Climate Smart Agriculture

Climate Smart Agriculture
Strategies to Respond Climate Change

in South Asia
Editors
Rudra Bahadur Shrestha
S M Bokhtiar, PhD
SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
i
Climate Smart Agriculture: Strategies to Respond Climate
Change in South Asia
SAARC Regional Expert Consultation on Climate Smart Agricultural Policies, Strategies and
Agricultural Development Programs towards Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in
SAARC Member Countries, 17-19 April 2018, Hyderabad, India.
Edited by
Dr. Rudra Bahadur Shrestha, Senior Program Specialist (Policy Planning), SAARC
Agriculture Center, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Dr. S M Bokhtiar, Director, SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
June 2019
© 2019 SAARC Agriculture Centre, SAARC
Published by the SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC), South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation, BARC Complex, Farmgate, New Airport Road, Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh
(www.sac.org.bd)
ISBN: 978-984-34-6617-4
All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise without prior permission
of the publisher.
Citation
Shrestha, R.B. & Bokhtiar, S.M. (eds.). 2019. Climate Smart Agriculture: Strategies to Respond
Climate Change in South Asia. SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh, p. 180.
This book contains the papers and proceedings of the Regional Expert Consultation on Climate
Smart Agricultural Policies, Strategies and Agricultural Development Programs towards
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in SAARC Member Countries conducted in
Hyderabad, India from 17 to 19 April 2018. The program was jointly organized by SAARC
Agriculture Centre (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh; Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change
Research (APN); Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), New Delhi,
India; and ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM),
Hyderabad, India. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not
imply any opinion whatsoever on the part of SAC, especially concerning the legal status of any
country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or
boundaries.
Cover Design: Ms. Sanjida Aktir, Graphic Designer, SAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Printed by: Natundhara Printing Press, 277/3 Elephant Road (1st Floor), Kataban Dhal,
Dhaka-1205.
Price: US$ 40 for SAARC Countries and US$ 80 for other countries.
Corresponding Editor’s Information

Dr. Rudra Bahadur Shrestha, SPS, SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Dhaka-1215,
Bangladesh. Email: rudrabshrestha@gmail.com; Phone: +8801316814626
ii
Foreword
Ending poverty, zero hunger and respond to climate

change are enduring and intertwining issues in the world,
more pronounce in South Asia that need urgent actions to
combat the adverse effects of climate change and reduce
the extent of vulnerability in the livelihoods of people. As
agriculture is the major source of livelihoods for more
than 60% of the world population, this sector has been
recognized as the key for eradicating hunger and all forms
of malnutrition and ending poverty. However, agriculture
sector has been adversely affected by unpredictable and
frequent climate change events such as rising temperature, drought, flood,
hailstone, typhoon, cyclone, etc. According to IPCC the global temperature had
increased by 0.7ºC in the 20th century and it is predicted to be augmented ranges
from 2.4 to 6.4ºC by 2100. Similarly, FAO (2014) estimated that the world’s
population will increase one-third by 2050, while the climate change effects is
estimated to have reduced global yields of maize by 3.8 % and wheat 5.5 %.
This scenario pressurized farmers to grow enough and sustainable food
production, researchers to innovate improved technologies and develop stress
tolerance with high yielding varieties of crops and breeds of animals, and policy
makers to create enabling policy environment for sustainable agricultural
development. The world is exploring alternative approaches for securing food
and nutrition, improving livelihoods, and reducing all kinds of poverty
incidence. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is emerging as an approach dealing
with increasing productivity, strengthening adaptive and resilient capacity, and
mitigating the GHG emission. This book “Climate Smart Agriculture:
Strategies to Respond Climate Change in South Asia” has been published
aiming to contribute for sustainable agricultural development through combating
climate change effects in the region.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Asia-Pacific
Network for Global Change Research (APN); Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change, New Delhi, India; ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural
Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, India; and SAARC Member
Countries for their contribution. I would like to appreciate Dr. Rudra B. Shrestha,
Senior Program Specialist (Policy Planning), SAC, Dhaka and his team for their
outstanding works in publishing this book.
Dr. S. M. Bokhtiar
Director, SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
iii
Preface
South Asia is facing unprecedented challenges posed by

climate change with increased frequency and severity of
extreme weather events such as droughts, floods,
heatwaves and tropical cyclones, resulting in reduced
productivity, crop failures and increased vulnerability in
marginal areas. To ensure a solid scientific basis for
developing climate-smart policies for the agriculture
sector in South Asia, it is more important than ever that
relevant research findings inform climate change and
agricultural policy and practice, promote climate resilient cropping practices and
improve risk management in the agricultural sector.
The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is pleased to join
forces with the SAARC Agriculture Centre in organizing the Regional Expert
Consultation on Climate-Smart Agricultural Policies and Programmes in
Hyderabad, India on 17–18 April 2018.
The expert consultation emanated from a workshop organized by APN in Bhutan
in 2016, where like-minded organizations were invited to identify opportunities
for generating synergy and deeper impact through cooperation. Subsequently,
APN members decided to take a focus on agriculture, a vital topic for South
Asia. I hope the outcomes of the consultation will be relevant to the policy
planning process of all South Asian countries, and will contribute to
implementing international mechanisms that promote the role of agriculture in
adapting to and mitigating climate change, such as through the Koronivia Joint
Work on Agriculture under the United Nations climate conference.
I am deeply grateful to SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) for its support through
co-financing and technical inputs, especially to Dr. Rudra Bahadur Shrestha and
Dr. Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar for their contribution in publishing this book,
and Dr. W.A.R.T. Wickramaarachchi for organizing the regional consultation
programme. I thank Dr. J. R. Bhatt, APN national Focal Point of India, Advisor
(Climate Change), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,
Government of India for his high-level supports that made the event a great
success. Last, but equally importantly, my gratitude also goes to Dr. Ch.
Srinivasa Rao, Director, ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research
Management (NAARM), India for sharing his expertise on climate and
agriculture and for his team for their professionalism in hosting of the event.
Seiji Tsutsui
Director, APN Secretariat
iv
Acknowledgments
This book is the outcome of a regional expert’s consultation on “climate

