Category Archives: Drought

Nepal’s forest users cope with climate stress on water

Posted on by
Reply
OM ASTHA RAI

DANG, Sept 14: In June this year, thousands of farmers, especially in Nepal´s western region, were wrestling with rain deficit, constantly gazing toward the sky devoid of monsoon clouds.

In some areas badly affected by the weak monsoon, farmers were seen irrigating their parched crop fields with water supplied through pipes.
But, in Hapur village of Dang district, the picture was entirely different. Even as farmers reeled under the drought-like situation elsewhere, the Hapur villagers remained unaffected.

“The monsoon was late and weak this time around,” says Puni Kala Khadka, president of Chandra Jyoti Community Forest Users Group (CFUG), which has 124 families of Hapur as its members. “But, we had no problems at all.”

A woman in Makawanpur district walks through the jungle to fetch water in this recent photo. (Bijaya Gajmer/Republica)

Before this year´s paddy plantation season began, Chandra Jyoti CFUG built a canal to use irrigation water from a local stream. “Had this canal not been built, our crop fields would have parched like elsewhere,” says Khadka.

Due to what scientists have dubbed as a result of climate change, monsoon rains, the backbone of Nepal´s agriculture, are becoming erratic. Farmers are becoming more vulnerable to threats of droughts or floods than ever before.

This year, Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) announced monsoon´s arrival one week later than the usual date. But, even thereafter, it remained ineffective till mid-July, sparking fears of dismal crop output. Farmers felt relieved only after monsoon rains became more even and intense by July end.
“Rains are no longer reliable,” says Khadka. “Fortunately, we have this irrigation canal now.”

However, hundreds of thousands of farmers are not as fortunate as the Hapur villagers. They are still deprived of irrigation facilities. According to the Department of Irrigation (DoI), nearly 500,000 hectares of Nepal´s cultivable land still lack irrigation facilities.

Worse, the rate at which the DoI is expanding the irrigation coverage area is disappointing. “At the current rate, it will take us at least 25 years to expand irrigation coverage to the whole cultivable land,” says Basistha Raj Adhikari, a water resources management specialist.

Adhikari says the pace of irrigation coverage expansion cannot be accelerated only institutional and policy reforms are carried out. “In the existing scenario, farmers´ dependency on rain water cannot be done away with,” says Adhikari.

However, farmers in remote villages cannot afford to wait for institutional and policy reforms. They have already started to deal with their problems in whichever way or scale they can. And, forest users, affiliated to over 18,000 groups and spread across the country, are turning out to be a pioneer in this battle.

As climate change puts tremendous stress on water resources by driving the monsoon erratic and accelerating the Himalaya glacier melting rate, Nepal´s community forest users, as in Hapur village, are exploring their own ways to cope with the looming water crisis.

Community forest users are building canals, ponds, reservoirs and better managing watersheds. Under the government´s ambitious Multi -Stakeholder Forestry Program (MSFP), supported by the governments of the UK, Finland and Switzerland, community forest users are getting support to identify their climate-induced problems and solve them.

“Ours is a bottom-up approach,” says Ramu Subedi, the MSFP team leader. “We encourage forest users to identify climate hazards and enable them to cope with them. We do not impose adaptation programs from the top.”

In its 2007 report, the United Nations (UN) panel on climate change has stated that water and its availability and quality will come under immense pressure in the wake of global temperature rise. What the UN panel states seems a reality in Nepal as well.

Forest users are now preparing Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA), a village-specific document that helps the local communities adapt to the effects of climate change by identifying their climate hazards, along with their periodic operation plans. And, in most villages, water scarcity and irrigation problem appear to be the most common climate hazards.

“The severest stress of climate change is on our water resources — be it drinking water or irrigation,” says Subedi. “So, under the MSFP, we are helping local communities deal with these problems apart from mitigating the effects of climate change through forest conservation.”

Subedi adds, “Our National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) document has identified 1.1 million households as vulnerable to climate change. We want reduce vulnerability of around 0.5 million households in a period of 10 years.”

