Institutional Innovations for Climate Smart Agriculture: Assessment of Climate-Smart Village Approach in Nepal

Abstract

Institutions have a crucial role in communicating climate science into meaningful forms and to develop context specific adaptation options. Led by multiple institutions, Climate Smart Village (CSV) in Nepal is an organized approach to designing location specific package of interventions in response to climatic and other ongoing changes in the agricultural system. While addressing the impending risk of climate change and promoting food security objectives in smallholder settings, the CSV approach aims to increase the adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) technologies at the local levels. One of the challenges, however, has been to sustain and scale the CSA technologies and practices. Based on the in-depth review of policy documents, field observations, and interviews with stakeholders involved in the implementation of pilot programs, this study evaluates the institutional framework of the CSV approach in the Gandaki region, Nepal. Our analysis proposes a revised conceptual model of innovation in the agricultural system that contributes to an increase in knowledge, attitude, and skills of multiple stakeholders for agricultural adaptation and the scaling of appropriate options. Our case demonstrates that while the scaling of the CSV approach is a concern, the institutional innovation around CSV has been instrumental in making farmers aware of CSA technologies. This has been done largely through collaboration among public, private, civil society organizations, and communities. This collaborative effort illustrates the possibilities for scaling the CSV approaches in the future and highlights their contribution to climate and development goals.

Sustainable Agriculture in Peru Based on Agrobiodiversity and Climate-Smart Agriculture: Evaluation of a Case Study with Small Farmers in an Andean Basin

“…It is one of the most popular CSA options in the basin (89.7% AUs) and improves soil fertility and water retention capacity (Teklewold et al, 2013). A further economic benefit of CR is that it stabilizes agricultural income over time by balancing the impact of price fluctuations (Ghimire et al, 2022;Hrabanski and Le Coq, 2022). A family AU tends not to apply RC if water is available for irrigation, resulting in negative long-term effects on soil fertility.…”

“…Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry are the main emission sources in Peru, representing 45% of INGEI emissions (2014). Agriculture occupies the third position in terms of emissions (26,233 Gg CO 2 eq, 16%).…”

Challenges and prospects of Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPA) initiative in Nepal as everyday adaptation

“…For this reason, understanding potential linkages and feedback between local institutions and global adaptation policy objectives is particularly important. For local climate adaptation goals to be successful, adequate institutional support, at all levels, is a must (Agrawal 2010) and they need to be evolved with time (Chhetri et al 2012, Ghimire et al 2022. However, in most developing countries the contemporary approach to mainstreaming adaptation at the local level is institutionally fragmented and politically naive and poses significant challenges in realizing institutional and technological innovation (Paudel et al 2013).…”

“…For example, in Africa, local practices of Zai pit and farmer-managed natural regeneration were able to make widespread and effective adaptation after it was incorporated at the high-level government policy (Reij et al 2009, Amaru andChhetri 2013). Nepal has been successful in transforming the traditional top-down bureaucratic approach to a more participatory approach for the development of locationspecific technologies for agricultural adaptation (Chhetri et al 2012, Ghimire et al 2022) and more such initiatives are expected to follow the changing climate.…”

Overcoming barriers to climate-smart agriculture in South Asia

“…Despite the promise of CSA, most CSA practices and technologies have not been widely adopted across South Asia [5][6][7] . Although some practices and technologies have been used for a long time (for example, crop diversification and green manure), many others are struggling to gain momentum despite their proven effectiveness (for example, zero tillage, alternative wetting and drying).…”