepal. The improved illumination from these technologies also produces better education, health, environments, and social harmony in rural communities. This study uses the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning model (LEAP) model to develop a plan for long-term RETs use in Nepal, and specifically focuses on household energy use in rural areas. It assesses the role of biogas and ICSs in rural communities and climate change adaptation in Nepal, along with the potential role of MH and SP technologies. According to the LEAP analysis, the planned implementation of MH for 20-year long-term will result in the reduction of 2.553 million tons of CO2 emissions. Similarly SP, biogas, and ICSs will result in a reduction in CO2 emissions of 5.214 million tons, 35.880 million tons, and 7.452 million tons, respectively.

Perceived community-based flood adaptation strategies under climate change in Nepal

Climate induced natural disasters and extreme events are escalating with the increased variability of climatic parameters due to climate change. This study assesses the flood adaptation strategies that are applicable at the community level in two Terai districts of Nepal. The data were collected through three focus group discussions and 210 household surveys. The study revealed that flood forecasting practices at community level included monitoring the extent of rainfall in upper catchments and identifying the position of clouds. ‘Initiate communication’, ‘take care the affected people’, and ‘select the appropriate location to stay’ were most preferred strategies during the flood. Similarly, ‘exchanging helps with each other’, ‘preparing temporary settlement plan’ and ‘co-ordinating with government and other agencies’ are most preferred post-flood adaptation strategies. Identification and assessment of locally-relevant flood adaptation strategies will help governments to choose adaptation strategies that are both effective and preferred by local people in vulnerable communities.

Adaptation Mechanisms in Agriculture for Climate Change in Nepal

In Nepal, impacts of climate change can be observed in varying levels of climate that are prevalent in diversified topography and vegetation. Broadly speaking, there are impacts of climate change in the Terai lowlands, the mid-hill valleys and mountains, and in the high Himalayas. Nepal is a unique climatic laboratory for studying the impacts of climate change.Sixty-five percent of the Nepalese people engage in agriculture and more than 32% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from it. There are evidences of climate change in frequently changing monsoonal patterns resulting in droughts, floods, landslides, and other unexpected results that impair subsistence agriculture systems in the country. As a result, there is chronic food shortage in remote hills, and in the mountains, and the Terai, the grain bowl of Nepal, has been hit by food shortage. To date, around 3.9 million people have suffered from hunger and poverty. There are reports that major food crops of rice, maize, and wheat production have declined due to changes in monsoon patterns, insurgence of new pests, and decline in soil productivity. Efforts have been initiated to adopt drought and pest tolerant varieties, changes in planting time, and method of plantings as strategies for adaptation to climate change in agriculture. This paper attempts to highlight adaptation as a strategy to address issues of climate changes from the perspective of Nepalese agriculture.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7219 Hydro Nepal Special Issue: Conference Proceedings 2012 pp.81-85

Rice: Water, Food Security and Climate Change in Nepal

Rice is the staple food for more than 50% of the world’s population, and more than 90% rice is produced and consumed in Asian countries (IRRI.org). In Nepal, both the national economy and food security depend on rice production. Theoretically, about 5,000 liters of water are required to produce one kilogram of paddy (IRRI.org). Now, water is becoming a scarce resource in the world because of global warming. Extreme weather and erratic rainfall are becoming common phenomena. One degree Celsius increase in nighttime temperature decreases rice production by 10% (IRRI.org). Food security, nutrition security, profitability and ustainability are the major issues. Stress-tolerant rice varieties (i.e., from the stress of flood, drought, heat, cold, pests, soil fertility degradation, etc.) and crop management technologies are generated by research. Irrigated rice is the major contributor of methane gas emissions. Thus, direct seeded rice helps to reduce methane emissions. Resource conservation technologies/conservation agriculture are some of the ways for reducing methane emissions and encouraging carbon sequestration. World rice scientists are engaged in C4 Rice Project and, if successful, 50% more rice production will be possible with less water and fertilizer.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7217 Hydro Nepal Special Issue: Conference Proceedings 2012 pp.78-80

An Overview of Climate Change And Its Impact on Agriculture: a Review From Least Developing Country, Nepal