In Hapur village, Chandra Jyoti CFUG allocated Rs 30,000 for the canal construction. Under the MSFP, the CFUG members got an assistance of Rs 50,000. The locals also made labor contribution worth about Rs 40,000.

“This project does not look big but effective enough to help the locals to adapt to climate change,” says Kul Bahaudr Lamichhane, a district committee member of the Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN). “As in Hapur, forest users are coping with climate change by managing their water resource elsewhere as well.”
Published on 2014-09-15 10:29:37

Combating climate change through forest conservation

Posted on by
Reply

OM ASTHA RAI

When he was a young farmer, Chandra Bir Kumal, a resident of Gobardiya village in Dang district, never had to rely on water stored in artificial reservoirs for rice plantation. He always used fresh water freely flowing through local streams.

“I do not know whether fresh water is better than stagnant water,” says Chandra Bir. “But, when I was active in farming, I never had to look for alternatives. I used to get a plenty of rainwater.”

Affectionately called by the local folks as Thula Ba (or the eldest villager), Chandra Bir is one of the first Kumals who settled in Banmari area of Gobardiya village. Later, many other Kumals, one of Nepal’s minority indigenous communities, settled down there. Today, the whole Banmari area is known as Kumal Gaun.

 

OM ASTHA RAI

Combating climate change through forest conservation

When he was a young farmer, Chandra Bir Kumal, a resident of Gobardiya village in Dang district, never had to rely on water stored in artificial reservoirs for rice plantation. He always used fresh water freely flowing through local streams.

“I do not know whether fresh water is better than stagnant water,” says Chandra Bir. “But, when I was active in farming, I never had to look for alternatives. I used to get a plenty of rainwater.”

Affectionately called by the local folks as Thula Ba (or the eldest villager), Chandra Bir is one of the first Kumals who settled in Banmari area of Gobardiya village. Later, many other Kumals, one of Nepal’s minority indigenous communities, settled down there. Today, the whole Banmari area is known as Kumal Gaun.

Nearly five decades ago, when Chandra Bir and a few other Kumal families started living in Banmara, chopping trees and fighting malaria, they did not have irrigation facilities. All they had was rainwater. And it was sufficient and reliable. “We did not need water reservoirs,” says he. “We did not even think of building them.”

However, as years passed by, rains started to get erratic. It became increasingly difficult to predict when monsoon would start and end. “It was not like this when I was young,” says Chandra Bir. “Then, the monsoon would normally start and end around the same time.”

As Chandra Bir aged and became too weak to work, his son Kalpa Ram, shouldered the burden of cultivating their eight kattha of farm land. But unlike in the time of his father, Kalpa Ram, now 50-year-old, did not find it easy to irrigate their farm land with rainwater. “If the monsoon arrives early this year, it gets late the next year,” says Kalpa Ram. “Rains are no longer predictable, no longer reliable.”

Fortunately, Kalpa Ram no longer needs to depend on just rainwater. He gets water supply for irrigation from a local pond. Built by a local Community Forest Users’ Group (CFUG), of which Kampa Ram is a member, this pond regularly supplies water to more than 200 families of Gobardiya village. “If this pond was not built, we all would have to leave this village a long ago,” says Kalpa Ram.

To see the full story, please click the link below:

http://theweek.myrepublica.com/details.php?news_id=80537

New seeds of hope for Nepal’s farmers

Posted on by
Reply

By Om Astha Rai

Climate-resilient varieties of rice could help to protect crop yields from the ravages of droughts and floods caused by the increasingly erratic weather patterns in South Asia.

KATHMANDU, 30 July, 2014 − Farmers badly affected by changing weather patterns in South Asia now have the opportunity to improve food security by planting new varieties of rice capable of withstanding the impact of both severe droughts and floods.

This is particularly good news for countries such as Nepal, where around 65% of its more than 26 million people are involved in agriculture. Rice is the country’s most important crop, planted on more than 50% of its arable land.