smart agricultural policies, strategies and agricultural development programs
towards climate change adaptation and mitigation in South Asia” organized
by SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh in collaboration
with Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN); Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MEFCC), India; and ICAR-
National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in
Hyderabad, India from 17 to 19 April 2018. We would like to express our
sincere gratitude to all the partners who have contributed in organizing the
consultative program.
The Country Focal Points Experts (CFPE), policy analysts, scientists,
professionals, and researchers are highly acknowledged for their technical
supports on current scenario, challenges, opportunities, practices, and policy
options in climate smart agriculture to respond the climate change effects in
the region.
Last, but not the least, we are grateful to all the SARC Agriculture Center
(SAC) team, particularly Dr. Younus Ali, STO; Dr. Pradyumna Raj Pandey,
SPS; Mr. Abdul Salam, SFO; and Ms. Sanjida Aktir, Graphic Designer for
their constant supports in the whole process of publishing this book.
v
Acronyms
ADB Asian Development Bank

ADS Agriculture Development Strategy
CABI Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International
CCFF Climate Change Financing Framework
CSA Climate Smart Agriculture
CSV Climate Smart Village
DACP District Agriculture Contingency Plan
GCF Green Climate Fund
GCM General Circular Model
GCRI Global Climate Risk Index
GHGs Greenhouse Gases
GLOF Glacial Lake Outburst Flood
HKH Hindu Kush Himalayan
INDC Intended Nationally Determined Contributions
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPM Integrated Pest Management
KJWA Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture
LAPA National Framework on Local Adaptation Plans for Action
NAP National Adaptation Plan
NAPA National Adaptation Program of Action
NAPCC National Action Plan on Climate Change
ND-GAIN Notre Dame Global Adaptive Initiative
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SAC SAARC Agriculture Center
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
SLM Sustainable Land Management
SRI System of Rice Intensification
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
vi
Contents
Forward iii
Preface iv
Analysis and Synthesis in Regional Perspectives
Chapter 1 Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation 1
Strategies to Climate Change in South Asia
R. B. Shrestha
Country Papers
Strategies to Climate Change in Bangladesh
S. A. Khan

Strategies to Climate Change in Bhutan
J. Tenzin, L. Phuntsho and L. Lakey

Strategies to Climate Change in India
M. Prabhakar

Strategies to Climate Change in Maldives
A. Shafia

Strategies to Climate Change in Nepal
B. R. Sapkota and S. Devkota

Strategies to Climate Change in Pakistan
M. Tahir Anwar
Strategies to Climate Change in Sri Lanka
A. B. Abeysekera
Report of the Expert Consultation 170

List of Participants 174
vii
Chapter 1
Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation
Strategies to Climate Change in South Asia
Rudra Bahadur Shrestha
Senior Program Specialist

