Disaster risk reduction and climate change
Practical Action Nepal
Nepal is prone to natural disasters due to its geographical and climatic variations requiring different coping strategies to minimise the negative effects. The vulnerable groups, mainly poor people from the rural and urban areas, are in a dilemma of economic hardship, insufficient knowledge on disaster management, low literacy rates, inadequate physical infrastructure, poor forecasting facilities and unplanned settlement. This situation leads to a number of frequent problems related with the livelihoods of the vulnerable people. The hardest hit is the agricultural sector.
Practical Action Nepal's Disaster risk reduction and climate change programme aims to reduce the loss of lives and property of vulnerable communities due to water induced disaster and addresses the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities by identifying and developing adaptation and coping strategies.
Based on the lessons learned from previous projects in Nepal and consolidating international learning, Practical Action is focusing its work on preparedness, promotion and adaptation of indigenous practices, and the development of early warning systems appropriate for flood disaster. The programme further encompasses
- the adaptation of existing natural resource management practices to reduce the impacts of climate change;
- study of indigenous coping strategies, knowledge and skills;
- adaptation of existing farming system/ ractices;
- strengthening communities’ coping strategies and
- diversifying livelihood options; and establishing appropriate monitoring systems at community/micro level.
Projects
- Mainstreaming livelihood-centred approaches to disaster management
- Scaling-up Early Warning Systems in Nepal (SEWIN)
(for historic work see also Banke Bardia flood warning programme funded by ECHO and application of alternative strategies for community-based flood preparedness, and Strengthening the capacity of communities to manage early warning systems to reduce the impacts of floods)
Recent project work also includes Increasing community resilience to cope with impacts of climate change
Flood warning project highlights 2008-9 | Programme highlights 2007-8
CASE STUDY Early warning brings hope
Nirmala Devi lives in Holliya village, in Banke District on the banks of Rapti River. She is a mother of five sons and shares a small hut with her extended family of sixteen members. She has had no formal education and thinks she should be somewhere between 40 to 45 years of age.
Her family owned 3 bighas of land which was unfortunately swept away by Rapti River during a flood five years ago Since then the family solely depends on form of share cropping called Bataiya Kheti. Nirmala recalls stories of their plantations being swept away every year during the monsoon making it difficult for her and her family to meet year round food supply.
Practical Action, together with its partner organisation CSDR in Banke, approached Holliya in 2008 with a pre-monsoon preparedness programme. Before learning about the different flood management and rescue techniques, Nirmala worried for her family’s safety. She recounts memories of Rapti’s rising water level every year during the monsoon season and fearing for her children’s lives. However, through various training and exposure visits, she has learned the relation between the water level in the upper and lower stations. She now knows where to contact for information and when to move to a safer shelter. With the construction of spurs and dykes at the banks of Rapti, she is hopeful that it will protect their farmable lands from river cutting.
With long term exposure and successful trainings she is now an active member in the management committee formed under the project. “I feel good to be able to share my new skills and knowledge with the fellow community members,” she says. She further adds that it is important to be aware so that people are prepared and can protect themselves from floods and other natural disasters.
The committee has selected 30 volunteers from all the nearby flood prone areas. These members have received hand sirens, boats and lifejackets so that they can help themselves and the community in case of an emergency. Nirmala shows signs of confidence and says, “had we known what we know now, we would have been able to protect ourselves better and would not have to live in fear.”
Publications
Disaster Risk Reduction Policy Brief 
Mainstreaming Livelihood Centred Approaches to Disaster Risk Reduction A project information brochure in English and Nepali. (PDF, 361 KB) |
Early Warning Saving Lives 
Livelihood Centred Approaches to Disaster Risk Reduction |
Further information
- Strengthening the capacity of communities to manage flood early warning systems
- Mainstreaming livelihood centred approaches to disaster management
- Increasing community resilience to cope with impacts of climate change