Climate is an important factor for agricultural production. However, in recent years consistent warming and rise in global temperature has resulted in visible impacts on the agriculture across the world. Nepal is not an exceptional case, where rising temperature has already affected the country's agricultural production thereby affecting the food security and agrarian communities. It is expected that the level of vulnerability will be higher in high altitude as compared to the lower altitude. In addition, majority of the population are subsistence farmer in rural parts of Nepal and has low land hold- ing capacity. Nepal is one of the least developed countries in the world with low per capita income, and thus the country's ability to adapt to the extreme climatic events has direct implications in its strategies on agriculture sector development. However, Nepal still lack strong scientific data about the cases of climate change and due to varied geographical setting, sufficient meteorological data cannot be easily obtained from remote parts of the country. This review tries to explore the current status of vulnerability to the climate change in Nepal. In Nepal, more than 80% of the people heavily rely on agri- culture for their subsistence and thus, climate change will bring expectedly negative response to the agricultural sector in the country.

Institutional and technological innovation: Understanding agricultural adaptation to climate change in Nepal

History shows that farmers and their supporting institutions have been successful in introducing technological innovations to respond and adapt to environmental and socioeconomic challenges. Innovation itself is a mechanism by which society adapt to changing resource endowments, and which is in turn driven by social and cultural values. In the future, as resource conditions changes, the role of institutions in the process of technological innovations would be crucial to avoid deleterious consequences of climate change in agriculture. Using Nepal as a case, this paper illustrates how farmers and their supporting institutions are evolving and co-producing climate sensitive technologies on demand. Drawing upon the hypothesis of induced innovation, we examine the extent to which resource endowments have influenced the evolution of technological and institutional innovations in Nepal’s agricultural research and development. This study reveals that Nepal has developed a novel multilevel institutional partnership, including collaboration with farmers and other non-governmental organizations in recent years. More importantly, by combining conventional technological innovation process with the tacit knowledge of farmers, this new alliance has been instrumental in the innovation of location-specific technologies thereby facilitating the adoption of technologies in a more efficient manner. This alliance has improved knowledge network among institutions, scientists and farmers and enabled them to seek technologies that are responsive to likely changes in climate.

Climate change in Nepal and its impact on Himalayan glaciers

Climate change can be particularly hard-hitting for small underdeveloped countries, relying heavily on natural resources for the economy and livelihoods. Nepal is one among these countries, being landlocked, with diverse physiographical characteristics within a relatively small territory and with rugged terrain. Poverty is widespread and the capacity of people and the country to cope with climate change impact is low. The country is dominated by the Asian monsoon system. The main occupation is agriculture, largely based on rain-fed farming practices. Tourism based on high altitude adventures is one of the major sources of income for the country. Nepal has a large hydropower potential. While only 0.75% of the theoretical hydropower potential has been tapped, Nepal can greatly benefit from this natural resource in the future. Climate change can adversely impact upon water resources and other sectors of Nepal. The source of water is mainly summer monsoon precipitation and the melting of the large reserve of snow and glaciers in the Himalayan highlands. Observations show clear evidences of significant warming. The average trend in the country is 0.06°C per year. The warming rates are progressively higher for high elevation locations. The warming climate has resulted in rapid shrinking of majority of glaciers in Nepal. This paper presents state-of-knowledge on the glacial dynamics in the country based on studies conducted in the past in Shorong, Khumbu, Langtang, Dhaulagiri and Kanchenjunga regions of Nepal. We present recent trends in river flow and an overview of studies on expected changes in the hydrological regime due to climate change. Formation, growth and likely outburst of glacial lake are phenomena directly related to climate change and deglaciation. This paper provides a synopsis of past glacial lake outburst floods impacting Nepal. Further, likely impacts of climate change on other sectors such as agriculture, biodiversity, human health and livelihoods are discussed.

Vulnerability of Mountain Communities to Climate Change And Adaptation Strategies

Climate Change, one of the most important global environmental challenges facing humanity, has implications on food production, natural eco-systems, fresh water supply and health in Nepal. It is contributing mostly to the rise in air temperature leading to rapid melting of glaciers and increment of glacier lakes. Exploitation of natural resources associated with growing population has led to increasing pollution, declining water quality, land degradation, etc. Extreme climate events including flooding, heavy rainfall, droughts, heat wave and cold stream etc. are also the consequences of climate change in Nepal. Moreover, Nepal is largely dependent on climate-sensitive sectors, such as rain-fed agriculture; its fragile mountain ecosystems and dramatic topography make the country prone to flooding. Due to such events, agricultural productivity is declining with increasing problem of food security in mountainous regions. In recent years, the signs of such changes are being observed and may become more prominent over next couple of decades. Many rural communities are struggling through different adaptation measures as an attempt to reduce the risk of climate change vulnerability.The Journal of Agriculture and Environment Vol:10, Jun.2009 Page: 76-83

