Report

Climate change is a global challenge that has a particularly strong effect on developing countries such as Nepal, where adaptive capacity is low and where agriculture, which is highly dependent on climatic factors, is the main source of income for the majority of people. The nature and extent of the effects of climate change on rural livelihoods varies across Nepal in accordance with its highly diverse environmental conditions.

This report presents analyses of temperature and precipitation trends in Nepal to examine the signs of climate change across geographical areas and over seasons. Monthly precipitation data from 166 stations and monthly temperature records from 44 stations for 30 years (1976- 2005) over Nepal were considered in this study. The report contains climatic maps for various ecological zones and for the whole of Nepal.

This study is a result of interviews conducted by Oxfam in rural communities in February and March 2009. The interviews were conducted in three ecological zones (Terai, Hills and Mountains) and in the Mid and Far Western Development Regions to capture a snapshot of how climate change is already affecting people living in poverty.

Least Developed Countries (LCD) are suffering from the impacts of climate change and climatic variations at an alarming rate. Industrialization, human civilization and other anthropogenic activities are adversely affecting the composition of atmosphere through the increased liberation of greenhouse gases, thereby accelerating global warming.