Prabin Man Singh Programme Officer (Climate Change)

Oxfam GB Nepal

Methodology Research focussed in five countries in South

Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Field work in two countries : Bangladesh and Nepal

64 adaptation projects reviewed and 14 projects were studied in detailed.

Context: South Asia 1.5 billion people live on less than USD 1.25

per day

Agriculture employs more than 60% of the region’s labour force.

More than 70% of people lives in villages

Predicted Impacts of Climate Change in South Asia • Increased variability in both monsoon and

winter rainfall, • Increased frequency and/or severity of extreme

weather events (floods, cyclones and drought), • Increase in average temperature, with warmer

winter, • Increase salinity in coastal areas as a result of

rising seas, • Reduced discharge of major rivers, • Weakening ecosystems,• Recession of glaciers in the Himalayas

Signature events • 1985- Glacier Lakes Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in Dig Tsho• 1993- Mid mountain cloudburst and floods in Central Nepal 2001/02- Drought in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in India 2007- Cyclone Sdir hit Bangladesh • 2008-9

– Winter drought in Nepal – Forest fire across the Himalayan region – Diarrhoea epidemic in the mid-western hills in Nepal

• 2009- Cyclone Aila hit Bangladesh and India • 2010

Floods in Sindh province, Pakistan Cloud outbrust in Ladakh, India

Case study: Local Adaptation Programme of Action in Nepal Operational at the administrative scale of the

District Development Committee (DDC) and the Village Development committee (VDC),

Acknowledge the role of plural mechanisms operating within these scales where the capacity of public sectors administrative units is limited,

Operated over the medium terms, Mainstream into local, VDC and district-

planning process

Key Lessons Participatory assessment and analysis of vulnerability

and capacity, Climate change adaptation is not dealt in isolation.

Complex interdependence of sustainable livelihoods, disaster, water and natural resources,

Focus on poor, vulnerable and marginalised beneficiaries,

Flexible and responsive design and implementation, Future looking – long term programme,

Build adaptive capacity at multiple levels and within

existing institutions,

Adaptation Cooperation in South Asia Adaptation works need to complement with

national plans and policies. Adaptation works need to back by rigorous

assessment at the national, sub-regional and regional level with an emphasis on respective ecosystems.

Hydro-met information sharing between the counties in the region.

River basin management at a sub-regional or regional level

Adaptation cooperation… contd.Existing institutions within SAARC like food

bank, meteorological station and seed bank need to operationalise.

Implementation of SAARC Action Plan on Climate Change.

Technologies (early warning, drought/flood tolerant seeds, water management) transfer within the region,

Monitoring and evaluation framework for adaptation practices to be developed.

Adaptation works in the region require predictable and additional finance.

The End.