Climate change is advancing more rapidly in the high Himalayas than in many other parts of the world, affecting both people and natural systems (Synthesis Report, IPCC, 2007). Climate-induced hazards that are expected to increase in the future include more erratic rainfall, flash flooding, drought, forest fire, and landslides. Nepal is more vulnerable than many countries to climate change because of factors such as high poverty and low adaptive capacity. If action is not taken now to build resilience and adaptive capacity, climate impacts are likely to be greatly exacerbated in the future.
Limited capacity and weak economy create great challenges to adapt to climate change. Human vulnerability to climate change is linked with poverty, exclusion, reliance on rain-fed agriculture, lack of basic services and limited alternative livelihoods. It is also linked with social inequalities, limited access to information, and exclusion from key decision-making process. Ecosystems and individual species are also vulnerable, and in Nepal this is likely to be exacerbated by rapidly rising temperatures and non-climate pressures. Adaptation is now recognized as an essential part of the global response to climate change. Development actors are increasingly promoting a community based approach that recognizes the unique risks faced by poor and marginalized people, and an ecosystem based approach that has evolved to use biodiversity and ecosystem services as a part of an overall adaptation strategy to help vulnerable people to adapt. CARE and WWF have been pioneering an integrated approach that combines both ecosystem- and community-based approaches to adaptation, and this is being piloted by the Hariyo Ban Program.
Limited capacity and weak economy create great challenges to adapt to climate change. Human vulnerability to climate change is linked with poverty, exclusion, reliance on rain-fed agriculture, lack of basic services and limited alternative livelihoods. It is also linked with social inequalities, limited access to information, and exclusion from key decision-making process. Ecosystems and individual species are also vulnerable, and in Nepal this is likely to be exacerbated by rapidly rising temperatures and non-climate pressures. Adaptation is now recognized as an essential part of the global response to climate change. Development actors are increasingly promoting a community based approach that recognizes the unique risks faced by poor and marginalized people, and an ecosystem based approach that has evolved to use biodiversity and ecosystem services as a part of an overall adaptation strategy to help vulnerable people to adapt. CARE and WWF have been pioneering an integrated approach that combines both ecosystem- and community-based approaches to adaptation, and this is being piloted by the Hariyo Ban Program.
