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Climate Change in Nepalese Context: Impacts, Mitigation Issues, and Relation with Poverty

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Climate Change, Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in Developing Countries

Part of the book series: Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research ((AAHER))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the different dimensions of climate change in Nepal. Nepal has a negligible share of global Green House Gases (GHGs) emission but increasing at significantly higher rate compared to its fast growing neighboring economies like China, India and Bangladesh. Sector-wise emission shows that agriculture and forestry are two most important sectors contributing almost 90 % of the total emissions. Hence, any mitigation effort in Nepal should consider these two sectors, which are also the most important sectors for poor people. Consequently, intervention in these sectors will help to build rural community’s resilience to Climate Change (CC). Increase in temperature and variable rainfall pattern have a negative direct influence on water resources at the highest level followed by agriculture, forest, and health sectors of the country. Being signatories of major international legislations related to CC, Nepal has a prospect to generate revenue through mitigation effort, which could be used to deal with adverse impact caused by CC. Alternative energy promotion, forest management, and agricultural practice are potential areas, which can generate revenue from carbon trading. All these prospective areas have multiple functions of mitigation, adaptation as well as economic empowerment of the vulnerable section of the population.

This chapter draws from PhD dissertation of Niraj Prakash JOSHI (2011). Findings discussed in this chapter was presented in the International Conference on Climate Change, Livelihoods, and Food Security, June 9–10, 2009, Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, India in collaboration with Association of Asian Scholars, Bangkok. Part of this chapter is also published in Journal of International Development and Cooperation, 18(4), Special Issue: 21–35.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC), Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan

    Keshav Lall Maharjan & Niraj Prakash Joshi

Authors
  1. Keshav Lall Maharjan
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  2. Niraj Prakash Joshi
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Maharjan, K.L., Joshi, N.P. (2013). Climate Change in Nepalese Context: Impacts, Mitigation Issues, and Relation with Poverty. In: Climate Change, Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in Developing Countries. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54343-5_8

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