Local people\u27s perception on Climate Change, its impact and adaptation practices in Himalaya to Terai regions of Nepal

The study showed that average temperature has increased from 0.6 to 0.980 C over the last 30 years and precipitation is characterized by large inter-annual variability with substantial decrease in amount over the last five years. The annual temperature increasing trend followed 0.055\u3e0.0455\u3e0.035\u3e0.02 0C yr-1 from Middle Mountain, Siwlik, Himalayan and Teari regions respectively. More than 80 percent HHs responded that they have perceived increased temperature and expressed low amount snowfall in High mountain and rainfall in Mid mountain and Terai region over the last five years. Low amount of snow fall in the Himalayan region affected to the Nomad groups due low grass available to feed their livestock. Furthermore, local collector reported that there was lower availability of the medicinal plant such as Nirmasi and Jimbu due to low precipitation in the High mountain region. Similarly, more than 75 % respondent explored that monsoon has started one or two weeks later and increased the more number of drought days in the Mid-mountain and Terai. Study found that there was also decreased in water sources, ground water, and increased siltation and sedimentation in the downstream Terai region. Furthermore, change in flowering and fruiting time in some species, increased invade species like Agerative spp, Lantana camera in the farm land as well as forest land. Adaptation measures such as use of water source, community forest management, planting trees and grasses in the farm land, crop diversification were practiced by local people in their farm land as well as communal land. Natural resource degradation, poverty are already severe problems in this region, and there will be more severe problems in future if present scenario continues, particularly because small farmers do not have adequate resources to adopt to cope with CC impact. Study showed that Mid-mountain region is less vulnerable through climate change than other regions. Furthermore, no any policies and programs have been formulated for adaptation strateragy in this region. It is suggested that policy and program should formulate holistic approach and develop low cost technology for adaption to CC impact and improve livelihood of the local communities

Quantitative Assessment of Vulnerability to Climate Change in Rural Municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The rural population in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH), which constitutes more than half of the total population, experienced serious incidences of extreme weather events in the past two decades. This part of the population is vulnerable to climate change due to significant dependence on agriculture as a climate-sensitive livelihood option. However, the source of their vulnerability is due not only to the extent and magnitude of these extreme climate events, but also to the internal status within the vulnerable systems before the occurrence of such events. In order to explore the different dimensions of vulnerability, we used a set of 20 indicators to quantitatively assess the vulnerability of the rural population to climate change at the local level in BH. Two summarizing and two weighting methods were applied to assess vulnerability—Equal weights (EW) and principal component analysis (PCA). Based on the results obtained, we concluded that the current socio-economic conditions and the increased environmental pressure as a result of the present human-environment interactions are the main determinants of vulnerability in most vulnerable municipalities, rather than the degree to which these municipalities are exposed to significant climatic variations. Most vulnerable municipalities are located across the north, with a gradual decrease in vulnerability towards the central, north, and east of the country. Vulnerability increases again from here towards the south of the country. The number of municipalities classified as the highest and highly vulnerable increased when the second summarizing method and weighted indicators were used. However, the general geographic distribution of vulnerability did not change substantially compared to the first method. The approaches used in this study provide some valuable results at the local level, and are presented in a way that is practical for decision-making processes and may serve as a base for further research when designing effective adaptation and mitigation strategies, especially in the regions with similar climatic and socio-economic conditions.publishedVersio

Agricultural Sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Climate Change — Challenges and Opportunities

Half of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BH) population lives in rural areas. Agricultural production is a backbone of the rural economy and generates significant economic value for the country. BH is highly vulnerable to climate change, which poses a significant development challenge given the climate-sensitivity of the agricultural sector, the share of agriculture in the total economy, the number of people employed in the sector, and the closely related socio-economic issues of food security. BH has experienced serious incidences of extreme weather events over the past two decades, causing severe economic losses. Based on available data and currently available climate projections, exposure to threats from climate change will continue to increase. The review paper presents the current state of the BH agricultural sector and the impact of potential climate change on agricultural systems. It proposes policy options to optimize opportunities and mitigate consequences of possible climate change in the agricultural sector. Development of policy and research capacity should include harmonisation and centralisation of domestic agricultural policies, carrying out a vulnerability assessment and strengthening the public and private extension systems. Further technological development should include improvements in weather and climate information systems, crop development, irrigation and water management

Assessment of Fertilizer Policy, Farmers’ Perceptions and Implications for Future Agricultural Development in Nepal

