The Effects Of Climate Change On Rural People Of Nepal

In the words of Barack Obama, “climate change is no longer some far-off problem; it is happening here, it is happening now.” (J. S. World Economic Forum, 2015) This global phenomenon is causing many problems around the world and is affecting both developed countries like Canada and other countries in the process of developing. This report investigates how climate change can pose significant impacts on all countries despite economic stability. Places like Canada are affected by the severe storms and drastic changes in weather and these changes can hurt the environment and the economy. They can also pose threats to crop production and public health. Climate change can also hurt the developmental progression of low-income countries

In the years ahead, climate change will have a significant impact on every aspect of the daily lives of all human beings -- possibly greater even than war. Shifting precipitation patterns and ocean currents could change where and how food crops grow. If icecaps melt and low-lying areas are flooded, as is predicted, entire populations could be forced to move to higher ground. The tsunami of 2004 and Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, provided vivid examples of what large-scale climactic catastrophes entail.

This is a global issue, however the greatest impact would be on Canada, where we are technically advanced in farming. There was a study that showed the relationship between weather related disasters and crop yields from over the globe. The authors of the study outlines how the world’s food supply is vulnerable because of climate change. This creates a strain on the world as there needs to be food grown that would supply the growing population. Navin Ramankutty (the senior author on the study and a professor of global food security and sustainability) states, “The food system is already stressed in many ways.” He also says that with climate change, we are adding more stress on it. Navin and his colleagues at UBC and McGill University took information from a database that had 2 800 weather disasters in 177 countries from 1964 to 2007. The results that they got indicated the impacts on food production from heat waves, and droughts. The study found that recent droughts impact on food production increased by 7-per-cent compared to the droughts from the decades past. This was the effects of climate change. Dr. Ramankutty’s study warns the world food

There are many adaptation strategies for farmers to meet the growing challenge of climate change, such as breed and seed selection, water conservation and adjusting the timing of farming operations. These adaptations along with investment in agricultural production are required to maintain and enhance global food security.

Agriculture helps the United States economy by contributing more than three hundred billion dollars each year. This number is kept stable by having consistent amount of agriculture farmed or raised each year and it is creating a sustainable food supply. Climate change is capable of destroying this stability and contribution from agriculture. Climate change is a serious problem that is currently happening and is destroying the agriculture’s productivity which has an impact on everyone.

Climate Change Will Worsen Hunger because it has caused many regions to lose important resources. It explains studies that have shown the effect of Climate change some being how it has lowered grain yields but it has raised crop prices. With these changes it causes child malnutrition to increase 20%. It goes to explain the changes that many organizations have decided to take so that they can help the most affected regions. Some of these regions are South Asia, Central Asia and Europe.

Mertz et al. (2009b), assert that the communities most susceptible to climate change impacts will be those who practice subsistence agriculture and are characterized by economic poverty. Subsistence farmers face a number of challenges such as limited access to productive land and lack of access to markets amongst other things, consequently making them more vulnerable to climate change impacts (Makhura, 2001). However, on closer analysis it appears that female subsistence farmers in developing countries are expected to face the greatest impacts of climate change (Terry, 2009). Men and women have different roles within their households and communities, yet in spite of this, their roles are complementary (Bless, 2005; Oberhauser et al., 2004), the difference in roles leads to dissimilar often conflicting basic needs, preferences, livelihood strategies and goals (Okali, 2006). Denton (2002) notes that adaptive capacity and susceptibility to climate change impacts differs between male and female farmers especially in developing countries. According to United Nations-UN (2008) climate change

The poor remain most vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather conditions. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the exiting food security issues, and impact heavily upon women and children, and on those reliant on subsistent agriculture. Climatic shocks can tip a large proportion of the Afghan population into absolute poverty, a large proportion of whom live just above poverty line. Increased prevalence of disease will affect availability of labour for agriculture and other non-farm rural activities. Water disputes have plagued central Asia for years (Rashid 2000, p