And it comes at a time when new research using satellite imaging has highlighted the growing need to change agricultural practices in South Asia as higher average temperatures cause the reduction of crop yields on the Indo-Gangetic plain.

Scientists say the new seeds, developed by the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and approved by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), are vital in order to deal with changing weather patterns − in particular, the increasingly erratic behaviour of the all-important South Asia monsoon.

“These new varieties can really change the future of the country’s farmers,” says Dr Dil Bahadur Gurung, NARC’s executive director. “The new rice can, in most cases, beat the effects of droughts and floods.

Reduce impact

“All these varieties have been tested in Nepal’s soil and climate over and over again. If all the country’s farmers replace their traditional varieties with these new ones, the impact of climate change on our agriculture could be reduced considerably.”

Local scientists say the timing of the South Asia monsoon − the only source of irrigation for the majority of Nepali farmers − is changing.

“Each year, we see the monsoon arriving later,” says Mani Ratna Shakya, a leading meteorologist in Nepal. “The duration of the monsoon is also getting shorter as each year passes.”

According to Nepal’s Meteorological Forecasting Division, the monsoon − which usually arrives in Nepal during the first week in June − came 10 days late this year.

Droughts are becoming more frequent. This year, the monsoon is generally judged to be very weak, leaving a vast area of arable land parched, particularly in western parts of Nepal. And often, when the rains eventually do arrive, they are torrential, causing flash floods.

So far, NARC has approved six drought-tolerant varieties of rice, under the name Sukkha − meaning dry.

“Ordinary rice varieties dry out and die in droughts,” says Hari Krishna Uprety, a paddy expert at NARC. “The new seeds survive droughts even in the early stage of growth. And uncertainty about the onset of monsoon has made these varieties even more important.”

Hari Krishna Uprety, NARC paddy expert, with new rice seed varieties Image: Om Astha Rai
Hari Krishna Uprety, NARC paddy expert,
with the new rice seed varieties
Image: Om Astha Rai

The new varieties still need water, of course, but they become more drought tolerant by being able to store energy during the early stages of their growth.

Two rice varieties capable of surviving flood conditions for up to two weeks have also been approved by NARC.

Erratic climate

Although the experts are backing the introduction of the new seeds in order to combat an increasingly erratic climate, persuading farmers to change their cultivation methods is a difficult task.

Farmers are often reluctant to replace traditional rice varieties, which in Nepal tend to be specific to each part of the country, depending on soil conditions, elevation, and other factors.

The new seeds are no more expensive than the traditional ones, and farmers even get a 30% discount on seeds approved by NARC, but a factor that could hamper uptake is that distribution is through the National Seed Company, which is not yet reaching out to farmers in every village.

But scientists warn that the new varieties must be planted – not only to combat changes in climate, but also to feed growing populations. – Climate News Network

• Om Astha Rai is a reporter with Nepalese national newspaper, Republica Daily.

 

 

Erratic monsoon keeps a parched Sri Lanka guessing

Posted on by
Reply

 

COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Warm April weather is nothing new in Sri Lanka. Over generations, Sri Lankans have become accustomed to temperatures of up to 34 degrees Celsius during this month, when the sun moves directly overhead. They also know from experience that the baking heat will soon be eased by the arrival of the monsoon in May. But this once-predictable cycle is changing. Weather experts, government officials, farmers and ordinary people seem unsure as to what the monsoon season is likely to bring this year. http://www.trust.org/item/20140424080217-ofdz5/?source=hptop

Drought begins to bite in Sri Lanka

Posted on by
Reply

COLOMBO, 4 April 2014 (IRIN) – Sri Lanka has had six months of drought and could face severe crop losses and electricity shortages if the coming monsoon is as weak as forecasts predict, experts say.

“The situation is really, really bad,” said Ranjith Punyawardena, chief climatologist at the Department of Agriculture. “Already there are harvest losses and more are anticipated.”

