Communities Challenging Climate Change (Case studies from Nepal : communities’ understanding and adaptation for climate change) Madan Koirala Ranjana Bhatta CRSC/NEFEJ Kathmandu 1 Communities Challenging Climate Change (Case studies from Nepal : communities’ understanding and adaptation for climate change) Madan Koirala Ranjana Bhatta CRSC/NEFEJ Kathmandu 1 Communities Challenging Climate Change Author Madan Koirala Ranjana Bhatta Design Rabin Sayami First Edition 2010 Printed at Jagadamba Printing Press, Hattiban Publisher Community Radio Support Center (CRSC)/ Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) Iwith Support from Free Voice, THE NETHERLANDS. PO. BOX NO. 5143 Kathmandu, NEPAL E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.nefej.org ISBN:- 978-9937-2-2252-5 2 PREFACE Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists is a pioneer institution of Nepal working in proximity to the community especially awareness raising in Environment and Sustainable development. Besides these activities NFEFJ covered in environmental awareness, urban environment, forestry and biodiversity and tourism etc. CRSC has been promoting, en- abling, facilitating community radio movement in Nepal. CRSC/NEFEJ initiated a new area Climate Change through community participation. Innovation conceived in the group of CRSC especially the coordinator triggered an idea of launching a project "Communities Challenging Climate Change". The concept was to observe, document the activities adapted by local communities to face the climate change impact at local level. Free Voice Nether- lands and Nationale Postcode Loterij-NPL cooperation remained instrumental for the project as CRSC/NEFEJ and FV/NPL are working hands in hands for CCCC. Transparent screening was made after receiving formal applications from the participating organizations. Expert support was availed during the screening process. Five organizations Batabaran Sanrakshan tatha Bikas Manch (Environmental Conservation and Development Forum), Taplejung district east Nepal high mountain;.Janasewa Samaj Nepal (Public Service Society Nepal), Khotang district east Nepal Hill; Banyajantu Batabaran Sanrakshan Manch (Wildlife and Environment Conservation Forum) in Kavre district, central Nepal Hill; Gramin Jagaran Tatha Ekikrit Bikash Sangh (Rural Awareness and Development Association), Baglung district. mid western hill Nepal; Society for Creative Women (SfCW), a Kailali district, far western tarai (flatland) Nepal , participated different activities as part of the project focus- ing on the linkages of communities to climate change. Field level information collection was not so easy as bridging up of the technical jargon and layman understanding gap needed especial communication skill. CRSC/NEFEJ schooling helped the field workers to extract the understandings of communities. Findings of the study were aired by the partner radio stations. Eco-club members especially the primary and secondary level students de- signed school-community linking activities to raise awareness on climate change and docu- ment climate change related activities in their neighbourhood. Their motivation was really appreciative as they designed their yearly activities, spared own contribution to ensure suc- cess of those activities, distributed prizes to the best performers. Project Managers of Taplejung, Kabhre, Kailali put their best efforts to bring the site spe- 3 cific results through orientation program, collecting field based data and producing quality research report. Khotang and Baglung team also attempted from their level. Present book is neither a scientific publication, nor a journalist's column, rather should be understood as a communities realization on climate, translated by professionals with scien- tific background - a readers note. This is the start of CRSC/NEFEJ, a case study from Nepalese communities. If it could contribute in the adaptation process for the communities in an interface of changing climate, the attempt will be considered meaningful. Madan Koirala,PhD Professor of Environmental Science 4 Forewo FOREWORD Climate change is a raging issue today. While Nepal, of course, has not contributed to the menace, it is a victim nonetheless. Reports have come up with instances of the farming communities facing adverse impact in Nepal too. Unpredictable rain pattern and equally surprising rise and fall in temperatures have been reported. Of course, conclusive scientific evidence may still said to be missing. But that does not in any way rule out facing adverse impact. Meanwhile there is a need to raise awareness among the general public by way of relating global warming and resultant climate change so that the concerned section of population grow aware on the issue and think