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This presentation by Luna Bharati and Pabitra Gurung from the International Water Management Institute shows the core issues in upland-landscape management, the Nepal’s Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) component of building climate resilience in watersheds in mountain eco-regions and the result of implementing it.
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Water for a food-secure worldwww.iwmi.org
Building Climate Resilience of Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions, Nepal
Luna Bharati and Pabitra Gurung
International Water Management Institute
Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur
Nepal
www.iwmi.org
Water for a food-secure world
The physical context
• Nepal is one of the most water abundant countries in the world with total mean annual runoff of 224 billion cubic meters (BCM)
• There is large temporal and spatial variability in water availability
• All this water then rushes through the landscape, very often creating flooding problems in the wet season and water scarcity in the dry season.
• Climate change impacts are still very uncertain
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Water for a food-secure world
Core Issues in upland-landscape management
• Rain-fed systems are vulnerable to climate variability
• Due to various social, economic and environmental reasons, out migration from rural to urban centers is very high
• Few of the effects of abandonment of farms in this region are:
• land degradation/ erosion • women, the elderly and remittance income
has become the backbone of livelihoods• loss of agricultural labor is making it
difficult to sustain traditional farming practices
• Breakdown of traditional community organizations
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Water for a food-secure world
Old Paradigm
• Existing watershed management programs in Nepal focus primarily on land degradation and forest management.
• Despite significant success, they have not been able to fully address the livelihood and environment issues in these challenging areas.
• Most water management interventions, on the other hand, do not benefit upland communities
• Surface and Groundwater systems are managed separately
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Water for a food-secure world
New Approach• Integrate management of all natural resources,
including land, trees, water and people
• Slowing down and storing water in the upland systems will allow communities to have access to water all year –by storage we mean the whole storage continuum.
• Reducing peak discharge will reduce floods downstream
• Management of both surface and groundwater is
also important especially in the management of spring systems.
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Water for a food-secure world
SPCR Component 1: Building Climate Resilienceof Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions
Nepal’s Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR)
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Water for a food-secure world
Combined/Multiple Vulnerability Map of Watershed in Middle and High Mountain Regions
Vulnerability = f (Sensitivity, Adaptive Capacity, Exposure/Risk)
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Water for a food-secure world
Model the impact of watershed management interventions on the hydrology in two vulnerable watersheds
• Assess and demonstrate the effectiveness of various water management interventions against future climate uncertainties
• Assess and demonstrate downstream impacts of watershed interventions
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Water for a food-secure world
Seasonal Precipitation (1981-2010) % Change in Seasonal Precipitation (2031-2060)
Result: Distribution of Precipitation
(14mm–304mm) (27mm–647mm)
(684mm–2438mm) (12mm–193mm)
(-13% to+40%)
(+6% to+44.6%)
(-36% to 0%)(-19% to
+25%)
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Water for a food-secure world
Adopted Interventions in the Study
a. Afforestation of degraded lands
b. On-farm Conservation
c. Infiltration Ponds
d. Water Storages-small reservoirs
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Water for a food-secure world
Combined Impact of All the Interventions on Seasonal Hydrological Parameters in Watershed 124
-8.000%
-7.000%
-6.000%
-5.000%
-4.000%
-3.000%
-2.000%
-1.000%
0.000%
1.000%
Annual Winter Pre-monsoon Monsoon Post-monsoon
Per
cen
tag
e C
han
ge
WYLD GW_Q SURQ PERC SW
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Water for a food-secure world
How can we ensure that investments in landscape are sustainable?
• A more integrated approach to upland landscape management
• Moving away from sectorial resource management
• Expanding the management unit to include the whole landscape
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Water for a food-secure world
Thank you
