Several studies have concluded that mountainous countries such as Nepal are more vulnerable to climate change; thus, a changing climate should have a significant impact on crop yields. This work aims to explore the impact of climate change on major crop yields in the mountainous parts of Nepal and to determine their relationships based on a regression model between historical climatic data and yield data for food crops. The study starts with an analysis of the last 30 years of climatic data from Lamjung district. Mann-Kendall and Sen's Slope methods have been used for the trend analysis and quantification. The results showed an increase in temperature of approximately 0.02˝C to 0.07˝C per year in different seasons and a mixed trend in precipitation. Although there was no significant impact of the climate variables on the yields of all crops, the regression analysis revealed negative relationships between maize yield and summer precipitation and between wheat yield and winter minimum temperature, and a positive relationship between millet yield and summer maximum temperature.

Based on spatial variation and time, climate change has various levels of impacts on different communities and sometime with the state of development as well. The rural mountainous households that depend on natural resources for subsistence livelihoods and agriculture are particularly vulnerable with changing climate. Livelihood vulnerability assessment at local level is imperative to formulate appropriate adaptation policy and programs to address their livelihood challenges. This paper explored two vulnerability assessment indices, livelihood vulnerability index and IPCC vulnerability index by surveying 150 households from three village development committees (VDCs) in Lamjung district, Nepal. Data related to climate variables, natural disasters, water and food security, health, socio-demographics, livelihood strategies, and social network were collected and combined into indices. Both indices differed based on well-being status, gender of the household head and location across the households of three VDCs. The analysis was based on indices constructed from selected indicators measuring exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Results indicated that very poor and poor households, and female-headed households were more vulnerable than medium, well-off and male-headed households. The availability of livelihood diversified strategies, education, establishment of early warning system to climate extreme will help to reduce vulnerability to climate change in the study areas. The findings help in designing priority areas of intervention for adaptation plan to reduce vulnerability and enhance the resilience of the mountainous households to climate change.

As in many other parts of the world, the urban areas of the South Asian region are increasingly expanding. While cities today are the heart of commercial, technological and social development, they are also vulnerable to a variety of natural and anthropogenic threats. The complex urban infrastructure, and the ever-expanding population in cities, exacerbate the impacts of climate change and increase the risk of natural hazards. Throughout history, various hydrological disasters including floods, tidal surges, and droughts, and non-hydrological disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, and storms have led to catastrophic social, economic and environmental impacts in numerous South Asian cities. Disaster risk reduction is therefore central to ensure sustainability in urban areas. Although Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are identified as a promising strategy to reduce risk and increase resilience, there appears to be a lack of evidence-based approaches. NbS are measures that can be practiced to obtain benefits of nature for the environmental and community development through conserving, managing, and restoring ecosystems. Against this backdrop, the South Asian cities provide opportunities to evaluate capacities for achieving Nature-based Resilience (NbR) through NbS. This study documents insights from five cities of five different countries of the South Asian region which are subjected to a wide array of disasters: Barishal (Bangladesh), Phuentsholing (Bhutan), Gurugram (India), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The primary objective of this study is to provide evidence on how NbS are being practiced. Thus, some success stories in cities under consideration are highlighted: restoration of natural canals through integrated development plans and community participation (Barishal), concepts of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and minimal nature interventions (Phuentsholing), “Greening cities’’ including eco-corridors, vegetation belts, biodiversity parks (Gurugram), proper land use planning aims at different disasters (Kathmandu), and wetland restoration and management with multiple benefits (Colombo). These cases could therefore, act as a “proxy” for learning from each other to prepare for and recover from future disasters while building NbR.

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