UPPSATSER Kulturgeografiska Institutionen

UPPSATSER Kulturgeografiska institutionen Policy, agency and scale in local adaptation to socio-environmental change in the Panchkhal Valley, Nepal Jakob Grandin Course: 2KU046: Master’s Thesis in Geography 30hp Semester: Autumn semester 2015 ABSTRACT Grandin, J. 2016. Policy, agency and scale in local adaptation to socio-environmental change in the Panchkhal Valley, Nepal. Uppsatser Kulturgeografiska institutionen, Uppsala Univer- sity. Masters Thesis in Geography, 30hp, Fall Semester 2015. This case study explores climate change coping and adaptation strategies in an agriculture- dependent community in the Panchkhal Valley in Nepal that suffered from five years of drought between 2004 and 2009. Based on fieldwork and interviews in Panchkhal 2011–2012, it explores how drought, combined with an ongoing process of agricultural commercialization and intensification, lead to a situation of ‘double exposure’ for Panchkhal farmers. As a con- sequence, current development policies based on the intensification and commercialization of agriculture may both support and undermine climate change adaptation in important ways. For instance, access to markets and a monetary income facilitated coping and adaptation, while dependence on agrochemicals led to increased vulnerability and environmental deterio- ration at the local level. Furthermore, none of the reported coping and adaptation strategies were able to provide the agricultural system in Panchkhal with sufficient amounts of water during the drought. While community organizations and NGOs were reported to play important roles in facilitating adaptation and mediating support at the time of the drought, government support was regarded to be insufficient. Coping and adaptation projects were often launched by local level actors, but these projects were dependent on resources from other administrative scales for their realization. ‘Scale brokers’, organizations or individuals that are able to mobilize support from other scales, hence appear to be a critical part for realizing adaptation projects. Keywords: Climate change, adaptation, agriculture, polycentric systems, policy, Nepal Supervisor: Prof. Jan Boelhouwers, Dept. of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala Uni- versity PREFACE ‘I do not believe for a moment in the accurately cut to shape, the statically curtailed,’ writes Swedish poet Harry Martinson: ‘I believe only in the dynamically organizing, the living.’1 To make clean cuts and demarcations when trying to understand social and ecological processes that are essentially dynamic and living is, as Harry Martinson so lucidly apprehended, unde- sirable or even impossible. When exploring the dynamics between institutions, policy and local climate change adaptation it was thus necessary to transgress both geographical and theoretical borders. The resulting thesis is inescapably broad, and while I hope it sheds light on some key issues, it may ultimately lead to more questions than answers. This explorative journey was only possible because of the generous participation, support and encouragement from a great number of co-voyagers, for whom I wish to express my sincere appreciation. First of all, I deeply thank all the research participants in Panchkhal, Dhulikhel and Kathmandu, who generously contributed with their time and insights to this study. I also thank Neera Shrestha Pradhan, my contact person at ICIMOD, who was instrumental in defining the case for the study, reviewed the preliminary analysis, and helped introducing me to the field. In Uppsala, my supervisor Jan Boelhouwers has been part of this thesis process since the first sketchy ideas. Thank you for combining academic rigor with a critical exploration of the sources of knowing, and in particular for our conversations in Hågadalen. Thanks to Asish Duwal, whose efforts as interpreter were crucial during the fieldwork; thanks also to Bhaveeka Dhangol who was equally invaluable in transcribing and translating the recorded interviews. Madhab and Surja Maharjan were my generous hosts in Panga in the Kathmandu Valley. I am grateful for their advice and help with numerous logistical details. My gratitude also to Manjul and Susmita Nepal for warmly introducing me to so many dimensions of the country, and to my parents for taking me to Nepal in the first place. A creative, critical and supporting university environment has been essential for my interdisciplinary endeavors: I am deeply grateful to all my friends, colleagues and students at CEMUS for co-creating such a dynamic and unique space for exploring the defining issues of our time (and for granting my partial leave of absence so that I could finally