Dinanath Bhandari

Explored areas Concepts and approaches initiatives and practices Issues

Adaptation in Nepal: concepts, practices and issues

Explored areas• Policies and plans • Initiatives and practices - local and

funded ones in different climatic regions

• Published reports and opinion papers• Workshop sharing and views

expressed in public

ConceptsAssessment of vulnerability and root causes

• Segregation of development problems and climate change impacts

• Identifying root causes and inter-linkages• Consideration of upstream and downstream linkages• Consideration of trends and uncertainty

Adaptation Approaches (in discourse)• Sectoral approaches (water, forest, agriculture)• Ecosystem, Community, Risk Reduction Approaches• Layers - NAPA, LAPA, …• Few are based on learning from practices

The future…our best guess

–?

Today + 3 to 5 years

– + 30 years and beyond

- 20 years

Clim

ate

mod

el

proj

ectio

ns– Likely max.

– Likely min.

– Likely avg.

– Trend:– 10 year avg.

– 10 year max.

– 10 year min.

Dimension(Wet season rainfall, max temp, flood etc.)

- 10 years

Towards best guess for future

@ V2R Practical Action, 2011

Approaches in Practice• Building on existing livelihoods

• Assessment of livelihoods (sensitivity)• Market and other external influences• Diversifying options based on local resources, skills and markets• Exploring opportunities of the change

• From sectoral to integrated approaches• Exploration of interlinkages and connectivity• Building up natural resource base - the natural resilience

capacity• Win-win> No regret > low regret actions on NRM

Approaches in practice…

Correction/improvement of erosive livelihoods and practices• Barriers of resilience building

• Faulty livelihood practices - slash-burn agriculture in fragile hill slopes, free grazing/overpopulated unproductive livestock/rearing practices, liquor making/fire wood sale, manure/fertilizer/pesticide application, mono-culture.

• Dominance of elites in exploitation of resources• Families over community• One group over the community – community forestry• One community over another (many downstream over

upstream, middlemen over farmers)• Faulty development practices/policies - unplanned settlements• Sectoral coordination - diversifying crops and breeds vs one

village one product

Prerequisites - the realization• Basic development/infrastructure• Level of awareness and commitment at all levels• Sustainability - stability in changing environment• Reliable mechanism for exchange of right

information• Holistic understanding

connecting parts - resources, technologies, markets …. to build on a resilient whole

Living with the uncertainty - the preparedness

• Example 1. Crop production has increased due to improved access to irrigation. Rice increased due to timely sowing of seeds and transplantation. There is additional opportunity of growing maize, vegetables and other winter crops. But this year, there has been untimely rainfall at harvesting time.

• People need to be prepared to opportunities and uncertainties.

• Example 2. 'All the season was good but a single event has damaged significant amount of crop. In Kaski district alone, hailstone and rainfall damaged rice crop of ~140,000,000 ($1.8 M)' (Source DADO/DDRC, Kaski, 2011)

• CSDRM for extreme events – prevention, preparedness and response mechanisms are necessary

Issues and constraints• Lack of sufficient information – missing and unreliability

of met information• Attributing ‘everything’ to climate change

• plantation failed but it was attributed to climate change• there was landslide in a village – attributed to climate change

(geology, slope, land use??)• Synchronizing Policy - Practice interface• Adaptation objectives vs. organizational objectives

• Collaboration/coordination within diversity of actions• Balance in priorities – gender issues, disparity, sectors and

actors• Community forest vs extended wildlife corridors, diversifying

crops and breeds vs one village one product• Communities at center Vs. Sector at the center• CC a separate issue or a issue in each sector

Issues and constraints• Limits of adaptation – when a water source completely dries

off?

Challenges• Prerequisites (development and

adaptation together)• Exchange of information community

to policy and policy to community• Bringing uniformities amid diverse

understandings• Too many concepts, too little actions

Thank You