Volume 10, Issue 28, July - December, 2024

Impacts of climate change on the livelihood of people and their adaptive strategies

Mukunda Nath Yogi¹, Rajesh Prasad Dahal², Kareena Panth¹

¹Institute of Forestry, Kathmandu Forestry College, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
²Institute of Forestry, Kathmandu Forestry College, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, Auburn University, USA

ABSTRACT

Climate change has been a significant threat to rural peoples' natural resources and livelihoods. A comparative case study on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies adopted by two communities (externally supported Ramnakot Pachaljharna Rural Municipality-4 and the non-supported community of Raskot Municipality-3, Kalikot district) conducted to assess climatic variables, their impacts, and adaptation strategies. Primary and secondary information is collected through household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, direct observation, and the review of meteorological data and climate change impacts and adaptation-related publications. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Science) and MS-Excel (Microsoft Excel) and presented in this report. In total, 81% and 91% of the total respondents in Raskot Municipality and Ramnakot Rural Municipality, respectively, were dependent on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood The average summer temperature of study areas has been on the rise in recent years, and rainfall patterns are unusual and abnormal, with a growing number of days having rainfall of 100 mm and above a day. The torrential rainfall has severely impacted agricultural fields, forests, and irrigation canals in the region. The study found that the effects of changing rainfall patterns were similar in Raskot-3 and Ramnakot-4 villages, but Ramnakot-4 respondents, with the support of CAFS- Karnali and HuRENDEC Nepal/WFP, designed and implemented Climate Smart Village (CSV) approaches focusing on growing high-value cash crops, fruits and vegetables along with maize, wheat, millet, barley, and paddy for food security and nutrition, as well as income and employment generation. They focused on improving soil fertility using organic manure, including green manure and mulching, and irrigation canal and drinking water supply systems were also improved, resulting in an increase in cropping intensity of respondent households from 68% to 91% following CSV activities. It is revealed that the respondents of externally supported Ramnakot-4 were more resilient to climate change vulnerability than those of the respondents of Raskot-3. The study indicates that to raise awareness among farmers in Raskot-3 and their stakeholders about climate change issues, it is necessary to develop and implement adaptation measures, awareness programs, and information-sharing initiatives.

Keywords: Climate change, Climate Smart Village, Livelihood, adaptive strategies

Climate Change, 2024, 10(28), e9cc1041

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v10i28.e9cc1041

Published: 07 September 2024