ENHANCING FORECAST-BASED DISASTER RESPONSE IN NEPAL

Implementation of humanitarian actions in advance of a disaster event is a new approach to enhance overall effectiveness of disaster responses. Early actions following forecasts and early warnings can significantly reduce disaster losses and the cost of disaster recovery. Evidence from pilot projects reveal potential to integrate forecast-based humanitarian actions into disaster preparedness planning. Building on advanced technologies, it has been possible to predict disaster risk of many meteorological and hydrological hazards like heavy rainfall, storm surges, flood, drought and cyclones. Nepal has developed communitycentered, end to end flood early warning systems, which have utilised different global and regional weather forecasting models. The models have the capability to provide weather and flood scenarios three days in advance. In this study, we carefully examine current practices and approaches to explore opportunities to use weather forecasts, flood alerts and warning to inform forecast-based humanitarian actions. Furthermore, we analysed existing policy provisions and legal mandates in Nepal to assess the availability of enabling environment needed for adopting forecast-based humanitarian actions. We also present our learning from piloting this approach to disaster preparedness planning in 19 selected districts of Nepal. Our findings suggest that adequate legal provisions and appropriate institutional mechanisms are essential to ensure effective implementation of forecastbased early actions. It is important and urgent to depart from traditional post-event relief approach to a risk-informed preventive decision-making. Technological limitations and operational gaps between agencies are major barriers to proactive actions. The challenges can be overcome through sufficient legal provisions, technical guidelines and protocols to clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of the authorities.

Mapping Institutional Landscape for Integrated Urban Water Management in Haldwani City, Uttarakhand

According to the latest government reports, India is facing evident shortfall of water in various parts of the country, and Himalayan states are likely to suffer the impacts of climate change related to water more than non-Himalayan states. Water resources are expected to affect Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, and future projections are far more upsetting. In this light, sustainable and adaptive strategies such as integrated water resources management, nature-based solutions have been promoted globally for sustainable and integrated urban water management. The paper inquires into functions of respective institutions and their possibilities to adopt possible nature-based solutions such as rain water harvesting in response to water insecurity and adaptation in times of climate change. Taking case of Haldwani city, the paper assesses water demand and supply gaps, the existing water institutions, their scope of work and water management mechanism. Further, the scope of adoption of possible nature-based solution is explored by the purview of their work in water management. This was derived through an in-depth literature review, stakeholder consultations as key informant interviews, and participatory mapping. Haldwani has experienced severe water scarcity due to depletion of groundwater, decline in the discharge rate of river Gaula, and drying of springs in and around the city. Various agencies manage the existing water resources in isolation and mismanagement of water is one of the prominent problems in the city. The paper delves into the nuances of various strategic interventions, and the respective institutional capability to undertake the same. While most of the strategies prevalent at international level are yet to be adopted in context of Himalayan cities, a key finding is that rain water harvesting system can be easily taken up as a nature based solution by each of the institutions since it also falls in their scope of work as well as to meet the city’s present and future water challenges.

Water Scarcity and Sustainability in the Himalayas

Are the sectoral policies on climate change, urban development and water interlinked and do they address urban water issues? How are socio-environmental dynamics shaping groundwater exploitation in peri-urban areas of Kathmandu Valley? What challenges and prospects lie with the institutional landscapes for integrated urban water management in Haldwani city? How do socio-political relations among upstream and downstream actors shape the negotiation process to secure urban water needs? How can the social protection system be made more shock responsive and adaptive to climate induced disasters?

Transformative Engagements with Gender Relations in Agriculture and Water Governance