Dealing with Climate Change Crisis

Climate change and its impact on human survival have been today's major challenge and key topics of discussion globally. When considering the catastrophic impacts climate change will bring to earth, in-depth studies on the mechanics and chemistry of climate changes has been emerging. Simultaneously, international and national policies to reduce the vulnerability from climate change have been developed. This article discusses environmental retrospect and climate change issues and highlights efforts taken by global community to reduce GHG. An analysis through an equity lens is made between developed and developing nations and distinction of science and post normal science, and how skeptics revolve around the myth of climate changing ‘naturally' is discussed. A brief status of climate change in Nepal has been mentioned and some mitigation and adaptation measures that can be carried out at the institutional and individual level to start solving the climate crisis conclude the paper. Key Words: Global warming, Climate change, International policies, Intra- generational equity, GHG, Renewable energy, Individual adaptation DOI: 10.3126/init.v2i1.2527 The Initiation Vol.2(1) 2008 pp79-90

Climate Change and its Increasing Impacts in Nepal

There is a general agreement that Climate Change impacting Nepal rather disproportionately compared to its size and its own meagre contribution of the green house gases. However, given its location between two rapidly growing economies of India and China, Nepal cannot escape the rapidly increasing influence of climate and global changes. The rapidly retreating glaciers (average retreat of more than 30 m/year), rapid rise in temperature (>0.06°C), erratic rainfalls and increase in frequency of extreme events such as floods and drought like situation are some of the effects Nepal is facing during the last few years. Most of the big rivers of Nepal are glacier-fed and its main resources of water and hydroelectricity will be seriously affected due to the ongoing changes in glacier reserves, snowfall and natural hazards. Nepal has to prepare itself to try and mitigate these effects if possible and if not adapt to them to reduce their impacts on our lives and livelihoods. Nepal is largely a mountainous country and current indications are that the mountain regions are more vulnerable due to increased warming trends as well as extreme changes in altitude over small distances. These alarming trends not only make Nepal's major sectors of economy such as agriculture, tourism and energy more vulnerable but also endanger the health, safety and wellbeing of Nepali people. Biodiversity - the other important resources of Nepal is also being affected as invasive species will spread fast and useful medicinal, food and nutrition related plants may disappear. Climate change is becoming already dangerous to our survival and we have to do everything possible to prevent it being catastrophic to us. The globally accepted strategy to contain disastrous climate change impacts is Adaptation and Mitigation. For a least developed country such as Nepal, adaptation should be the priority. Nepal is currently preparing National Action Plan on Adaptation (NAPA) which should be made as comprehensive and topical as possible. Well coordinated, quick and serious implementation of NAPA will be extremely important to mitigate and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change in Nepal. Nepal's central location in the Himalaya portends the fact that it is the prime target country of climate change impacts and calls for it to play a leadership role at least in showing political will and playing a responsible role in global events such as the COP-15 at Copenhagen. DOI: 10.3126/init.v3i0.2425 The Initiation Vol.3 2009 p.30-37

Climate Change: Uncertainty for Hydropower Development in Nepal

There is a worldwide consensus that climate change is a real, rapidly advancing and widespread threat facing this century. This is a crucial issue in Himalayan and special in Nepal because of its possible impact on water resource, biodiversity, and consequence on economic growth of the region. The increase trend of glacial retreat and variability on temperature and participation has the direct impact on the water resource and hydropower development. Mountain regions are particularly vulnerable, both because warming trends are higher and the impacts are magnifed by the extreme changes in altitude over small distances. It indicates the great variability of hydro-climatic variability in major rivers and their tributaries. Decrease runoff will have direct impact on the hydropower development, but there is uncertainty about the role of spatial variability of changing climatic scenarios and their possible impact for hydropower development in large and middle rivers. This paper presents the scenarios of climate change in Nepal in terms of hydro-climatic variability. The frst part describes hydro-climatic variability and its uncertainty for hydropower development, and the second part deals with the mitigation of uncertainties. Key words: Climate change; Deglaciation; GLOF; Water resource; Hydrological cycle; Hydropower; Himalayas; NepalDOI: 10.3126/hn.v6i0.4190 Hydro Nepal Vol 6, January 2010 Page : 31-34 Uploaded Date: 24 January, 2011