Nepal: A Climate-Vulnerable Country
Nepal is ranked 12th in Global Climate Risk Index (2021) with increasing trend of floods, landslides, droughts, soil erosion and natural catastrophes such as earthquakes. These problems directly impact poor communities, particularly farmers and sharecroppers who rely on agriculture for a living. To address these vulnerabilities, it is important to educate and equip these communities with climate-smart agriculture methods, while also guaranteeing effective land governance for safer settlements and sustainable livelihoods.
Promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture for Resilience:
FAO defines Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) an integrated approach to managing landscapes – cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries that aims to achieve three objectives: increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, enhancing resilience and adaptation to climate change, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions where possible.
UN-Habitat Nepal, through its initiatives on A Safety Net of Innovative Land Tenure Solutions for Near-Landless Sharecroppers and for a Greener Rural Nepal (L4ACT), partnered with Good Neighbors International (GNI) and the Community Self Reliance Center (CSRC) conducted two-days’ training session as part of a series to promote CSA in the project area. This training was conducted in four municipalities in the Deukhuri Valley of Dang District. The training sessions were conducted in Rapti Rural Municipality (8-9 December), Gadhawa Rural Municipality (12-13 December), Lamahi Municipality (16-17 December), and Rajpur Rural Municipality (18-19 December 2024). A total of 184 farmers, including 72 women and 69 youth, participated.
Engaging Communities for Knowledge Sharing
Participants in the training included lead farmers, sharecroppers, Land Rights Forum members, local government leaders, and agricultural technicians. The goal was to educate participants on climate change, its effects on agriculture, and the adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies through practical demonstrations.
Hands-On Training and Demonstrations
The practical sessions focused on several CSA techniques, including: