Searchlight SA: Climate change causes severe damage to the most socio-economically exposed communities. South Asia is home to almost 40% of the worlds poorest, and therefore faces a double conundrum. Countries in the region must not only support their populations from negotiating the swift socio-economic changes that have come to characterize their economies, but must

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BBC: Nandi Lal Paswan, 59, is a farmer in Sripur, East Terai in Nepal. He is married and takes responsibility for the six other family members living in his house. Nandi Lal is content with his life, but he has worked hard to get where he is today. Thirty years ago he began farming a

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Himalayan Times: Summer monsoon is approaching and South Asia climate outlook has predicted above normal precipitation in Nepal. Recent data revealed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) shows that at least 420 people are killed every year in different disaster events in Nepal. Injuries, disruptions and a range of impacts including losses and damage

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Himalayan Times: Climate change has always remained as one of the hot topics of discussion amongst the environmentalists, governments, policymakers as well as other bodies concerned. As per Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increase in global average air and ocean

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ACT Alliance members from eight Asian countries met last week in Nepal to share their experiences and develop strategies on how to better influence governments to address climate change. Some of the countries that suffer the most visible and tangible immediate effects of climate change are located in Asia. Foezullah from ACT Bangladesh explains that

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Himalayan Times: Reducing green house emission is indispensable for attaining sustainable economic growth, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report has pointed out. The report on green house gas emission of South Asian countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal, prepared recently has mentioned that negative impact has been made in economic growth by

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Himalayan Times: Minister for Agriculture Development Tek Bahadur Thapa Gharti has directed ministry officials to evaluate the performance of projects based on the benefits that the projects have provided to people. Impact on livelihoods should be the base for evaluating the projects, he said during a performance review meeting of the Agriculture Ministry. “The traditional

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CDKN: Dr. Govinda Nepal, IDS-Nepal, reflects at the half way point of a project in Nepal which is calculating the economic cost of climate change in key sectors on what the team has learnt so far Which climate risk screening tool is the most appropriate for Nepal? What questions does an Investment and Financial Flow

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My Republica: Despite having been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, Nepal was not among the first group of countries to write a National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)—a prerequisite for accessing international support for climate intervention. It stands 44th among the 47 LDCs that prepared a NAPA and submitted

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Himalayan Times: Promoting an enabling business environment and political stability are key to improving economic performance in Nepal, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report. “We all agree Nepal has huge potential for growth but there are also substantial hurdles to overcome in triggering the high growth process,” said ADB’s country director for

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EBA: The government of Nepal, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) jointly launched the ‘Ecosystem based Adaptation in mountain ecosystem in Nepal (EbA)’ Project on the 16th August 2012. The project aims at implementing an emerging approach to help people to adapt to

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Life had been good for Sunyali Majhi, a farmer in Dolalghat, a small village about 50 kilometres from landlocked Nepal’s Kathmandu. She harvested enough rice to sell and feed her brood at home. But the portions have been getting smaller, the financial squeeze tighter. In the shade of a Peopaal tree, Sunyali and her children

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Himalayan Times: Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. It includes major changes in climatic parameters like temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer. The longevity of transportation infrastructure, the long-term nature of climate change,

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CCAFS: International climate change debates are often based upon simplistic assumptions of how men and women perceive and address risks and uncertainty. For instance, women are commonly portrayed as a homogenous group who are always more vulnerable than men to climate change simply because they are women. Yet the relationship between gender, poverty and vulnerability

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IRISH Times: They look like rice terraces, neat steps of land carved all the way up the steep hillsides, the mighty snow-capped Himalayan mountain range in the distance. But go closer and it’s not rice but potatoes that are growing in this lush valley about an hour’s journey north of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “We used

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Nepal Times: Eastern Nepal’s model township is on its way to becoming the country’s first Green City. Nepal’s easternmost district of Ilam is known for its diligent citizens and scenic tea gardens, but it is also showing the way about how towns can be cleaner and greener with community participation and competent leadership. The main

