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Climate change in outskirts of Kathmandu Valley: local perception and narratives

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Abstract

Climate change has appeared as a major issue in recent years, and its impacts are seen multi-dimensionally. The local people are the key eyewitnesses of climate change, although the discourse is disciplinary, geographic, and gender biased. In this context, this paper documents the perceptions and narratives of the Tamang, an Indigenous people, who live on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. This is an ethnographic study and applied quantitative and qualitative data. The data of the study were gathered using triangulation methods, i.e., household questionnaire survey (HQS), key informant interview (KII), and focus group discussion (FGD). A total of 94 HQS, nine KII, and three FGD were carried out in 2018 in three sample sites in the outskirts of the valley. The station-based observed climatic data from 1969 to 2022 were collected from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. The observed data shows increasing annual rainfall and temperature in Kathmandu; however, the rate of temperature increase is much larger. Seasonal precipitation shows decreasing rainfall in post-monsoon, which enhances the winter drought. The Tamang are the key eyewitness of the changes in climate and this knowledge is inbuilt with their memories which are closely bound to the place. Hence, the life history of elderly people can be an appropriate way of understanding the micro-climatic changes in the local context, which largely failed or ignored to document in scientific or macro-level assessments.

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Notes

  1. It is an alpine freshwater oligotrophic lake located at an elevation of 4380 m from the sea level in the northern part of Kathmandu valley. The lake is considered as a sacred lake by Hindu and Buddhist religious followers.

  2. The great festive day falls on the day of full moon in the month of Shrawan (mid-June and mid-August) in which men who wear the sacred thread change it by bathing on holy springs/river, pond/lake.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Tamang people of the Bosan village of the Kathmandu Valley, who shared their perceptions of climate change with us. We extend our sincere thanks to the editors and reviewers for their valuable time. We confirm that this work is original and has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Department of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Bimala Gharti Magar & Jiban Mani Poudel

  2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, China

    Basanta Paudel

  3. Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Binod Pokharel

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  1. Bimala Gharti Magar
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Correspondence to Jiban Mani Poudel.

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Gharti Magar, B., Poudel, J.M., Paudel, B. et al. Climate change in outskirts of Kathmandu Valley: local perception and narratives. Nat Hazards (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-024-06473-9

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