DRR, LLA and Climate Action

Past Efforts and Results in DRR and Climate Action

Interventions Background:
Climate change is no longer a distant threat rather becoming a daily reality in Nepal’s Chure (Siwalik) and Madhesh provinces. Landslides, floods, erosion, droughts, heatwaves, and cold waves are hitting hard with increasing frequency and intensity thereby destroying property, and human lives. Communities living along river basins particularly the landless and smallholder, Dalit, marginalized and minorities including their families are becoming highly vulnerable as they have the least means to prepare, respond, and recover.

Deforestation, haphazard resource extraction, and fragile topography in Chure, has increased soil erosion and sedimentation, triggering landslides in upstream and floods towards downstream. Thereby, in the Madhesh plains, swollen rivers and prolonged inundation devastate farms, settlements, and critical infrastructure, while droughts and heatwaves decline productivity and threaten water security. This led to a vicious cycle of poverty and forced displacement, leaving communities in cycles of loss and dependency.

The human cost is more staggering: children miss school, women bear greater burdens, the elderly and PWDs are starting to see darkness in both the immediate and future and the communities see their futures uncertain. Traditional coping strategies are becoming ineffective to the scale and pace of change. There requires an integrated solutions to address these humanitarian crises and irreversible socio-economic decline.

It is an imperative to build resilience through ecosystem-based DRR, climate-adaptive livelihoods, and inclusive governance. This will be a process where those at risk will lead their own recovery. Through targeted support, Nepal’s Chure and Madhesh can transform from climate hotspots into models of community led resilience where nature is restored, livelihoods are secured, and no one is left behind. Therefore, we believe that community-based climate action and inclusive governance processes are the only means to combat climate-induced disasters and promote resilience

Some Successful models of Community-Based adaptation and Ecosystem Restoration facilitated by JWAS

1. “Aishwarya Ban Batika”- A 60 hectare plot of a community Forest Users’ Group
It was the women-led natural resource management and conservation initiative began in 2058 BS has evolved into a remarkable success story over the past 24 years. A 60 hectare plot managed by a 40 Members women group has been transformed through the plantation of 260 mango trees, broom grass, bamboos and other cash crops such as turmeric. These efforts have generated sustainable incomes-approximately NPR 30,000 (US$300) annually from broom grass and a significant increase in mango income from NPR 40,000 (US$400) thousand in the early years to NPR 160,000 (US$1600) thousand at present.

In addition, 10% of the incomes are shared with the Dhaneshwor Community Forest Users Group (CFUG) benefitting 160 HHs including the 40 members’ women group themselves. The group has also established a water conservation pond in a gully being very helpful in controlling land-slides, erosion and floods thereby preventing disasters that earlier plagued the area severely. This collectively efforts has not only restored greenery and wildlife habitats but also built financial resilience, for women contributing NPR 500 (US$5) in monthly savings and accumulating a balance approximately NPR 800,000 (US$8000). Today, the women proudly celebrate their more than two decades long conservation journey which has secured both ecological sustainability and socio-economic empowerment for their community.

2. Chhireshwar Musahari (Dalit-minorities) Women Group and Plantation - Mithila-3, Hariharpur
In 2001, a degraded and abandoned riverbank of approximately 10 hectare was successfully reclaimed through the collective efforts of 36 Mushahari HHs, a marginalized communty traditionally deprived of land-based opportunities. With the support from JWAS, the community took the lead in protecting and managing the area by planting saplings of Mango, Guava, and other forest tees like Sisau/Sisham and Eucalyptus. Now a days, these plantations have become matured and thriving greenery, hence transferring the once-barren and degraded riverbanks into a productive patches. The well grown greenery patches not only contribute to ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation in the locality but also provide a sustainable income source through selling fruits.

This reclaimed land which was degraded and abandoned earlier has now become a vital means of livelihood for the Mushari people (the minorities’ community), ensuring their food security, economic empowerment and long-term resilience.

This remains a unique model to which a small resources and technical support of the project have contributed significantly. Therefore, landslide prevention in gullies and torrents, protection of water sources, construction of water recharge ponds, plantation and riverbed farming on riverbanks, etc. are measures to help our communities adapt and become resilient to climate-related disasters.

Aspect of Sustainability, Replicability and Scalability:
 The results are sustainable and effective because they are environmentally friendly, based on local resources and is adopted through collective efforts of the group, and builds on more than two decades of successful practice.
 There are many potential areas and interested communities along different river basins of Madhesh province where locally led adaptation and NbS can be promoted. These approaches are locally adopted and managed, with the communities at the forefront of resource management and utilization.
 Local government have also shown strong interest in collaborating on such conservation and management programs by mobilizing their own resources. Since these models require no advanced expert knowledge or external sourcing, they are comparatively a low cost and highly sustainable. They contribute not only to carbon preservation but also to the economic empowerment and livelihood promotion of land less and marginalized groups.
 These community-based adaptation and resilience measures are directly linked from the upstream Chure (Siwalik) hills to the downstream terai plains along the river basins, ensuring an integrated landscape management approach. JWAS, with its profound experiences in successful implementing such models, along with its strong relationship with both government and communities across Madhesh province, is well positioned to lead this expansion.
 These techniques have already proven to be effective and successful, making them a strong and replicable option for scaling up in other areas of the province.
 It will also contribute to the roadmap for 80% of climate financing to be allocated at the local level, as specified by the UNFCCC COP.
 Since it is a subject of direct concern to the daily lives and livelihoods of the local communities, the community is increasingly attracted to this issue and also eager to contribute.

Written by: Sushil Dhakal