SAARC Agriculture Center, BARC Complex, Farmgate
Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh
Email: rudrabshrestha@gmail.com; Phone: +88 01316814626
Abstract
Climate change is one of the major challenges in agriculture and food system
in the world, particularly in the developing countries where majority of the
people depend on their food security and livelihoods. This paper assessed
climate changes and its impacts on agriculture and food system, and identify
the practices in Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) approach that contribute
for adaptation and mitigation of climate change effects. We used the
secondary information and literature review in this study. Agriculture in the
South Asian countries has been adversely affected by frequent and
unpredictable extreme climate change events such as drought, floods,
landslides, cyclones, typhoons, and sea level rise, etc. The climate hazards in
agriculture can be reduced with improved climate smart agriculture approach
consisting of developing stress tolerant and high yielding crop varieties,
developing innovative technologies in consistent with changing climate,
establishing enabling policy environment towards farmers, forecasting and
managing early warning system, building capacity on adaptation and
mitigation to climate change, and exploring employment opportunities of the
people on farming and non-farming disciplines.
Keywords: Climate change, climate smart agriculture, adaptation,
mitigation, South Asia
Introduction
Agriculture is the major source of economy, food and nutrition security, and
livelihoods in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) consisting of eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Maldives, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). The region covers over 5
million km2 where the climate varies from tropical monsoon in the south,
moderate weather in sub-tropical, and temperate/alpine in the north. South
Asia shares about 4% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and
1
characterized with largest concentrations of rural poverty, wider range of
income inequality, and unstable social political environment. South Asia is
home to nearly 1.74 billion population accounted to be 22% of world's
population in 2015. UN (2017) projected population in the region will
increase to 2.04 billion (17 % increase) in 2030, and 2.29 billion (31%
increase) in 2050. This higher population growth rate exhausts the major
challenge for food and nutrition security and achieve targets of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region. Particularly, the
nutrition security is more severe; about 10 million children (< 5 years of age)
die each year, and 2 out of 5 are stunted and malnourished. The situation of
malnourishment would further exacerbated due to constantly increasing
global warming and erratic changes in temperature and precipitation and
their subsequent extreme events.
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors to attain the SDGs targets,
means of eradicating hunger and all forms of malnutrition and ending
poverty. In South Asia, more than 60% of the population depend their
livelihoods on agriculture and most of them are residing in rural areas. The
half of the land in the region is under arable with permanent crops, while it is
only 11% in the world. This could be the ample opportunity for the region to
meet the food requirement for ever growing population. Agriculture in
developing countries thus should undertake a significant transformation to
cope with the challenges of climate change into food and nutrition security
(FAO, 2010).
The world’s agriculture and food system has been adversely affected by
climate change (CANSA et al., 2014). The climate change affects all four
dimensions of food and nutrition security- availability, accessibility,
utilization and stability through reduced level of agricultural production,
higher level post-harvest losses, inefficient marketing and distribution
system, and ineffective food system- storage, food quality, and safety of
foods (IPCC -2014). Vulnerability of the climate change in agricultural
systems can be reduced by strengthening the farmers’ resilience capacity to
climate change and decreasing the greenhouse gas emission.
CSA approach has been adopted to cope with the effects of change in
climate, which deals with increasing productivity, building farmers’
resilience to climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
increasing carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration deals with the process
by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is taken up by plants through
photosynthesis and stored as carbon in biomass and soils. CSA strengthen
capacity of farmers, researchers, policy analysts, extensions agents, and
technicians to respond the effects of climate change, achieve environmental
benefits and improve food and nutrition security and livelihoods of the
vulnerable communities.
2
We analyzed the current situation and future climate change scenarios,
effects of climate change on agriculture and food system, and policies and
strategies for adaptation and mitigation to climate change through
strengthening the CSA approach in the South Asia.
Major Issues and Challenges in Climate Change and Agriculture

The global communities, particularly the South Asian countries, have been
encountering challenges to achieve the targets of the Sustainable
Development Goal (SDGs) – 2030, particularly in ending poverty, zero
hunger, combat climate change, and responsible consumption and production
(SDG, 2015) in the world. Indeed, the climate change is as a results of global
warming and human activities. The global warming is the consequences of
increasing greenhouse gas emission. The main greenhouse gases (GHGs)
are- carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (NO2) that are
produced through human activities, largely the burning of fossil fuels and
deforestation. GHGs trap heat inside the atmosphere and warm the surface of
the earth. The major challenges of climate change in relation to agriculture
and agri-food system are discussed below:
 Climate change variables- temperature, precipitation, flood, rainfall,
cyclone, and sea level rise, etc. are unpredicted and erratic that
adversely affect to the agriculture and food system. There is greater
challenge to develop technologies, particularly of high yielding,
stress tolerance (extreme temperature, drought, floods, submergence
and insect-pest) crop varieties that could contribute for adaptation
and mitigating measures of climate change.
 Climate change is complicated issue that differs by geography,
altitude, land and soil structure, and socio-political streams, which
requires integrated approach to cope with changing climate extreme
events.
 Climate information and early warning system help people to be prepared
against the possible hazards that could reduce the losses from climate
change events. As changing climate is natural and unpredictable
phenomenon, establishing such information system- with timely, valid,
proximity to accurate, and reliable that could help to cope with such
challenges.
 As a larger size of population (> 60%) depend on agriculture for
their livelihoods, most of them are smallholders, and they are
entirely dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Promoting appropriate
and adequate irrigation system along with climate change adaptation
measure is crucial for their livelihoods and food security.
3
 The average population growth rate in South Asia is 1.5%, which is
higher than in the world average (1.07%). The higher density of
population pressure on natural resources, agriculture, and food
system is the greatest challenges to tradeoff among these variables in
the South Asia.
 Climate change effects and poverty have direct relationship, as
climate change hazards increases, the poverty increases and vice
versa. Reducing poverty is it-self complicated issue that needs
integrated approach with appropriate policies and adequate
resources.
 Adaptation and mitigation to climate change for smallholding
farmers frequently constraints with limited human and natural
resources that hindered agriculture to address the changing climate.
Availability of sufficient climate change financing is critical issue in
the concurrent world.
 Strengthen capacity of farmers, researchers, professionals,
technicians, and policy makers on climate change and potential
adaptation and mitigation measures is very important.
Climate Change Trends, Projections and It’s Impacts

Climate change trends and projections
Agriculture is greatly sensitive to change in climate. The climate change
refers to any changes in climate and weather over time due to natural
variabilities or as a result of man-made activities. The world’s agriculture is
anticipated to face higher degree of temperatures, water scarcity, erratic and
unpredictable precipitation and extreme weather events. South Asia has
recently emerged as a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions
(WB, 2009). As a result, the region has been severely exacerbated by the
prevalence of floods, drought, land slide, cyclone, and storm. Extreme
weather changes have been experienced in the last half century, particularly
severely increased temperature after 70’s that could have been attributed by
emitting greenhouse gasses (GHGs). IPCC (2007) reported that the global
temperature had increased by 0.7ºC in the 20th century and it is predicted to
be increased in the ranges 2.4 to 6.4ºC by the year 2100. Additionally, the
global average sea level had also risen by 1.88 mm per year over the period
1961-2003 (IPCC, 2007) and projected to rise in the range 9 to 88 cm by
2100 (Watson, 2001). Meanwhile, FAO (2014) estimated that the world’s
population will be increased by one-third by 2050, while the global yields of
maize will be reduced by 3.8 % and wheat by 5.5 % in the same period. This
situation brings attention for accelerating the food production and its proper
distribution system management in the world.
4
Hydro-meteorological climate change
The major hydro-meteorological climate change parameters are- temperature,
precipitation and river flow (Zhang et al., 2008; Nambi, 2014), which
determine the quantity of agricultural production and the level of food
security. The effects of these parameters and associated events are more
severe in the rural farming communities in the South Asian countries where
agriculture is the main source of the livelihoods of people. The temperature,
precipitation and river flow situation in the SAARC countries are illustrated
in Table 1.
Table 1. Hydro-meteorological climate change impacts in South Asia