finish this thesis). I can’t mention you all by name, but special thanks to Sara Andersson, Rickard Lindh, Isak Stoddard, Daniel Mossberg, Malin Östman, Petra Hansson, Ingrid Rieser, and Sanna Gunnarsson. Thanks to the faculty and my fellow students at the Department for Social and Economic Geography, particularly to administrator Karin Beckman for problem solving. Thanks to David O. Kronlid for encouragement, conversations and co-writing journeys. I also thank Ashok Swain for advice before the fieldwork, and Heidi Moksnes and the TRUST research seminar participants for valuable comments on a thesis draft. Thanks, in particular, to Sara Forsberg for illuminating discussions on qualitative data analysis. Andrea Melberg and Robin Gunnarsson generously read and commented the manuscript. It goes without saying that, in the end, I, alone, am responsible for the final product. The fieldwork was made possible by a Minor Field Study grant from the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and their support is gratefully acknowledged. 1 Harry Martinson, Resor utan mål [Voyages without destinations], 1932. (Translation by Jakob Grandin.) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Purpose and research questions 7 1.2 Disposition 8 2 GLOBAL CHANGE, GOVERNANCE AND AGENCY .................................................. 9 2.1 Globalization and Global Environmental Change 9 2.2 Climate change adaptation and double exposure 12 2.3 Environmental governance, scale and polycentric systems 18 3 CLIMATE CHANGE, SOCIAL CHANGE AND COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION IN THE HIMALAYAS ........................................................................... 26 3.1 Nepal’s history, geography and administrative structure 26 3.2 Climate change in the Himalayan region 28 3.3 Climate change impacts on agriculture and adaptation options 29 3.4 The ‘Green Revolution’ and agricultural transformation 31 3.5 Social and environmental change in the Panchkhal Valley, Nepal 33 4 STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS ................................................................................ 37 4.1 Study design 37 4.2 The research process 38 4.3 Selection of study area 40 4.4 Interviews and group interviews 41 4.5 Observation and document studies 44 4.6 Validation and reliability of results 45 4.7 Ethical considerations 46 4.8 Data analysis 47 5 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 48 5.1 Effects from agricultural intensification and commodification 48 5.2 Immediate effects from the drought 51 5.3 Coping and adaptation strategies 54 5.4 The role of community organizations and social networks in coping and adaptation 58 5.5 Support from the government, NGOs and other ‘outside’ actors 61 5.6 Adaptation constraints and opportunities 64 5.7 Policy, agriculture and vulnerability 65 6 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 70 6.1 Double exposure: the interplay of drought and modern agriculture 70 6.2 The role of policy in supporting or undermining climate change adaptation 76 6.3 Adaptation & scale: local institutions, social networks and interscalar interactions 80 6.4 Opportunities for and limits to local adaptation 85 6.5 Conclusions and concluding discussion 91 7 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 95 APPENDIX 1: LIST OF INTERVIEWS ............................................................................... 106 Panchkhal 106 Dhulikhel 107 Kathmandu 107 APPENDIX 2: LETTER OF CONSENT .............................................................................. 108 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.2: The theoretical framework for climate change adaptation used in this thesis, based on Smithers & Smit (1997) and Leichenko & O’Brien (2008). .............................................. 13 Figure 2.3: A conceptual model of a polycentric resource governance system. Based on Andersson & Ostrom (2008). ................................................................................................... 20 Figure 3.5: Map that shows the location and land use (forests, irrigated fields and rainfed fields) of the Panchkhal Village Development Committee. .................................................... 34 Figure 4.1: Overview of the research process from the preliminary literature review (top) on through fieldwork, preliminary analysis, transcription, coding to the final analysis and discussion (bottom). ................................................................................................................. 39 Figure 5.3.3. Deep tube well drilling in the Panchkhal Valley: (a) widened road to accommodate deep

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