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RTCC: Nepal nestles beneath one of the greatest wonders of the world – the Himalayas – and this gives Nepalese a unique perspective on the effects of climate change. As the world warms our vast glaciers will melt, causing torrents of flood water to cascade through our country. We are sandwiched between China and India,

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Global Press Institute: As climate change disrupts water flow patterns in every region of Nepal, the availability of drinking water has become a serious threat to farms, livestock and families. For 53 years, Sunchari Dunwar, 65, has had the same daily routine. Married at the age of 12, she has risen early every morning to

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LCCCRSP: Local communities in Nepal participate in livestock climate change vulnerability study and field tour. On January 2, 2012, local communities in the Thulokhola watershed in Nuwakot gave the SLPS project research team a heartfelt traditional welcome with garlands and red powder, as well as flowers, fruits, coconuts and water jars adorned with flowers as

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World Bank: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved funding of a project that aims to enhance government capacity to mitigate climate-related hazards in Nepal by improving the accuracy and timeliness of weather and flood forecasts and warnings for climate-vulnerable communities. Funded by a Strategic Climate Fund grant of US$16 million, and a

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CDKN: The inception period of a CDKN supported project in Nepal has concluded with the Government of Nepal publishing an Inception Report and Implementation Plan for carrying out economic impact assessment of climate change in key sectors in Nepal. The project will provide headline and sectoral estimates of the impacts and economic costs of climate change for

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Nepali Times: The climate conference in Doha last month was another missed opportunity to stop the catastrophic warming of the planet. Known by its wordy official name, the 18th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was also confined to just that: words.The Doha Climate Summit failed to set

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Nepal 24Hr: The Doha climate change conference this year was the most significant in nearly 20 years of gatherings under the U.N. Framework Convention process aimed at staving off future global warming disaster. Since carbon dioxide emission limits agreed to under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol were to expire at the stroke of midnight on December

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Daily Mirror: The key issue that climate change researchers must explore in Sri Lanka is to access conflict-affected sites to assess impacts of climate change on the highly vulnerable IDP communities so as to build their resilience through resettlement which is both sensitive and responsive to climate change. This will in turn significantly and positively

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My Republica: The lead up to this year’s UN Conference on Climate Change was pretty bland. The meetings got underway in Doha on November 26 without the prelude of the picturesque Cabinet meetings near the top of world. In the lead up to the annual UN Conference on Climate Change three years ago, Nepal’s government

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ICIMOD : European Union & ICIMOD launch €11 million Rural Livelihood and Climate Change Adaptation programme in the Himalayan region. Five year programme spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Nepal The European Union (EU) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) today (4 Dec 2012) signed a €11 million agreement

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Nature (blog): Some respite for the people of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (HKH) grappling with the effects of climate change.A new grant of 11 million euros announced today will go into livelihood development and mitigation of climate change impacts for people in the region. The European Union (EU) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

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Global Youth Board member Abhisekh organized Nepal’s first Academy himself with the assistance from Integrated Effort for Development (IED), the Rotary Club of Dhulikhel and Dhulikhel Municipality. The Academy took place in Dhulikel on 27 November 2012 – the children of Plant-fpr-the-Planet welcome the 40 new Climate Justice Ambassadors who took part! Abhisekh declared: “Nepal

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UNU: Adaptation to climate change (CC) impact is an emerging area of research and development in Nepal. Many households were deeply affected by climatic variability and natural disasters coupled with a decade-long conflict, leaving them with few options to cope with CC in Nepal. A study was conducted on people’s experience in CC and its

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PHYS.org: No success for REDD+ without understanding possible impacts on forest biodiversity and people. The world’s rapidly dwindling forests should be valued as more than just “carbon warehouses” to mitigate climate change, according to a new report released today from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations(IUFRO), the world’s largest network of forest scientists. In

