Global effect of climate change and food security with respect to Nepal

Abstract

The effect of global climate change in Nepal could be observed by glacier retreat in the Himalaya region and change in the pattern of the south west monsoon which is the only reliable source of water for farming. Climate change has been occurred in Terai, hills and mountain of Nepal resulting change in agriculture systems leading to the emergence of new insect, pest and disease of crops and animals. There are frequent losses of lives, crops and, human settlements due to occurrence of flash floods, droughts, typhoon and hurricanes in the world mainly due to climate change. Global food production and trade have been affected by the negative consequences of climate change as a result countries like Nepal are also victimized due to the negative effect of climate change. Increase in C02concentration in the atmosphere and change in precipitation are being the main cause of floods, droughts, glacier retreat, and melting of snows, hence, change in the flora and fauna globally. To address such measures of climate change, Nepal has been trying to develop some adoptive ways such as development of climate resilient technology including crop varieties, animal breeds; agronomic practices that could address vagaries of climate change and sustain food and nutritional security. In Nepal, the effect of climate change is more pronounced in hills and mountains with respect to increase in temperature than that of Terai. This paper tries to address issue of global climate change with respect to food security of Nepal by applying some of the pragmatic adoptive measures to follow in agriculture for sustaining food security in Nepal.

Consequences of Climate Change In Agriculture and Ways to Cope Up Its Effect In Nepal

“…Similarly, a change in average rainfall was recorded for five years in both the sites. Number of rainy days in both the sites was found decreased for six years, however, average change in total number of rainy days in Kakani was found increased while in Dhangadhi it was decreased (Paudel, 2015).…”

“…The Himalayas are responsible to supply water to the perennial rivers flowing in the Indo-Gangetic, the Mekong, and Tibetan plateaus. (Paudel, 2015) Ultimately, Europe and the entire Asia-Pacific region would be affected immediately and in the long run the impact would be for the entire earths' civilization and the climate as a whole. Hence, there is no question of victimizing from the impact of climate change for a single country like Nepal whose contribution on global climate change is negligible (around 0.02%); i.e., miniscule compared to developed and industrialized countries (Paudel, 2010).…”

“…To know the impact of climate change in Nepal two places (Kakani of Nuwakot district and Dhangadhi of kailali district) were selected to compare 10 years' meteorological data (temperature, total rainfall and number of rainy days) in Nepal as shown in Fig 2 and 3 (Paudel, 2015). Kakani, central high hills (2030m) and Dhangadhi, in far western Terai (210m) were purposively selected for the study.…”