Environmental factors have long had an impact on global migration flows, as people have historically left places with harsh or deteriorating conditions. However, the scale of such flows, both internal and cross-border, is expected to rise as a result of accelerated climate change, with unprecedented impacts on lives and livelihoods. Such migration can have positive and negative…
In the Everest region of Nepal, the Sherpa people are already facing the harsh impact of climate change in the Himalayas. Changes in snow and rainfall patterns are affecting food production and communities face an ever present threat of flooding. A Journey to Imja Lake tells this story by taking us on a winding path…
Fisherfolk in Ramechhap district – one of the most exposed to drought – now earn USD 500 more than Nepal’s per capita income by selling vegetables. Earlier the fisherfolk would earn less than NPR 12,000 (USD 115) per year selling fish, but now they are earning more than NPR 300,000 (USD 2,800) by selling vegetables,…
The lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples have been of significant historical importance to their livelihoods, cultures and spiritual identities. Over 370 million indigenous peoples are currently living in 70 countries in the world, mostly in remote, ecologically fragile and marginalized areas that are rich in traditional skills, knowledge and practices. Climate change is a…
As trade has become more globalised so too has the movement of pests from one country to another. Together with a changing climate that has become suitable for pests, this has meant that smallholder farmers in Nepal are having to cope with new problems threatening their crops. With two-thirds of Nepal’s population in farming, new…
As unprecedented variation in climatic pattern in recent decades has pushed farming community into unchartered territory farmers in most part of Nepal fail to grasp the cause of that change and are left baffled as to how to respond. Agriculture being mostly rain-fed in Nepalese context is sensitive to even a slightest change in the…
Three weeks after US President Donald Trump announced that “as of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the… Paris Accord,” Shiva, a subsistence farmer in the Nepali village of Saipu, says: “It’s like God is mad and has disappeared and something evil is taking over the sky…Look at my corn. It’s thirsty, but…
Nepal is a predominantly rural society with agriculture accounting for more than a third of its gross domestic product. Recent temperature rises and reduction in winter rainfall have been affecting productivity and the livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations. A CDKN-supported project on Economic Impact Assessments of Climate Change in Nepal identified agriculture as highly vulnerable to the…
Climate change is taking place at a rapid pace, exacerbating pressures on fragile ecosystems and human well-being. Ecosystems of the Himalayas like in the Hindu-Kush and communities dependent on them for a livelihood and other services are highly vulnerable to climate related risks. Traditionally local communities have been adjusting to climatic and environmental changes and therefore…
Nepal is an agrarian mountainous country situated in the central Himalayas, with an altitude ranging from 60m to 8848m. Within this climatic range, the mountain ecosystem of Nepal nurtures around 118 ecosystems, 75 types of vegetation and 35 types of forest. Nepal also has 3,252 glaciers that encompass an area of 5323sq km. However, the…