Countries Temperature Precipitation River flow
India  Average  Increased  Shifting the peak river
temperature is variability in both discharge month from
increasing at monsoon and August to July,
the rate of winter rainfall changing the regional
0.06°C per patterns. hydrology of the Ganga
year.  Rainfall in Eastern and its major tributaries.
mid-hills - increase  Impact on glacial lakes
 Temperature in whereas decrease and their breach lead to
Himalayas is in western mid- increase flooding and
increasing at a hills. variations in water
faster rate.  Central Tarai will availability throughout
see a remarkable the year.
increase in rainfall
by 10 to 20%.
Nepal  Average  Increased  Monthly river discharge
temperature variability in both show global warming
increasing at monsoon and would melt snow cover
the rate of winter rainfall. on the mountain tops
0.06°C per  Eastern mid-hills earlier, thus shifting the
year. will show a peak discharge month
general increase in from August to July.
 Temperature in rainfall, while  Impact on glacial lakes
the Himalayas, decrease in and their breach could
however, is western mid-hills. lead to increase flooding
increasing at a  Increase rainfall in and more variations in
faster rate. Central Tarai. water availability
throughout the year.
Pakistan  A 3°C to 5°C  Increased  Glaciers contribute
temperature variability of more than 60% of the
will be monsoon. Upper Indus Basin’s
increased in the flow.
next century.  Southern regions  Upper Indus Basin will
5
 Temperature of the country are see a 15% reduction in
will increases likely to get annual flow and a
in both summer increased rainfall considerable change in
and winter in (up to 20%) intra-annual flow will
Northern than whereas the be observed.
in Southern northern regions
Pakistan. will experience
 Temperature decreased rainfall
will increase in (5%).
winter than
summer.
Bangladesh  Projection of  Hydrological cycle  Frequent floods and low
warming rate will be more flow condition adversely
for Bangladesh erratic with uneven impact the saline and
would similar and intense fresh water balance
to that of India. rainfall. along the coast. Cyclone
and storms are likely to
become more intense.
Bhutan  Rise in  Annual mean  Faster melting of
temperature of rainfall pattern is glaciers could lead to
about 1°C in decreasing. increased flooding as
summer and Particularly, well as more
2°C in winter rainfall has been pronounced variations
since 2000. considerable in water availability
 Steady increase decreasing in the throughout the year.
temperature in sub-tropical region
summer in than that in
subtropical and temperate.
decline during
winter in
temperate.
Sri Lanka  Day time  Increasing trend of  Frequent flooding
maximum heavy rainfall events observed in
temperature events in central recent past especially
and night time highlands and Low during Southwest
minimum Country Dry Zone Monsoon in major
temperature are observed in recent rivers and their
increasing at a pentads. tributaries in the Wet
rate of 0.01 0C  Co-efficient of zone. eg. Nilwala, Gin,
to 0.03 0C per variance in recent Kalu and Kalani rivers
year. pentads is high in etc.
all four rainfall
seasons.
Maldives  Surface air  Overall increasing  The sea-surface heights
temperature trend of annual changes from 8.2 to
6
increase with rainfall 9.5cm.
range 1.19°C
to 2.25°C for
2050’s.
Afghanistan Rise temperature Predicted to reduce  Predicted to increased
up to 4°C, increase the precipitation flash flood risk.
frequency of changes in rainfall
drought and and snowmelt
decrease rainfall. patterns.
Source: Zhang et al. (2008), Nambi (2014) and Author’s Synthesis
Climate change and its impacts on crop production

In South Asia, climate change is expected to cause substantial crop
reductions up to 10 % for rice and more than 10 % for millet and maize,
while in mid- to high-latitudes, productivity may increase to some extent
with increases in temperature (up to 1–30c), and at lower latitudes, crop
productivity will decrease even with a relatively minor change in temperature
(IPCC, 2007; Lobell et al., 2008). The potential impacts of climate change
events in crop production are illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2. Potential climate change impacts on crop production
Climate change events Potential impacts