According to Punyawardena, 5 percent (280,000 tons) of the 2014 rice harvest has already been lost due to the ongoing drought, which stretches back to November 2013. With 200,000 hectares of rice fields (20 percent of the annual cultivated total) planted during the secondary harvesting season already lost, experts say the losses from the drought could be exacerbated by the forecasted weak southwest monsoon, due in May.  http://www.irinnews.org/report/99884/drought-begins-to-bite-in-sri-lanka

 

Drought parches Sri Lanka’s farms, threatens hydropower

Posted on by
Reply

Experts in Sri Lanka fear that despite the increased frequency of extreme dry seasons, the country still lacks measures to ease the impact on vital sectors like agriculture, energy and water resources. Ranjith Punyawardena, chief climatologist at the Department of Agriculture, said that this year’s main paddy rice harvest was likely to shrink by 7-10 percent due to the shortage of rainfall. – http://www.trust.org/item/20140214194424-vmupo/?source=hptop

Hope dashing in droughty Balochistan

Posted on by
Reply

BARI BALOCH

QUETTA – Climatic change and long drought not only dashed the dreams of Dad Muhammad but also inflicted an irreparable financial losses on him when his lush green apple garden starching over 80-acres, in Dasht area of Mastung district of Balochistan, dried before his very eyes.
Dad Muhammad, 75, a resident of Nushki district always got dejected whenever he passed through the Dasht area where he had planted over 3,000 apple trees irrigated by tubewells. He paid special attention to his apple garden but after eight years when the trees began producing fruits, the sub-soil water dropped to an alarming level.
“We dug over 13 tubewells during 8 year period and the water level kept dropping and at one stage we became completely helpless when even after digging 1200-feet tubwell could not find water, ultimately the trees got dried in increasing temperature and we had no other option but to cut them down,” he recalls.
Dad Muhammad is still working hard to recover his losses concentrating more on business instead of agricultural sector.
Like Dad Muhammad hundreds of farmers who made investment and planted apple gardens met the same fate when Balochistan and its neighboring countries Iran and Afghanistan faced a famine like situation due to lack of rain in the region.
The draught that hit Balochistan from 1997 to 2003 is said to be one of the worst in the history of the province which destroyed fruits garden particularly that of apple in Mastung, Kalat, Ziarat, Muslim Bagh, Zhob, Loralai and other areas.
A survey reveals that over 80 per cent apple trees and orchards in Balochistan were destroyed by the long draught and apple production fall by 35 per cent. Balochistan has 65 per cent share in the country’s apple production and Pakistan is the 10th largest producer of apples in the world.
A research conducted by Agriculture Department of Balochistan two years back shows over 60 per cent reduction has been noticed in apple other fruits and dry fruits from different parts of Balochistan.
“In the last decade of 1990 and onward the drought destroyed gardens of apple, cherry, apricot and other fruits in several districts of Balochistan forcing farmers to cut down the dried trees,” says Saeed Ahmed Agricultural officer, adding that during the last couple of decades draught and erratic rains the apple trees suffered a lot since they need more water and cool climate as compared to other trees.
Malik Muhammad Paana, an agriculturist, says no doubt the drought badly affected apple and other fruit gardens but in the past two decades extra-ordinary variation was observed in temperature patterns.

Out to pasture: Kashmir’s livestock-livelihood link threatened

Posted on by
Reply

Be it the famed Pashmina shawls or the meat Kashmiris so love, the grasslands of Ladakh and the alpine pastures of the Kashmir Valley have long been a livelihood resource in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state. But the vital livestock-livelihood link, a way of life for centuries in the Himalayan region, could come undone as natural processes and human activity combine to threaten the pasture lands as never before.

The pastoral lands of Ladakh, a cold desert, and the Kashmir Valley – the two regions along with Jammu in the plains comprise the border state of Jammu and Kashmir – have played host to a variety of livestock and been a critical driver of the local economy since time immemorial.

More at:  http://www.thethirdpole.net/out-to-pasture-kashmirs-livestock-livelihood-link-threatened/