Impact of Climate Change on Rural Livelihood: A Case Study of Atichaur VDC , Bajura District

Abstract

Climate change is in the center of contemporary environmental discussions. The negative consequences of climate change have already been realized in many places around the world, and it is predicted that the consequences will be more severe in the future. Most of the indigenous communities living in fragile ecosystem of Nepal are natural-resource dependent and contribute to less emission of Greenhouse Gases butare severely affected by climate change. Hence, this research entitled“ Impact of Climate Change on Rural Livelihood:A Case Study of Atichaur VDC, Bajura District with the aim of determining the vulnerability of climate change in livelihood of the rural people. Primary data were collected through questionnaire survey (30), key informant interviews, focus group discussions and direct field observations. Secondary data regarding climate variables were collected from Metrology department. Both primary and secondary data were analyzed using MS Excel 2011. Meteorological data of rainfall and temperature showed that the amount of rain fall was decreasing while temperature of the area was rising. Regarding the impact of climate change, 58% of the respondent said that agricultural production was decreased due to increase in temperature, erratic rainfall and drought.Likewise, 63% of the respondent said that natural spring has dried in recent 15 years as a result of less rainfall and deforestation. Diarrhea and eye paining were seen as amajor health problem of the study area. Similarly, 65% of the respondent said thatcomposition of forest has been changed. The excessive spreads of invasive specieshave replaced local species, which were once abundance in the area. Local adaptive capacity was poor. Knowingly or unknowingly some coping strategieslike use of piped drinking water and community forest concept for forest n landslide control were adopted within the community. There is an urgent need to formulate adaptive strategies for food security and for dealing with drinking water scarcity and climate change induced disasters in the area with dissemination of information about climate change. The study concluded that impacts of climate change on community are serious as they are directly related to livelihoods.