 Cold periods becoming warmer and  Increased yields in colder
shorter. environments.
 Most land areas, days and nights  Decreased yields in warmer
becoming hotter. environments.
 Increased outbreaks of new insect
pests and pathogens.
Increasing in frequency of heavy Damage to crops, soil erosion, and
precipitation events. inability to cultivate land owing to
waterlogging of soils.
Drought-affected area increases. Land degradation and soil erosion;
lower yields from crop damage and
failure; loss of arable land.
Tropical cyclone activity increases. Damage to crops.
Extremely high sea levels increase in Salinization of irrigation water, estuaries
incidence. and freshwater systems; loss of arable
land.
Source: IPCC (2007) and FAO (2008) and Author’s Synthesis
7
Climate change and its impact on agriculture and livelihoods
Tripartite cause and effect relationship exists between human being,
agricultural activities and climate change; as agricultural activities induce
greenhouse gas emission, climate change destroy agriculture system, and
people severely affects their food and nutrition and livelihoods. Climate
change affects the basic livelihoods, livelihood patterns, and eco-systems
through land degradation, salt water intrusion, loss of infrastructure, reduce
agricultural productivity, reduced fish and aquatic production, shortages of
water, and food and nutrition insecurity (Nambi, 2014 and Pound et al.,
2018). The main reasons could be: increased variability in both monsoon and
winter rainfall pattern; increased temperature with warmer winter; increased
salinity in coastal areas as a result of rising sea level and reduced discharge
from major rivers; weakening ecosystems; decline of glaciers in the
Himalayas; and increased frequency and/or severity of extreme weather
events (Nambi, 2014). Climate change is a consequence of the cumulative
effects of GHGs emission (WB, 2009), which is shared by electricity & heat
(25%), manufacturing & construction (11%), transportation (12%), other fuel
combustion (9%), fugitive emissions (4%), industrial Processes (3%),
agriculture (14%), land-use change & forestry (19%) and waste (3%).
Indeed, climate change impacts could be both positive and negative, depends
on specific geographic condition, altitude, nature of weather, adaption
technology advancement, resources to be used for adaptation and mitigation
measures, and national policies. However, the negative impacts have been
massively observed, particularly in South Asia where the majority of the
population depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The rural poor
communities and marginalized groups of people are disproportionately
affected because of their dependency in agriculture and limited access to
resources essential to cope with addressing climate change effects through
adaptation and mitigation measures.
In India, Zhang et al. (2008) and Nambi (2014) predicted that as increase
temperature by 2.5°C, the yield loss for rice & wheat would be ranges 32%
to 40%; and if temperature increase by 4.9 °C, the yield losses between the
ranges 41 and 52%. Indian agriculture and food system is severely affected
mainly by extreme weather events in the form of floods, cyclones and
drought, which cause causality for lives, destroy homes and agricultural
yields, and huge revenue losses.
In Pakistan, as 1°C increase in temperature would reduce the yield losses by
6–9% for wheat. The situation will be more sever in Bangladesh, as a 4°C
temperature increase, would reduce rice production by 30% and wheat
production by 50%. Bangladeshi agriculture is mainly affected by floods,
rising temperature, sea level rise, and cyclones. Agriculture in Afghanistan
is the most vulnerable by changing climate, particularly posing extreme
8
drought and flash flood. Similarly, the Nepalese agriculture and food
system has been more exacerbated through floods, landslides, drought, and
hailstone.
In Sri Lanka, the Dry zone is the major paddy cultivation area of the
country, which covers about 70 % of the total land. Meanwhile, Maha is the
major cultivation season which receives rains during Second Inter-monsoon
and Northeast monsoon seasons. Due to the climate change, the onset of the
season has changed and prolonged drought environment exist even during
major rainy period. Water shortage is increased for irrigation that reduced the
production and productivity of crops. Wet zone receives rains during First
Inter-monsoon and Southwest monsoon seasons. Since this area has a
mountainous and steeply terrain sloppy land. Increasing the incidence of pest
and diseases have been witnessed due to the frequent intense rains, flash
floods, and landslides, and extreme climate change events.
In Bhutan, the overall land area for agriculture production is projected to
increase more under CC than that those of under No Climate Change (NoCC)
for tropical fruits (citrus) and potato, while temperate fruits (apple) will
decrease under CC (CIAT & World Bank, 2017). Furthermore, the mandarin
orange production would expand beyond the present agro-ecological zone of
cultivation towards higher ranges of altitudes. According to BMCI &
ICIMOD (2016), the major areas of vulnerable to climate change are forests
and biodiversity, water resources, glacial lake, health and land. Glacier-melt
and glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), erratic rainfall, flash floods,
droughts, hails, windstorms, and emergence of new pests and diseases are the
major events of the climate change effects. Bhutan is being frequently
experienced incidence of windstorms and damage agriculture every year.
Meanwhile, global warming induces the spread of pests and diseases in
damage the agriculture crops.
In Maldives, climate change has been severely affecting agriculture, for
example, the extreme event of 2004 Asian Tsunami. The tidal waves
damaged field crops in 2103 farms of 11678 houses, smashed more than 0.7
million fruit trees, and destroyed more than 30 agricultural islands.
The availability and distribution of freshwater, particularly in arid and semi-
arid regions are projected to face diminishing water supplies that could
further jeopardize agriculture and livelihoods (WB, 2009). Similarly, climate
change has been threatening to agro-biodiversity, which needs proper
conservation and management of biodiversity that certainly reduce the
negative effects of climate change. Recently, the global community is more
concern to conserve and promote agro-biodiversity through imposing
international conventions, intellectual property right, and in-situ and ex-situ
conservation practices.
9
Climate Smart Agriculture- A Conceptual Framework
Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach for sustainably increases
productivity, adaptation and resilience to climate change, and reduces or
removes greenhouse gas (GHGs) emission (FAO, 2010). The CSA was
emerged in 2009 as an important means of adapting and mitigating to climate
change effects. This approach guide agriculture management practices in
responding to the climate change and reorient agricultural development under
the realities of climate change (Lipper et al., 2014; Lipper et al., 2018).
Adopting climate smart agriculture could potentially contribute for
sustainable agricultural development in consistent with changing climate
through innovative technologies development that improve soil productivity
and enhance water use efficiency for crops. However, as the CSA is newly
innovative approach, it faces a number of challenges, for example, lack of
clear conceptual understanding, limited enabling policies and priority
settings, and limited investment to the identified innovative programs (Partey
et al., 2018).
Climate smart agriculture stands with the major principle pillars:
productivity; adaptation and resilience; and mitigation of greenhouse gas
emission. Adaptation and resilience emphasize to improve the ability of farm
households, communities, and countries to cope with the effects of change in
climate. According to IPCC (2014), adaptation is the process of deliberate
adjustment to actual or expected climate and its potential effects. The
adaptation deals with specific anticipated risks to mitigate their impact, while
resilience more focus on uncertainty and recovery from unexpected events.
CSA stands with following three major pillars (Figure 1), which are briefly
discussed below:
 Sustainably enhance agricultural productivity from crops,
livestock, poultry, fish, feed, fiber, energy and ecosystem services to
contribute in achieving food and nutritional security as well as higher
incomes.
 Adapting to climate change and enhance resilience capacity by
adopting conservation agriculture, crop diversification, cropping
pattern and crop rotation, integrated pest management (IPM), water
use efficiency, pest and invasive species management, improve soil
and nutrient management, and mitigation of environmental impacts
in order to reduce the short-term and long-term shocks of extreme
weather.
 Reducing or removing greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding
deforestation and promoting trees plantations that contribute to
carbon sinks thereby absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. Reducing
GHGs is a key to effective adaptation to climate change in the long
run. Innovation technologies and enabling policy environment could
contribute for long-term mitigation of climate change.
10
Figure 1. Three pillars of climate smart agriculture
Source: Barry et al. (2018)
Approaches for climate change adaption and mitigation