Despite frequent calls for transformative approaches for engaging in agrarian change and water governance, we observe little change in everyday development and research praxis. Empirical studies on transformative engagements with gender relations among smallscale or tenant farmers and water user groups are particularly rare. We explore transformative engagements through an approach based on critical pedagogy (Freire, 1996) and transformative practice (Leder, 2018). We examine opportunities to promote empathy and critical consciousness on gender norms, roles and relations in agriculture and resource management. We developed and piloted an innovative “Participatory Gender Training for Community Groups” as part of two internationally funded water security projects. The training consists of three activities and three discussions to reflect on gender roles in families, communities and agriculture, to discuss the gendered division of labour and changing gender relations over time and space, and to create empathy and resolve conflicts through a bargaining role play with switched genders. The approach was implemented in twelve villages across four districts in Nepal and India (Bihar, West Bengal). Our results show how the training methods can provide an open space to discuss local gender roles within households, agriculture and natural resource management. Discussing own gender norms promotes critical consciousness that gender norms are socially constructed and change with age, class, caste and material and structural constraints such as limited access to water and land. The activities stimulated enthusiasm and inspiration to reflect on possible change towards more equal labor division and empathy towards those with weaker bargaining power. Facilitators have the most important role in transformative engagements and need to be trained to reinterpret training principles in local contexts, and to apply facilitation skills to focus on transforming rather than reproducing gender norms. We argue that the gender training methods can initiate transformative practice with the gender-water-agriculture nexus by raising critical consciousness of farmers, community mobilisers, and project staff on possibilities of social change “in situ”.

Is Foreign Aid Making A Difference? A Case Study of Sagarmatha National Park Forestry Project, Khumbu, Nepal

This paper describes a community stakeholder approach to evaluating the effectiveness of foreign aid and NGO involvement in an impacted community. The focus of the study, the Sagarmatha National Park Forestry Project (SNPFP), has operated in the Khumbu region for more than thirty years. The success of foreign aid and NGO activities was assessed by interviewing key informants with regard to their experience and perceptions concerning the project. The implications of this study include the recommendation that local people are the best source of information to measure foreign aid and NGO performance in a remote community. Furthermore, the future of natural resource conservation and rural development led by foreign aid depends on collaboration between the local people, NGOs and government.

Weak Institutional Interaction: Reason for Poor Agricultural Extension Services Delivery in Nepal

Institutional pluralism, privatisation and decentralisation of extension services are priority sectors of Nepal’s agricultural extension strategy. With the approach of public private partnership in agriculture, new actors like agro-vet, NGOs, private agro- farm, breeding centres, seed and fertilizer companies have grown considerably in the past decades. This has called a need to outline in detail how institutions communicate and co-operate with each other to forge an effective consolidation for achieving food security, livelihoods and other goals. This paper tries to see current process of agricultural institutional interaction and explore different hurdles in effectively reaching to farmers. With the review of literatures, policy documents and empirical evidences collected from local practitioners and observation of field settings from two districts of Nepal, this paper argues that the existing pattern of institutional interaction for the agricultural intensification is weak. The open political environment and incentive of selling seeds, pesticides and agriculture equipments has resulted into unprecedented rise of agrovets, equipment vendors and dealers—and with time they are becoming more and more influential, having very close links with the farmers. Agriculture extension system remains poorly coordinated among government organisations and NGOs and also has limited communicative links to groups and associations of farmers.

Introduction Doing Development in The Post-Development Age

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Assessing the impact of the Agriculture Perspective Plan (1995 to 2015): The maoist insurgency on rural lives in Nepal and reflections on the current Agricultural Development Strategy

The fifteen years between 2053 and 2072 in the Nepalese calendar (approximately 1996 to 2015 in the Gregorian calendar) were potentially dramatic for rural development in Nepal. A twenty year market oriented, Asian Development Bank funded and technically assisted, national Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) was in the early stage of implementation and a Maoist movement was about to launch an armed struggle in rural area that would become a national civil war lasting ten years. The APP had envisioned agriculture intensification for agriculture based economic growth adequate to generate employment to combat poverty in Nepal. The comparison of two Nepal Living Standards Surveys (NLSS) results from 1995/96 and 2010/11 suggests that agricultural production has not changed substantially in the topographically advantaged west rural plains (terai) areas, where the Maoist insurgency had relatively small direct influence. Overall, the Nepalese economy appears to be both moving away from agriculture (share of non-farm income rising from 15% to almost 40%) and feminising (women headed households in the rural western terai rising from under 9% to over 24%). However, over fifteen years there have been significant changes in the livelihood patterns of different caste/ethnic/religious groups. This paper deals with identified five different types of changed behaviour to show the range of responses and links are made to misrecognised key elements in political economy of Nepal, the Maoist insurgency and the Nepal State conflict.