Nepal, a landlocked
mountainous country, has less contribution to the total emission of Green House
Gaseous (GHGs) however; the country is experiencing significant impacts of
climate change.
National Adaptation Plan
of Action prepared by Government of Nepal is a notable document that provides
the deep insights of climate change scenarios in Nepal.
Nepal has experienced
the change in the mean temperature and rainfall. The country except some pocket
areas has become warmer. The data trends from 1975 to 2005 indicate 0.06 degree
Celsius rise in the mean temperature and 3.75 mm per month per decade decrease
in the rainfall. Under various climatic scenarios, the mean annual temperature
is projected to increase between 1.3-3.8 by1960 where as rainfall is predicted
to decrease by 10 to 20%.
Nepal’s water resources,
agriculture, biodiversity are highly impacted by the increasing temperature and
decreasing rainfall. Communities of Nepal are facing the shortage of water
resources due to less recharge of aquifers, overexploitation of ground water.
The ground water level has decreased 50 feet to 70 feet in some places of
Narayani River basin of Nepal. The impact of such degradation leads to the
higher impacts to substance type of agriculture system affecting the livelihood
of vulnerable people. Such climatic trends combined with deforestation, erosion
of soil are leading to landslides and flood hazards and therefore vulnerable
communities will have to increase their adaptive capacity to cope with climatic
hazards.
More than 80% of Nepal
population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood where the significant
change in the agricultural yield production was observed making more people
vulnerable (Malla 2008). The increase in temperature has also increased risk of
water-borne diseases due to poor sanitation and higher rainfall including increase
in the risk of contamination (Source: Kelkar and Bhadwal 2007/2008).
The country has low
emission by itself however, it lies between two giant industrial countries but
facing greater challenge. Thus, the global effort is necessary to tackle the
climate change so that global community works towards agreeing and implementing
measures to keep the temperature below 1.5 Degree Celsius.