Farmers always need to be conscious to manage their crops from the possible
effects of environmental stress. Climate change adaptation requires
developing a set of responses to improve performance under the changing
conditions brought by climate change. Indeed, agriculture remains the major
source of income and livelihoods for most rural communities, so the
adaptation of climate change in agricultural sector is imperative for
improving their livelihoods and ensuring food security. Some ways of
adaptation to stress could be plant breeding, pest management strategies, and
seed delivery systems, etc. Mitigation focused on reduction of GHG emission
in agriculture. Agriculture plays two ways role on GHG: one, as the
significant source of GHG emissions; second, it offers tremendous potential
for mitigating climate change. Agriculture sector accounts for over one third
of global GHG emissions mainly in the form of CH4 and N2O from fertilized
soils, enteric fermentation, biomass burning, paddy rice production as well as
manure and fertilizer production. Additionally, crop production provides an
opportunity to mitigate climate change in two ways: by storing carbon and by
reducing GHG emissions. Some approaches and practices adopted by
farmers for climate change adaptation and mitigation are illustrated in
Table 3.
11
Table 3. Agricultural approaches for adaptation and mitigation of climate
change
Climate change adaptation Climate change mitigation approach
approach
Conservation agriculture. Conservation agriculture and agroforestry.
Ecosystem-based approaches. Soil compaction management.
Integrated nutrient and soil Improved farming systems with several
management. crop rotations.
Crop diversification. Crop diversification.
Cover cropping. Cover cropping.
Alterations in cropping patterns and Promotion of legumes in crop rotations.
rotations.
Mulch cropping. Mulch cropping.
Using high quality seeds and Restoration of cultivated peaty soils and
planting materials of adapted degraded lands.
varieties.
Integrated pest management. Soil management practices that reduce
fertilizer use (e.g. urea deep placement)
and integrated nutrient management.
Integrated weed management. Growing nutrient-use efficient crop
varieties.
Grasslands management. Integrated crop and livestock systems.
Water and irrigation management. Dedicated energy crops to replace fossil
fuel use.
Landscape-level pollination Emission control and reduction
management. (combustion engines, animal waste).
Organic agriculture. Improved rice cultivation techniques.
Land fragmentation (riparian areas, Water management/conservation,
forest land within the irrigation, water table management.
agricultural landscape).
Source: Nadine and Suzanne (2013) and Author’s Synthesis
Synergies and tradeoffs between the pillars of CSA

