Overview

This project seeks to identify key vulnerabilities of livestock-based livelihoods to climate change in the Solukhumbu and Humla districts of the Mountain region of Nepal. This collaborative project will be conducted by an interdisciplinary team of scholars and practitioners from Arizona State University (ASU) and two non-governmental organizations in Nepal: Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI-BIRD) and Nucleus for Empowerment through Skill Transfer (NEST). Based primarily on field level studies, this action research will follow a two-tiered survey format: a) household surveys and b) focus group discussions. The survey instrument will seek information on the history and practices of livestock keeping, availability of livestock services, livestock production systems, availability of pasture and fodder, challenges and opportunity, past climatic events that caused significant losses in livestock production, workload of women, and traditional ex-ante management strategies applied by the livestock keeper. The household surveys will be followed by semi-structured focus group discussions with longtime residents, both men and women. To facilitate the field level survey, an advisory project reference group will be formed in each district. The findings from this action research will inform stakeholders, researchers, practitioners and communities to evaluate options for adaptation in light of changing local conditions brought about climate change and other ongoing factors. We anticipate that this action research will converge into a large scale collaborative research project between institutions in Nepal working on climate change and adaptation work and universities in the U.S. that share similar research agendas.