of mitigating their lot. But that can be possible only after they know the problems are real before they can be explained the solution in what could be a positive contribution towards mitigating efforts whereby communities combat climate change. That incidentally was undertaken by Community Radio Support Center (CRSC) under Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) under which it implemented five pilot project areas aimed at assessing the local impact of global warming by going back to communities. The aim of the project was to examine the outcome when community radio and local NGOs undertake joint actions to enhance understanding of the communities on complex issue like climate change and also adapt to the adverse impact. The studies conducted by five local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and equal number of community radio stations in the respective project areas come in the form of a baseline on the local impact of global climate change and how best to cope with changing climatic conditions. The content which appear in this publication suggest that farming communities are feeling the adverse impact of climate change. 5 The importance of the publication lies in the fact that it will be of use to organizations working in the area of climate change and adaptation and policymakers alike. We are con- fident that it will be useful for researchers to base their studies on. We would like to thank Prof. Madan Koirala, PhD and Ranjana Bhatta for putting in conscientious work to produce this valuable publication. Thanks also go to partner organi- zations and concerned community radio stations for the role played by them, respectively. We are grateful to Nationale Postecode Loterij- NPL and Free Voice, the Netherlands for their generous support and facilitation in this regard. Thank you ! Om Khadka Executive Director Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We express our sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed from their level to make possible publication this book as an incremental activity of us. We render special thanks to: · Prof. Madan Koirala, PhD and Member, Climate Change Council of Nepal for inter- nalizing the concept, and orient the activities towards an output as a book. · Ms. Ranjana Bhatta, who assisted the lead author, translated the collected information in a scientific format. · Mr.Bhairab Risal, Senior Journalist, and Journalist D L Bhandari for always motivat- ing the authors and project team. · Dr. Mukesh K. Chalise, for participating in the initial stage of the project. · Mr. Nimesh Regmi and Mr. Nagendra Lamsal for valuable inputs and Rabin Sayami for the design. · Chandra Prakash Bhattarai, Bikash Rai, Krishna Chandra Acharya, Kiran Paudyal, Shakuntala Bhatta, the key personnel of the 5 partner organizations. Til Kumari Menyangbo, Rajan Humagain, Devraj Joshi for active participation in the field. Stu- dents of the eco-club deserve special appreciation for their active participation during the training and the whole year of activity. Finally, very special thanks are reserved for Jacqueline Eckhardt-Gerritsen, Victor Jo- seph and Amis Boesma of Free Voice, The Netherlands; and NPL without whose crucial support and encouragement the document would not at all have come out in this form. Raghu Mainali Coordinator, Community Radio Support Centre/NEFEJ Kathmandu 7 Acronyms and Abbreviations ADB: Asian Development Bank BAU: Business as Usual BLS: Brown Leaf Spot Disease CCCC: Communities Challenging Climate Change CCAG: Climate Change Aware Group CDM: Clean Development Mechanism COP: Conference of Party CMP: Conference of Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties of KP CRSC: Community Radio Support Center DHM: Department of Hydrology and Meteorology FV: Free Voice GHG: Greenhouse Gas GLOFs: Glacial Lake Outburst Flood GoN: Government of Nepal ICIMOD: International Center for Integrated Mountain Development INGOs: International Non Governmental Organizations INC: Initial National Communication IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature KP Kyoto Protocol LI-BIRD: Local Initiative for Biodiversity in Research and Development LWF: Lutheran World Federation MoPE: Ministry of Population and Environment NAPA: National Adaptation Program of Action NPL: Nationale Postcode Loterij NEFEJ: Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists NGOs: Non Governmental Organizations OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PRA: Participatory Rural Appraisal PPCR: Pilot Program for Climate Resilience SfCW: Society for Creative Women UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change VDC: Village Development Committee WWF: World Wildlife fund 8 CONTENTS I. Introduction 11 Meaning and its initiation at global