CSA is the synergy and tradeoff among agricultural productivity, climate
change adaptation and resilience capacity, and reducing greenhouse gas
emission. Crop management, soil management, water and irrigation system
efficiency, agro-forestry, and integrated farming system could have
differential impacts on productivity, adaptation and greenhouse gas emission
(Table 4).
12
Table 4. Synergetic impacts and tradeoffs between productivity, adaptation
and mitigation
Management Productivity Climate Greenhouse gas
practices impacts adaptation mitigation
Cropland management
Improved crop Increased crop Increased resilience to Improved
varieties (e.g. early- yields and CC, particularly varieties can
maturing, drought and reduced yield increases in climate increase soil
stress resistant, etc.) variability. variability (prolonged carbon storage.
periods of drought,
seasonal shifts in
rainfall).
Changing planting Reduced Maintained production -
dates likelihood of crop under changing
failure. rainfall patterns.
Improved crop/ fallow Increased soil Improved soil fertility High mitigation
rotation/ rotation with fertility and yields and water holding potential,
legumes due to nitrogen capacity helps to particularly crop
fixing in soils, increases resilience to rotation with
while short-term climate change. legumes.
losses due to
reduced cropping
intensity.
Appropriate use of Increased yields Improved soil fertility High mitigation
cover crops due to erosion and water holding potential
control and capacity enhance through
reduced nutrient resilience to climate increased soil
leaching. change. carbon
sequestration.
Appropriate use of Higher yields due Improved productivity High mitigation
fertilizer and manure to appropriate use increases resilience to potential of
of fertilizer/ climate change. fertilizer
manure. hazards.
Incorporation of crop Higher yields due Improved soil fertility High mitigation
Residues to improved soil and water-holding potential
fertility and water capacity increases through
retention in soils. resilience to climate increased soil
change. carbon
sequestration.
Reduced tillage or Increased yields Improved soil fertility High mitigation
zero tillage over the long term and water-holding potential
due to greater capacity increases through reduced
13
water-holding resilience to climate soil carbon
capacity of soils. change. losses.
Agroforestry Greater yields on Increased resilience to Mitigation
adjacent cropland climate change due to potential
due to improved improved soil through
rainwater conditions and water increased soil
management and management. carbon
reduced erosion. sequestration.
Soil and water management
Irrigation and water Higher yields and Greater climate Low to high
Harvesting enhance intensity. resilience but reduced depends on
production variability. irrigation
intensity.
Bunds construction to Higher yields due Reduced yield Positive
retain moisture to increased soil variability in dry areas. mitigation
moisture, while Potential increase in benefits minus
potentially lower production loss due to soil carbon
yields during heavy rains. losses due to
periods of high construction of
rainfall. bunds.
Terraces Higher yields due Reduced yield Positive
to increased soil variability under mitigation
moisture and climate change due to benefits minus
reduced erosion, better soil quality and soil carbon
while potential to rainwater losses due to
displace some management. construction of
croplands. terraces.
Mulching or trash Increased yields Reduced yield Positive
lines due to greater variability in drier mitigation
water retention in conditions. benefits.
soils.
Grass strips Increased yields Reduced variability Positive
due to reduced due to reduced soil and mitigation
runoff and soil water erosion. benefits.
erosion.
Diversion ditches Increased yields Reduced yield Mitigation
due to drainage of variability under heavy benefits through
agricultural lands rainfall conditions due improved
in areas where to improved water productivity and
flooding is management. increased soil
problematic. carbon.
14
Livestock management
Diversify/ change Higher livestock Increased climate High mitigation
supplement livestock yields due to resilience due to potential because of
feeds improved diets. diversified sources of improved feeding
feeds. practices can reduce
methane emissions.
Destocking Potential Lower variability over High mitigation
increases yield the long term, potential
per unit of particularly when because reduced
livestock, while forage availability is a livestock
increase in the key factor in livestock numbers lead to
short term. output. reduced
methane
emissions.
Rotational grazing Higher yields due Increased forage Positive
to greater forage availability over the mitigation due
availability and long term and provide to increased
quality. greater climate carbon
resilience. accumulation on
optimally grazed
lands.
Improved breeds and Increased Increased resilience of GHG emission
species productivity per improved species or varies depend
animal. breeds to withstand on breeds/
increasing climate species.
extremes.
Restoring degraded land
Revegetation Improved yields Reduced variability High mitigation
in medium to long due to reduced soil and potential.
run. Improved water erosion.
yields on adjacent
cropland due to
reduced soil and
water erosion.
Applying nutrient Improved yields Improved resistant High mitigation
amendments over the medium capacity. potential.
to long run.
Source: Bryan et al. (2009) and Author’s Synthesis
15
Best Practices of CSA in South Asia and Beyond
Major successful CSA practices
Agriculture exists as climate smart whenever it has higher yield and income
over the baseline and lower emission intensities (Shirsath et al., 2017). CSA
techniques differs by country’s technology advancement, availability of
resources, socio-economic dynamics, and natural characteristics. This
approach prioritize a wide range of technologies and practices where specific
technology can be practiced in the specific communities for specific crops.
Some CSA common technologies adopted in different countries includes
development of stress (drought and flood) tolerant and insect pest tolerant
crop varieties, improved livestock and fish breeds, weather information
services, weather forecasting and early warning systems, sustainable land
management (SLM) practices, crop and livestock insurance program, con-
servation agriculture (zero tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, intercropping,
mulching, etc.), soil and water conservation, integrated soil nutrient
management, permaculture, efficient water harvesting and improved water
management techniques, integrated pest management (IPM), improved
fallows and alley crops, improved grazing management, integrated crop-
livestock management, agroforestry for carbon sequestration, community
forestry, climate resilient supply chain management, input use efficiency
techniques, on-farm management practices, climate smart extension
programs, and land use regulations and management. Such approaches are
climate resilient and are environmentally sustainable, protect natural environ-
ments and ecosystems, reduce GHG emissions and enhance carbon sinks,
and eventually contribute increase agricultural productivity, improve food
and nutrition, and enhance incomes of farm communities. Some of the
common CSA practices (Partey et al., 2018) are discussed below:
Conservation agriculture
CSA approaches involve in building conventional agricultural systems:
minimum or zero-tillage, maintenance of soil cover through cover cropping
or mulching, crop rotation, etc. Growing cover crops, use of green manures,
and mulching practices in dry areas of Burkina Faso, Senegal and Niger
significantly contributed in improving soil fertility, reduce soil erosion, and
improve soil water retention that enhanced the productivity of agricultural
commodities (Partey et al., 2018).
Planting pits - zai and half-moon techniques

