Improving ecosystem resilience in the mountains of Nepal
NEPAL’S WATER RESOURCES IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
The Panchase mountain ecosystem links Nepal’s lowlands with the highlands of the Annapurna Himalaya range, and is a major water catchment for important national and regional watersheds. Water scarcity, however, is an increasingly serious problem facing rural communities in Nepal. In the Panchase region, natural springs are the primary water source for rural areas, but these natural water sources are being increasingly threatened by climate change and other man-made threats.
The precipitation patterns in the Panchase region are already changing, with more intense wet season rains, coupled with a decrease in rainy dry season days. The monsoon season is also becoming increasingly unpredictable. Generally Nepal’s year is divided into two seasons. The dry season starts in October, and lasts until May and the wet (monsoon) season lasts from June until September.
As a result of recent variability, farmers can no longer make informed choices about when to plant or harvest their crops. Since most in Panchase are subsistence farmers, dependence on rain-fed agriculture is the norm. Exacerbating these challenges is an increase in regional development activities, such as road construction, frequently carried out without proper planning and environmental impact assessments.
As a result, the traditional water sources upon which so many in Nepal depend, are being disturbed, degraded, and in some cases destroyed, along with the associated ecosystems.
RESTORING NATURAL WATER SOURCES
Human life is unsustainable without water and healthy ecosystems. Mountain ecosystems are particularly important, in that they support rich ecological processes and provide essential goods and services, especially water, not only to mountain people, but also to downstream lowlands where demand from population centres, agriculture, and industry is high.
Recognising this, the Mountain Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) Programme – led by the Department of Forests and UNDP Nepal – is supporting local communities within the Panchase region to restore these traditional natural springs to secure easy, healthy, and continuous access to clean and sufficient water in a climate-resilient manner.
Dandaghupte pond and its source are located within the Parbat District in the Panchase region. The targeted beneficiaries are among Nepal’s most disadvantaged and marginalised groups, including Dalit households, the most marginalised caste in Nepal.
The pond (and the natural spring feeding it) is a traditional source of water, which has been serving the community for generations. However, rising temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall, coupled with road construction and excavation, disrupted this vital water source, resulting in serious drinking water shortages. Consequently, pond recharge ceased, impinging not only on humans, but also on livestock and irrigation. Due to the water scarcity, women were forced to spend considerable amounts of time in search of drinking water, while livestock herders had to undertake arduous journeys to find alternative water sources.
STRENGTHENING WATER SECURITY
Realising the urgency of these challenges, support was provided to the Nakatipakha Community Forest User Groups to re-construct the pond and related basin and conserve this traditional source of water. Water conservation was further enhanced by adding a new water collection tank.
“We had a pond that was small. Now it‘s big. With the project we‘ve been able to make our water supply bigger. We have water all the time and the continuous water supply has increased our productivity.” Shiva Bahadur Timalsina, Ramja VDC, Parbat District.
A stone lid was also put on top of the pond to protect the water source from contamination and water evaporation caused by direct sun exposure, and underground pipes were installed to ensure downstream flow is unimpeded by the new road.
Shiva explains further, “[b]efore we had to stand in queue, but now we don‘t have a water problem anymore. It has made life easier for us and for our animals, especially since our livestock can now directly access the larger basin.” Better managed and maintained ponds enable more efficient use of clean water for people and their livestock. Water is now available for longer periods and is of higher quality.
RESTORING BROADER ECOSYSTEM HEALTH AND LIVELIHOODS
The Mountain EbA Programme is promoting natural water conservation and source restoration as an integral part of its suite of EbA measures, given the multiple environmental and economic co-benefits that these activities provide.
Restoring broader ecosystem health ensures a host of downstream benefits. Beyond the provision of adequate clean water for both humans and animals, the pond construction also enables the natural recharge of sub-surface and groundwater resources, and natural water infiltration of the soil downstream, enhancing the soil moisture level and quality. This leads to protection of agricultural land and downstream areas from flooding and landslides.
Reduced water run-off also decreases soil erosion, thereby retaining more fertile soil. Soil moisture is further enhanced through natural water filtration through the pond’s sediment bottom, which in turn enables better, more sustainable crop yields in the fields close by. The regenerated ponds also contribute to increased amounts of water downstream, especially during the dry season, which results in increased greenery, vegetation, tree growth and other crops close to the water around the pond and downhill.
As a result, crop yield has increased, and locals have been able to grow healthier - and greater varieties - of crops for longer periods, leading to improved health and an increase in household income.
IMPROVING HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH
The pond restoration also includes social benefits that accrue from ensuring continuous access to sufficient and clean water year round. This includes a decrease in water-borne diseases for humans as well as a notable decrease in diseases afflicting the livestock, particularly intestinal parasites. Healthier livestock in turn provides healthier milk and meat for human consumption. It also leads to an increased income, as healthier animals, if sold, bring in a higher return.
EBA MOUNTAIN PROGRAMME
Through the global Ecosystems-based Adaptation (EbA) in Mountains Programme, UNDP, UNEP and IUCN, with funding from the German Government (BMUB), are using sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems, as part of an overall EbA adaptation strategy, to reduce the vulnerability and enhance the resilience of select fragile mountain ecosystems and their local communities to climate change impacts. The promoted EbA measures carefully take into account anticipated climate change impacts trends to ensure a forward-looking process. It is a global partnership that involves national and regional government agencies, civil society, and local communities in three pilot countries (Uganda, Nepal and Peru).
Actively supported by the Government of Nepal and implemented by the Department of Forests, the pond restorations are part of a broader suite of EbA measures supported by the Mountain EbA Programme in the Panchase region based on landscape-level interventions. These EbA measures – with a focus on providing dependable, clean water in a changing climate – have significantly lowered the vulnerability of both the surrounding ecosystem and the people and animals who depend on it for their livelihoods and well-being.
For more information on the EbA work, please visit: www.undp-alm.org/projects/mountain-eba and www.ebaflagship.org
FOOTNOTES: Story by Andrea Egan, Tine Rossing and Nawang Chhenjum Sherpa