For many of us in the UK climate change is a bit of an abstract concept. We know it’s going on but we can put out heads in the sand, pretend it’s just not happening and just get on with our day to day lives.
The people of Nepal don’t have that luxury. For them climate change is a reality … it’s happening now, it’s happening to them and they need to be prepared for the effects. At Practical Action we are involved in a number of projects to support local communities in doing just that.
I recently visited one of these projects, the Early Warning System (EWS) which has been set up to help vulnerable people who live near the Narayani river in Nepal prepare for flooding. The support has been two-fold.
- Setting up the EWS. Typical of a Practical Action project the concept is simple but effective. The level of the river is measured upstream. If it becomes high indicating a potential flood selected villagers are informed by radio. They then set off sirens to alert the whole community, giving them 2-4 hours to evacuate.
- Providing training and support. Villagers have formed a Disaster Management Committee responsible for passing on information they have learnt from Practical Action and partners on how to respond when the siren goes off, ensuring everyone can get to a place of safety in time.
Watch my short video clip outlining how this project and others help poor people in Nepal prepare for the effects of climate change:
Find out more by watching Practical Action’s video on how we are helping the people of Nepal adapt to the effects of climate change
April 4th, 2010 at 9:39 am
Respected Julia Pollard
Really climate change is happening and the most worstly affected are the poorest countries like our country Nepal, who have contributed very least to this problem .Last week I went to the magagar community ,a marginalized community of Nepal,for the survey on the impact of climate change on their livelihood .I found there real evidences of climate chagne and climate change had destroyed their life.So now adoptation to this problem is very important .But now most adoptation approaches are top-bottom ,the experiences local people to climate change ,their local innovation ,resources ,knowledge are not considered during the adoptaion .Here Practical action had done very nice .Practical action should reach to the grass rootlevel where real impact are seen.
Thanks
yours sincerely
Deepak Raj Joshi
Institute of agriculture and animal science
B.Sc.Ag(running)
Chitwan,Nepal
April 5th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Is it climate change ..then it was from long before .. its more disaster preparedness
i am confused tottaly
Educate me
Suhrid
April 15th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Dear Suhrid
Thank you for your comment. You are right it is disaster preparedness, but the need to be prepared is now greater than ever before because of the effects of climate change .
Having spoken to people in Nepal it became clear that although there has always been the risk of flooding as a result of climate change there is now much more rain in the monsoon season than there was say 30 years ago, increasing the possiblity that flooding will occur.
You may also be interested to know that another effect fo climate change in the area is that there are now more flash floods and this is effecting what crops can be grown on the hillside. Practical Action and others are helping farmers grow crops that can cope with that e.g. banana trees or suupporting them in developing other livlihoods that will not be affected such as bee keeping.
I hope this clears it up for you
October 21st, 2010 at 3:31 am
Dear julia,
I agree that we have these kinds of effect of climate change and its all around of us only thing is people are not aware about it.I personally feel that chitwan is getting hotter and hotter every year and its now no more favorable place for me.
One thing I would like to know about temperature rise/difference in last 30 yrs period, if you have any reliable data available.
Bishnu,
Student
Perth