Impacts of climate change in Nepal Himalayas

[Ujjwal T. Shrestha]

Climate change scenarios for Nepal show considerable convergence on
continued warming, Warming trends have already had significant impacts
in the Nepal Himalayas -most significantly in terms of glacier retreat
such as increase in size and volume of glacial lakes, making them more
prone to glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF). This contributes to
enhanced variability of river flows. The indepth analysis of water
resources in Nepal identifies two critical impacts of climate change-
GLOFs and variability of river runoff- both of which pose significant
impacts not only on hydropower, but also on rural livelihoods and
agriculture. The range of practices that can be used to adapt the
climate change is diverse, and includes changes in behavior, structural
policy based responses, technological or managerial responses.