Asia and Oceania

Nepal
Last reviewed: 09 September 2009

Country information

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Geography

Nepal covers approximately 147,000 sq km, stretching 800km from east to west and 90 to 230km from north to south. Nepal is land-locked between China (including the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet) and India. Nepal has three geographic regions; the mountainous Himalayan belt (including 8 of the 10 highest mountain peaks in the world), the hill region and the plains region. Nepal contains the greatest altitude variation on earth, from the lowland Terai, at almost sea-level to Mount Everest at 8848 metres. Nepal is divided into five development regions and seventy-five districts.

Climate Change

Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries in South Asia to climate change, yet it has limited capacity to address impacts of climate change or to take advantage of the opportunities. It has a highly variable climate and fragile ecosystems. The Himalayan glaciers are retreating faster than any other major body of ice. With climate change, climate variability, a driver of poverty in a country where 75% of the population is reliant on agriculture, will only increase. The monsoon rains are already more intense, but of shorter duration, and are arriving later, which has a devastating impact on the rice crop.

The Greater Himalaya region is the water tower of Asia. Nepal sits at a strategic point, in the headwaters of the Ganges basin. 500 million people live in this basin, which is one of the most flood prone in the world. Currently Nepal's Himalayan Rivers supply 70% of the dry season water in the Ganges and 30% of the peak flood waters.

Nepal's potential for hydropower is 100 times its existing energy use. Current development of rivers are sub-optimal, focusing solely on hydro rather than also storing water in the summer to use for irrigation during the rest of the year and reduce flooding.

Yet, if Nepal could export its hydropower to India, it could get financing from carbon markets and raise $2bn p.a. in revenue. If Nepal accelerated the handing over of natiional forests to communities, and reversed forest degradation and deforestation, it could qualify for financing from the World Bank managed climate investment funds and voluntary carbon markets. And, if Nepal reduced flooding in India and Bangladesh, and improved winter water flows, it would be a strategic player in the region, able to negotiate better deals.

The UK is helping address the challenges posed by Climate Change by:

Working to enable Nepal to effectively influence climate change negotiations. We part funded the Kathmandu to Copenhagen regional climate change conference held in Kathmandu 31 August to 01 September 2009.
Supporting Nepal develop a framework for action on climate change and present immediate priorities through its National Adaptation Plan of Action Plus. We will then support the priority actions of the plan.
Increasing our support to the forestry sector, working with other donors to support a national, but decentralised, approach in forestry that benefits the poor, reverses deforestation, reduces corruption and attracts carbon finance.
Supporting the South Asia Water Initiative to improve water resource management regionally and manage the impacts of climate change, for which Nepal is key to its success.