There is no doubt that climate is a considerable element of agricultural production. However, along with climate change, extreme weather has tended to be more frequent and more intense, which has affected farming destructively. As a result, the drought that occurred in sub-Saharan Africa has become continual and long duration, which resulted in poor harvests. In addition, climate change restricted weather risk management. Similarly, long-time climate change is threatening agricultural development in Australia and has reduced agricultural production capacity and challenged traditional farming and irrigation measures. Interestingly, in most rural areas of Australia, farmers acknowledged “a changing climate”, rather than “climate change”.

Scientific evidence of the world’s changing climate is unequivocal. The expected impacts of the changing climate are likely to adversely affect the well being of all countries and particularly the poorest countries, some of which are in Africa. The changing climate has been manifested in the form of: increased severity and frequency of droughts; floods and storms; water stress, coastal erosion, and higher incidence of vector borne diseases among others. The resulting declines in agricultural productivity and food security, widespread incidence of water-related diseases, particularly in tropical areas have had a telling effect on economic development. The poorest countries and communities are likely to suffer the earliest

In addition to the strain of an increasing population, other pressures make it difficult to increase the amount of food produced. Climate change poses significant threat to food production as small changes to conditions can drastically reduce crop yields with temperature increases of just 1°C likely resulting in reductions of 5-10% in the yields of major serial crops (Tamiotti et al., 2009). Moreover, the melting of glacial ice that

Drought is another factor of climate change that causes severe damages to agriculture and livestock. The effects of drought on agricultural production and livestock holding can be a detrimental issue and result in quality dissatisfaction of products. The agricultural industry can be affected by drought both economically and environmentally. The economical effects of drought on crops and animals can lead to the loss of money and time. When droughts occur farmers lose money because they will have to spend more money earned from their

The entire global community is currently suffering from the unfriendly climatic conditions, the gradual disappearance of rain forest in the tropical regions, the loss of animal and plant species, changing rainfall patterns, and global warming resulting from the changing climate. Climatic changes have the potential to affect all natural systems. It is therefore becoming a threat to human development and survival economically, socially and politically. Despite the fact that the climatic changes pose a threat to the entire globe, many people believe that developing countries (like Kenya) in the tropical regions of the world will be impacted more severely than developed ones.

Firstly, climate change has a big impact with world hunger. Climate change may affect food systems in several ways ranging from direct effects on crop production (e.g. changes in rainfall leading to drought or flooding, or warmer or cooler temperatures leading to changes in the length of growing season), to changes in markets, food prices and supply chain infrastructure (Gregory, Ingram & Brklacich, 2005, p.2139). It can trigger a natural disaster like drought and flood, which can have an extreme effect with the problems in the sources of food. In one hand, drought is a common scenario in farm lands in which

Abstract— Climatic conditions of Nepal vary from one place to another in accordance with the geographical features. Climate change is changing our economy, health and communities in diverse ways. The effects of rising temperatures are not only melting glaciers and sea ice, it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move. The erratic rainfalls and increase in frequency of extreme events such as floods and drought. Most of the big rivers of Nepal are glacier-fed and its main resources of water and hydroelectricity will be seriously affected due to the ongoing changes in glacier reserves, snowfall and natural hazards. Nepal is largely a mountainous country and current indications are that the mountain regions are more vulnerable due to increased warming trends high variation in altitude with in very short distances. These alarming trends not only make Nepal 's major sectors of economy such as agriculture, tourism and energy more vulnerable but also endanger the health, safety and wellbeing of Nepali people. The main objective of the study is to identify the impacts of climate change on the development paradigm of the country in context of water resources. The prophecy behind this study is to add the future development of Nepal regarding poverty alleviation, social equity, security and welfare. The climate change trends and its impacts may differ in various local regions, it has affected Nepal with less monsoonal rains across the high mountains and