This paper assesses the origins of and changes to fertilizer policy in Nepal over a period of time. It assesses farmers’ awareness of the recent changes to the subsidy policy and examines their perceptions of the extension services. This paper looks at the environmental implications of the concentrated application of chemical fertilizer, particularly as far as food security is concerned. Questionnaire surveys, group discussions, a workshop, soil analyses and archival materials were used to collect data for this study. Changes in fertilizer policy have occurred in four different phases: (i) without subsidy; (ii) with subsidy; (iii) with deregulation of fertilizer trade; and (iv) the current phase of subsidies for fertilizer. However, timely and effective fertilizer distribution by the government has always been a problem. Only few farmers (12 %) know about recent changes in the fertilizer policy; most of them (44 %) were satisfied with the new subsidy scheme. Valid proof of land ownership is a requirement for qualifying for subsidized fertilizer, and this makes it difficult for some small farmers who are tenant. The soil analysis indicated a significant decrease in the soil pH as a result of intensified agriculture. One reason is due to the intensive use of chemical fertilizers and the declining use of farmyard manure. The ineffectiveness of the extension services also influences farmers’ use of fertilizer as they are not aware of which fertilizer and how much to use. The use of fertilizer may increase yields in the short term, but in the longer term, it may worsen the food insecurity in the country

Evaluation of Small-Scale Fishers’ Perceptions on Climate Change and Their Coping Strategies: Insights from Lake Malawi

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Higher N2O emission by intensified crop production in South Asia

-Intensification of food production in Nepal has been found to acidify the soils and hence increase their apparent propensity to emit N2O as measured by the N2O/(N2+N2O) product ratio of denitrification during standardized anoxic incubations (Raut et al., 2012). We hypothesized that this would lead to high N2O emission factors (EF), and tested this by measuring N2O emissions from fields on which intensified crop production (IC) had been practiced for the last 20 years, and adjacent fields having traditional crop production (TC) practices. The measurements were done every one to two weeks over a period of 12 months covering two to three cropping periods. On the sites with periodically flooded soils, the cumulated emissions for IC and TC were 15.41 and 7.23 kg N2O/ha, respectively. On the sites with permanently drained soils, the cumulated emissions were 5.43 and 1.46 kg N2O/ha (IC and TC). We used the available data on fertilizer levels to calculate an emission factor for the transition from TC to IC (EFI); i.e. View the MathML sourceΔN2O−N/ΔNfertilizer, where ΔΔN2O-N is the cumulated emission in IC minus that in TC, View the MathML sourceΔNfertilizer is the annual N input to IC minus that in TC. The EF values were 0.08 and 0.02 for the sites with permanently drained and periodically flooded soils, respectively. These factors are 2 to 8 times higher than the EF values used by IPCC to calculate emission as a function of fertilizer level. The high EFI appear to confirm our hypothesis that intensification will lead to higher emission of N2O than that predicted by the increase in nitrogen inputs, and that this is due to the soil acidification

Mapping and Modelling of Land Use Change in Nepal

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National Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme in Nepal (NPL 2945) : a mid term review report [executive summary]

This Noragric Report was commissioned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) to Noragric.The main purpose of this Mid Term Review (MTR) is to assess the progress of the National Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme (NPL 2945) in relation to its planned outputs, and to analyse constraints and achievements in programme implementation in order to provide guidance to both the funding agent (Norwegian Government) and the implementing agent (FAO and HMG Nepal) for possible amendments or rectifications that may be needed for the remainder of the programme period. As indicated in the Terms of Reference (ToR), assessment of the progress of the programme towards fulfilling its two main objectives has been emphasised during the review process. The objectives stated in the programme document are: (1) To contribute to institutionalise a sustainable national Integrated Pest Management Programme (IPM) by strengthening the capacity of the Plant Protection Directorate (PPD), collaborating national, regional and district level training and extension institutions in the governmental and non-governmental sector strengthened to integrate IPM training and support programmes for smallholder farmers; and (2) To empower farmers to increase production and productivity efficiently while protecting environment, conserving the bio-diversity and avoiding health hazards for betterment of their livelihood. Based on information collected through individual discussions, key-contact interviews, group discussions and direct field observations with 13 IPM Farmers Field School (FFS) and 2 Farmers & Science groups as well as the review of supplied reports and documents, the MTR Team has come up with the following principle findings and recommendations

National Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme in Nepal (NPL 2945) : a mid term review report [executive summary]

The main purpose of this Mid Term Review (MTR) is to assess the progress of the National Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme (NPL 2945) in relation to its planned outputs, and to analyse constraints and achievements in programme implementation in order to provide guidance to both the funding agent (Norwegian Government) and the implementing agent (FAO and HMG Nepal) for possible amendments or rectifications that may be needed for the remainder of the programme period. As indicated in the Terms of Reference (ToR), assessment of the progress of the programme towards fulfilling its two main objectives has been emphasised during the review process. The objectives stated in the programme document are: (1) To contribute to institutionalise a sustainable national Integrated Pest Management Programme (IPM) by strengthening the capacity of the Plant Protection Directorate (PPD), collaborating national, regional and district level training and extension institutions in the governmental and non-governmental sector strengthened to integrate IPM training and support programmes for smallholder farmers; and (2) To empower farmers to increase production and productivity efficiently while protecting environment, conserving the bio-diversity and avoiding health hazards for betterment of their livelihood. Based on information collected through individual discussions, key-contact interviews, group discussions and direct field observations with 13 IPM Farmers Field School (FFS) and 2 Farmers & Science groups as well as the review of supplied reports and documents, the MTR Team has come up with the following principle findings and recommendations