Re-thinking investments in sustainable landscapes at the Global Landscapes Forum, Warsaw, November 2013

1. Luna Bharati and Pabitra Gurung
International Water Management Institute
Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur
Nepal
IWMI-Nepal@CGIAR.ORG
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org
Photo:
Photo
Photo : David Brazier/IWMI :Tom van Cakenberghe/IWMI
Photo: David Brazier/IWMI David Brazier/IWMI
Building Climate
Resilience of Watersheds
in Mountain EcoRegions, Nepal

2. The physical context
• Nepal is one of the most water abundant
countries in the world with total mean annual
runoff of 224 billion cubic meters (BCM)
• There is large temporal and spatial variability
in water availability
• All this water then rushes through the
landscape, very often creating flooding
problems in the wet season and water scarcity
in the dry season.
• Climate change impacts are still very
uncertain
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

3. Core Issues in upland-landscape
management
• Rain-fed systems are vulnerable to climate
variability
• Due to various social, economic and
environmental reasons, out migration from
rural to urban centers is very high
• Few of the effects of abandonment of farms in
this region are:
• land degradation/ erosion
• women, the elderly and remittance income
has become the backbone of livelihoods
• loss of agricultural labor is making it
difficult to sustain traditional farming
practices
• Breakdown of traditional community
organizations
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

4. Old Paradigm
• Existing watershed management
programs in Nepal focus primarily on
land degradation and forest
management.
• Despite significant success, they have
not been able to fully address the
livelihood and environment issues in
these challenging areas.
• Most water management
interventions, on the other hand, do
not benefit upland communities
• Surface and Groundwater systems
are managed separately
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

5. New Approach
•
Integrate management of all natural
resources, including land, trees, water and
people
•
Slowing down and storing water in the upland
systems will allow communities to have access
to water all year –by storage we mean the whole
storage continuum.
•
Reducing peak discharge will reduce floods
downstream
•
Management of both surface and groundwater is
also important especially in the management of
spring systems.
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

6. Nepal’s Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR)
SPCR Component 1: Building Climate Resilience
of Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

7. Combined/Multiple Vulnerability Map of Watershed in Middle and High
Mountain Regions
Vulnerability = f (Sensitivity, Adaptive Capacity, Exposure/Risk)
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

8. Model the impact of watershed management
interventions on the hydrology in two vulnerable
watersheds
• Assess and demonstrate the
effectiveness of various water
management interventions against
future climate uncertainties
• Assess and demonstrate downstream
impacts of watershed interventions
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

9. Result: Distribution of Precipitation
Seasonal Precipitation (1981-2010)
% Change in Seasonal Precipitation (2031-2060)
(14mm–304mm)
(27mm–647mm)
(-13% to
+40%)
(684mm–2438mm)
(12mm–193mm)
(-36% to 0%)
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org
(+6% to
+44.6%)
(-19% to
+25%)

10. Adopted Interventions in the Study
a. Afforestation of degraded lands
b. On-farm Conservation
c. Infiltration Ponds
d. Water Storages-small reservoirs
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

11. Combined Impact of All the Interventions on
Seasonal Hydrological Parameters in Watershed 124
1.000%
0.000%
Percentage Change
-1.000%
-2.000%
-3.000%
-4.000%
-5.000%
WYLD
-6.000%
GW_Q
SURQ
PERC
SW
-7.000%
-8.000%
Annual
Winter
Pre-monsoon
Water for a food-secure world
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Monsoon
Post-monsoon

12. How can we ensure that investments in
landscape are sustainable?
• A more integrated
approach to upland
landscape management
• Moving away from
sectorial resource
management
• Expanding the
management unit to
include the whole
landscape
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

13. Thank you
Read the book: Tackling Change
For more information:
Contact Luna Bharati at l.bharati(at)cgiar.org
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org