Climate-induced loss and damage in Nepal: attribution analysis and institutional readiness for international support

Information from the abstract

Nepal, a mountainous, landlocked and least developed country in the eastern Himalayas, is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its complex topography, fragile ecosystem and limited ability to adapt to rapidly growing climate impacts. The vulnerability is exacerbated with increased frequency and intensity of climate induced disasters, such as floods, landslides, glacier retreat and glacier lake outburst floods (GLOF), among others, leading to loss and damage. This precipitation in influencing major climate hazards. The results show a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heavy rainfall events, with some extreme events becoming up to three times more likely due to anthropogenic climate change. To address this and to effectively implement response to loss and damage, the governance system remains important; however, the institutional analysis shows that despite the presence of relatively comprehensive climate-related policies, there is fragmentation and overlapping mandates among national institutions, limitation in data availability and quality, and capacity gaps at multiple levels of governance. For more effective governance responses, the results suggest strengthening climate and weather data systems and instruments, encouraging ex ante physics-based climate attribution studies and enhancing inter-agency coordination that can help Nepal to enhance access to loss and damage finance and eventually expedite implementation of policy and action addressing loss and damage.

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Related topics: Climate change impacts on agriculture · Cryospheric studies and observations · Disaster Management and Resilience