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Scidev.net: With few students enrolling for science and technology (S&T) courses at the higher educationlevel, Nepal faces a serious shortage of scientists in the near future, experts say. S&T is not attractive enough for students, delegates at the sixth National Conference on Science and Technology, organised by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology in

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Nepal News: Untied Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Robert Piper Friday said that Nepal’s development indicators have been impressive despite challenges. “Significant results have been achieved and Nepal’s development indicators continue to improve. These results are all the more impressive given the headwinds development efforts have faced over the last decade in this country,” Piper

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Ekantipur: The Nepali expertise in developing micro-hydropower projects to help rural communities meet their energy demands will soon be imparted to other countries in the region and beyond. Experts with the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, will be offering technical assistance and training in developing micro-hydropower projects

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One World South Asia: The rate of poverty in Nepal fell from 31% in 2003 to 25% in 2010. The reduction would have been greater but for the decision to upgrade the standard basket of food that is valued as the core component of the national poverty line. The measure of inequality also improved, the

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  Himalayan Times: The United Nations observes the Disaster Risk Reduction Day every year on the 13th of October. The United Nations is focusing on urban disaster risk reduction this year because of the higher contribution of the urban areas to the GDP of the country compared to their rural counterpart. In Nepal, the urban

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ADB: The Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project aims to improve water security and resilience to potential climate change impact in the Bagmati River Basin. It will build on the general public’s desire to restore the river environment in the Kathmandu Valley and the Government’s efforts to improve irrigation development and mitigate the impact of water-induced

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Scidevnet: Satellite images are making the fate of the Himalayan glaciers clearer, but not that of the people who live downstream, finds Smriti Mallapaty. Satellite observations are providing a clearer picture of changes in the glaciers on the world’s tallest mountain range — but there’s still not enough information to answer a vital question: how

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My Republica: It has taken some steps, but Nepal has a long way to go to address climate change Climate change has increasingly been understood as a real threat to human life and our support system. In the late 1970s, climate change discussions were the main focus of the scientific community. After 30 years, people

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The Republica: The green economy is emerging as an important concept in the field of development. Though this is a relatively new concept, defined and interpreted in a different context, it has primarily been on the global agenda since the launch of a report titled “Towards a Green Economy- Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty

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ANU News: Since the 1960s, Nepal has registered 62 new high-yielding rice varieties. The method for developing new varieties has evolved in those years, to a method where farmers are now at the hub of the technological innovation process and work closely with scientists and policymakers. This innovative approach was the subject of a recently

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Telegraph UK: The high number of adventurers drawn to Nepal to climb the world’s highest mountains has led to more than its fair share of tragedies. The high number of adventurers drawn to Nepal to climb the world’s highest mountains has led to more than its fair share of tragedies.At least nine foreign tourists died

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The Ecologist: The once bustling Bagmati river has become the focal point of Nepal’s struggle to bring modernity to this once isolated region. And the environment is struggling to survive, writes Joseph Mayton. KATHMANDU: It is “clean-up” day on Nepal’s major river, the Bagmati. Uniformed military personnel troll the banks of the river, picking up

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China.org: Experts in climate change and the changing environment of the Himalayan region said Sunday’s avalanche that left at least nine dead and five others missing in northern Nepal was caused by large quantity of soft snow that had piled up since Sept. 14. “In the past three days, the mercury went on increasing in

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The Himalayan times: The government has started consultation for the planned Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS). “The strategy study has identified potential for the country’s agriculture sector to achieve higher productivity, competitiveness, inclusiveness, and sustainability while making it more resilient to climate change impacts,” said ADB’s country director for Nepal Kenichi Yokoyama during a workshop to

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CDKN (blog): Nepali journalist Saroj Dhakal interviews British Council Climate Champion, Saurav Dhakal on his experience of completing the Great Himalayan Trail and what he thinks is needed to promote climate compatible development in the region. I recently had the opportunity to discuss, over a cup of ‘chai’, with the British Council Climate Champion, Saurav

