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World Report View

My Views on Nepal and Climate Change

by Bharat Adhikari | 23-07-2017 03:45 recommendations 0

Considerable scientific evidence indicates that the earth's atmosphere is warming because of a combination of natural effects and human activities, and that this warming is likely to lead significant climate disruption during this century. Climate change is neither new nor unusual. Over the past 3.5 billion years, the planet's climate has been altered by volcanic emissions, changes in solar input, continents moving slowly atop shifting tectonic plates, impacts by large meteors and other factors.


Climate change refers "to the change of earth's global or regional climate over a long period of time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activities"(IPCC,2007d:30).


Nepal is a landlocked central Himalayan country in south Asia which lies in between China and India with latitude 26?22'N 30?27'N and longitude 80?04'E 88?12'E. It has an area of 147,181km2 with population 26,494,504(2011 census). Nepal is a multi-ethnic nation and has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, sub-alpine forested hills, and eight of the most world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on earth.


Nepal lies in 4th most vulnerable country in the world (Maplecroft Climate Change Risk Atlas, 2011). Nepal, as one of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), has a high vulnerability to climate change. The projected rapid change in the atmosphere's temperature could have severe and long-lasting consequences in Nepal, including increased drought and flooding, shifts in the location of croplands and wildlife habitat, high intensity rainfall, landslides, soil erosion, sedimentation, forest fires, GLOFs etc. Phenological change is seen in flowering plants. Melting Himalayas has been the most highlighted issue of climatic changes in Nepal.


Community Forest User Group (CFUG) is main area to act climate change adaptation in Nepal. Ecosystem Based Adaptation must be practiced. Nepal urgently needs capability to assess climate related vulnerabilities and develop appropriate strategies for adaptive measures. Farming with crops resilient to the changing pattern of precipitation, crop diversification, development of microirrigation schemes, appropriate technologies for soling land etc. were found to be highly successful for the sustainable living of the farmers. Wider application of such strategies can contribute to upgrade the adverse impacts of climate change.

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7 Comments

  • Prakriti Dhakal says :
    Yeah we are glad being richest in natural resources but more than that we are boundless depressed on alarming increase pollotion effects, @Bharat we can see the disaster that flood brings and in the other hand swine flu whose main cause is climate change.

    I am glad seeing your environmental workshops you being doing so lets have positive faith and always work hard to combat climate change.
    Posted 13-08-2017 03:36

  • says :
    Nice article
    Posted 06-08-2017 16:23

Aaditya Singh

  • Aaditya Singh says :
    Thanks for your report Bharat. Nepal is a beautiful nation rich in natural biodiversity. Besides being one of the LDCs, that makes it difficult to adopt cost intensive measures to combat pollution and resource depletion, environment and biodiversity in Nepal also suffers as many developed nations operate their industries in Nepal due to cheap labour and resources. The local authorities needs to ensure environmental sustainability with due respect to basic human rights and good market governance.
    Posted 28-07-2017 20:28

  • says :
    Your report reminds me of my first visit to Nepal few months back . To my utter surprise, I found alarming level of pollution there. People were moving with their mouth covered in mask. On enquiring I got to know that earthquake has devastated the infrastructure very badly so the government was revamping the roads and reconstructing the buildings hit by earthquake.
    Despite its rich bio-diversity and himalayan beauty Nepal succumbs to Nature's fury. Eco system based strategies and monitoring as written by you can definitely stabilize and control the after effects of earthquake.
    Posted 25-07-2017 01:43

  • Bharat Adhikari says :
    Thank you for the comments :)
    Posted 24-07-2017 00:05

  • Arushi Madan says :
    Nepal is one of the most important country from biodiversity point of view as it encompasses eight of the ten highest mountains in the world. Noting that it??s varied topography and social vulnerability make the country particularly susceptible to climate-related disasters. Therefore, it is really essential that Nepal implements and designs a suite of active policies to address the underlying causes of vulnerability by mainstreaming climate change into national policy and planning processes. Stakeholders should be engaged at both local and national levels in decision making and the identification of options for addressing climate change risks. There is a need to make a shift from reactively responding to climate hazards to a more proactive, risk reduction approach, requiring a significant change in current disaster programming and monitoring in Nepal.Thanks for the report.
    Posted 23-07-2017 19:33

  • Anishka Jha says :
    Very true, climate change refers to a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, soil erosion, impacts by large meteors and other factors.
    I have been to Nepal recently and I noticed that there is a lot of air pollution there that is mainly responsible for the change in its climate. The pollution comes from many sources besides vehicles, though. In the southern regions brush fires, brick kilns and cooking stoves produce a haze of smoke.
    The pollution could have far-reaching consequences as it floats north into the Himalayas. Smoke from fires and emissions from vehicles produce soot containing black carbon. Black carbon absorbs lots of solar energy. It settles on glaciers and snow, and its dark colour causes the snow and ice to absorb more of the sun??s radiation. Which also warms up the air, changing rainfall patterns and over a million people depend on the monsoon rains and snow melt of the Himalayas for their source of water.
    This is how small fires and emissions can affect the people living in the country massively.

    Thank you for this well written article:)
    Posted 23-07-2017 18:26

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