Water and Livelihoods in Mountain Areas: A Case Of Modi Watershed, Nepal

Abstract

The main objectives of the study are: analysis of different assets and their implicationsin livelihoods, assessment of present livelihood strategies adopted by the people andassessment of the role of water in livelihoods in terms of its utilization and management.The study area Modi Khola watershed is located in Western Nepal, which consists of 28VDCs of Kaski, Parbat and Myagdi districts and covers an area of 676.8 sq. km. Its totalpopulation as per the census of 2001 is 75,000. The area displays cross profile of MiddleMountain, High Mountain and the High Himalayas within a short physical distance ofabout 51 km. Its altitude ranges from less than 500 meter in the south to above 8000meter in the north and represents sub-tropical to alpine climates. The study is based on livelihood concept developed by Robert Chambers andframework of DFID with development of additional water use model. Necessaryinformation was collected through maps, documents and field surveys. Householdsurvey, group discussions, mapping and observation techniques were adopted for fieldsurvey. A total of 360 households were covered from 12 communities for householdsurvey and 12 group discussions were carried out.An inventory of different water useswas made through consultation with local people and field observation. Both statisticaland non-statistical tools were applied for data analysis. The households of study area possess a number of livelihood assets of five differentcategories upon which their livelihoods are based. Land, water, physical landscape, bio-diversity, pasturelands and trees in farm are the main natural assets of this area. Shelter,household facilities, water delivery infrastructures, transportation and communicationlinkages are physical assets and community groups like Mother’s group, Youth clubs,and Users committee are social assets. Human assets include literacy level, size ofeconomically active population and general health condition. Likewise, livestock andmoney inflow (pension and remittances) are the financial assets of this area. Theseassets have significant contribution in shaping local livelihoods however, theirimportance varies by household and localities. The association of different assets tohousehold income is assessed. Assets like remittance and pension received byhousehold, land owned, rooms in the house, trees in farmland and literacy level havepositive association with household income while livestock owned and facilities likeprovision of water tap, improved latrine and the availability of radio/television in thehouse do not show positive relationship with household income even though these areessential for betterment of livelihoods. The people of Modi Khola area adopt diverse strategies such as agriculture, service ingovernment and non-governmental agencies, business, tourism, industrial activities,migration, wage labor, fishing and others for their livelihood security. Livelihoodstrategies vary by household and localities as a result of spatial variation in terms ofavailability of assets, people's capability for exploiting these assets and environment.People'slivelihood is largely based on tourism activities and regular inflow of money interms of pension and remittances in the upper parts while in the lower parts it is basedon the combination of different activities mainly service, agriculture, business andremittances. Household members adopt one or more, often several activities to meettheir household needs. Households adopting diverse strategies have higher income andmore secure livelihoods as compared to the households adopting single or lesser numberof activities. Water, an important constituent of environment, has paramount importance on locallivelihoods. It is used in a wide variety of livelihood activities in the Modi Khola area.The common water users are irrigation, household, power plants, watermills,woodcarving workshops, fishing and cultural activities. The yield and cropping intensityin this area is highly determined by irrigation facilities. Piped water supply and hydro-electricity have significant contribution not only in human health butalso for reductionof drudgery. It has significant role in tourism activities too as it is heavily used bytourists in hotels/restaurants and for pilgrimage bath in hot water springs. Besides,processing of raw material, operation of watermill, woodcarving, liquor making andfishing are other water users contributing to local livelihoods. The recorded data on both temperature and precipitation in the Modi Khola area showthe increasing trend as a result of changes in local climate as caused by global warming.The changes in climatic elements have direct implications on water availability resultedin rising discharge in the Modi Khola for many decades. The changes in wateravailability have direct implications on livelihoods affecting different productiveactivities, infrastructures and health. The impacts will be both positive and negative andvaries by temporal and spatial scale. Local people are also aware about changes inclimatic elements and their possible impacts on their lives.