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IRI News: In the next few months Nepal will start implementing local adaptation plans for climate vulnerable communities in its impoverished far-and mid-western region under the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). NAPAs, submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, provide a process for Least Developed Countries to identify priority activities that respond

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Nepal News: Managing climate change has been one of the most serious challenges of the twenty-first century. Most scientific bodies have projected that if the global temperature rises 2 degrees Celsius above the level of 1990, it will cause drastic changes in weather patterns, extinct several species, and introduce new diseases among others. Countries of

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Telegraph Nepal: China also has tremendous water resources. More than 2700 cubic meters of water flow from the country every day. Out of this, 6, 67,000 MW hydroelectricity can be produced. Of which 3, 00, 080 MW can be produced comfortably. China has already produced 80,000 MW of hydro power. By constructing 7 dams in

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IRN News: A tortuous planning process in Nepal is preventing climate adaptation funding – earmarked under the country’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) – from reaching local communities, experts say. “We are so engrossed in national processes,” Raju Pandit Chhetri, co-author of a 2011 Oxfam report on climate adaptation finance, told IRIN. “Let us

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ICIMOD: Four recent studies published in Nature and Science (Bolch et al. 2012; Gardelle et al. 2012; Kääb et al. 2012; Yao et al. 2012) strengthen the evidence for overall mass loss from glaciers in the greater Himalayan region. The studies also indicate: despite the overall loss, no significant mass gains or losses have occurred

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Khabar South Asia: Young people in the Himalayan nation offer creative solutions to the challenges facing their generation. The talent of young adults was on full display as they rolled out an array of projects and initiatives to mark the International Youth Day on August 12th. The event highlighted how Nepal is working to keep

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IPS News: Farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change.  “Last year my farms produced over 20 quintals of maize, but this time I could barely harvest one quintal,” 60-year-old farmer Padmakanta

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Nature: Glaciers are among the best indicators of terrestrial climate variability, contribute importantly to water resources in many mountainous regions1, 2 and are a major contributor to global sea level rise3, 4. In the Hindu Kush–Karakoram–Himalaya region (HKKH), a paucity of appropriate glacier data has prevented a comprehensive assessment of current regional mass balance5. There

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Himalayan Times: After forest encroachers attacked Nanda Devi Kunwar (40) with daggers, her right hand does not work, while the left pains severely. She cannot eat unless someone feeds her yet she is determined for conservation of the forests till the end of her life. Chairman of Madhuma-lati Nanda Proposed Community Forests, Malakheti VDC, Kailali,

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CCAFS-CGIAR: Persistence and diversification. Oddly enough, these two themes prove common between successful climate change adaptation, as well as getting to meet the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Baburam Bhattarai. At least, this is the light-hearted lesson that The Adaptation to progressive climate change- and Oxford University Research Team drew from their recent meeting with the

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Himalayan Times: Ecosystem-based adaptation project to help people deal with challenges in Nepal. The government of Nepal, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) jointly launched the ‘Ecosystem based Adaptation in mountain ecosystem in Nepal (EbA)’ Project. The project aims at implementing an emerging

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CCAFS (CGIAR): In Nepal, the involvement of men and women in agriculture is starting to change. “Before, women used to tend to the household work, while the men engaged themselves in the agricultural labor,” explained Nani Raut, a researcher who last year received a gender grant from the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security

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On an article published on 6 Aug 2012 at Livemint (reproduced below), Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma raises a few questions. He says, “whether or not the trend co-relates to climate change, it is clear that there has virtually been an absence of a well thought-out strategy to overcome it. Job opportunities and local markets haven’t been

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IPS News: Farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change.  “Last year my farms produced over 20 quintals of maize, but this time I could barely harvest one quintal,” 60-year-old farmer Padmakanta

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Telegraph Nepal: It was in 1991 when I first visited Nepal as a graduate student at Indiana University, working on a research project on the management of common pool resources under the leadership of Professor Elinor Ostrom. To get myself prepared for the visit, I had been reading case studies of irrigation management in Nepal

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