Planting pits (such as zai or tassas) and half-moon structures as water
harvesting technique to retain water for sorghum and millet production found
in Sahel areas of West Africa, particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso
(Partey et al., 2018) has been successful.
16
Drip irrigation
Agriculture in West Africa is mostly rain-fed and the agriculture production
has been adversely affected by increasing temperature and extreme drought
hazard. In fact, the areas under irrigation is less than 10% of total agricultural
area (Partey et al., 2018). In this scenario, drip irrigation system has been
proved as a successful measure for water efficient agricultural production.
Rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is one of the important technologies for improving
irrigation in rainfed dried areas, more pronounce in Afghanistan. Rainfall can
be collected through different approaches and use for irrigation purpose in
agriculture crops.
System of rice intensification (SRI)

System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a farming practices to increase the
productivity of land, water, and other resources that can better resist drought,
waterlogging, and rainfall variability (Nadine and Suzanne, 2013). It is
highly water efficient technology that requires only intermittent water
application to create wet and dry soil conditions, which proved to be
increased income by 68% with yield increases of 17 to 105 % and decreases
in water requirements between 24 and 50% in Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam (Africare
et al., 2010). SRI approach increased yields of up to 7 tons per hectare–
double the farmers’ average yields in the area – using 50 % less water than
used in conventional rice cultivation practices in Afghanistan with reduced
use of chemical fertilizers, and there has been no insect or disease infestation
(PIPM, 2012).
Erosion control techniques

The use of stone bund and contour ridges have been demonstrated successful
technique for reducing erosion and collecting run-off water for farming
activities in West Africa, particularly in the dry areas of Burkina Faso, Mali,
and Niger.
Climate information services

Early warning system and climate information is a promising options for
improving climate change adaptation and associated risk management tool.
The information could help farmers to be prepared and that would reduce
losses from the potential climate extreme hazards. It needs strong
institutional alignment at the community, national, and regional levels with
functional coordination among multi-stakeholders with shared vision.
17
Community forest
Community forest is successfully adopted in Africa and South Asia. A model
of community forestry scheme can be a lesson learned from Nepal for
improving livelihoods of smallholder rural poor farmers.
Agroforestry
Agroforestry is substantiated to be one of the best approach of CSA that
contributes for improving agroecosystems and diversify the source of
livelihoods of rural farming communities. It integrates agricultural fruits,
crops, and livestock with trees and contribute for improving resilience to
climate-related risks.
Cash transfer for building resilience

Smallholders where financial market services (such as credit and insurance)
are not properly functioning, the provision of regular and predictable cash
transfers programs at the household level, could potentially benefit to the
farmers in generating income with enhanced productive impacts (Lipper et
al., 2018). Insurance program in agriculture, particularly for crop and
livestock is very much useful to compensate the risk associated with climate
change.
Technological innovations
Climate change resilient crop varieties and improved livestock breeds with
higher productivity, disease and pest tolerant, climate stress (temperature,
floods, drought and precipitation) tolerate are the most relevant CSA
approaches.
Climate technologies for water risks reduction

Flood hazard mapping is extremely important to identify flood zones for
further best-practices to be deployed. Similarly, flood warning systems is a
technology of detecting threatening events in advance, which warns the
public so that adequate actions can be taken to reduce the adverse impacts of
the event. These system is mainly useful in flood prone areas.
CSA practices under temperature, rainfall, and sea level

Climate change varies in diverse agro-ecology and climate change practices
differs by communities. However, there are some common climate change
adaptation practices in the context of increase in temperature, rainfall pattern
changes and seasonality, and sea level rise in South Asia (Table 5).
18
Table 5. Climate change adaptation interventions in South Asia
Changes Sectors Interventions measures
 Diversification of crops and adoption of short
duration varieties.
 Adoption of heat/ moisture tolerant seed
varieties and adaptation of organic
agriculture.
Agriculture
 Conservation agriculture technique (cover
crops, mulching, zero or minimum tillage).
 Water conservation crop management.
Increase in
 Agroforestry and tree plantation to provide
temperature shade and fodder for livestock.
 Introduction of water storage methods (water
shad management, water reservoirs, plastic
tanks) and water conservation technology.
Water
 Monitoring and early warning systems for
resources glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
 Conservations of coastal mangroves and
other vegetation.
 Adoption of submergence crop varieties.
 Appropriate, accessible, and reliable seasonal
and weather forecasts.
 Crop diversifications and appropriate
Agriculture cropping system.
Changes in  Livelihood diversification with farm and non-
rainfall farm activities.
patterns  Crop and livestock insurance programs.
and / or  Floating gardens during times of inundation.
seasonality  Improved drainage system, checks dams and
plantations.
Water  Rainwater harvesting at household level.
 Protected/raised food, water, and sanitation.
 Community water management committees.
 Adoption of salt tolerant and submergence

crops /species.
Coastal
 Monitoring and early warning systems for
Sea level rise livelihoods / cyclones and storm surges.
resources  Sea defences and mangrove rehabilitation.
 Protected / raised food, water, and sanitation.
Source: Bryan et al (2009) and Nambi (2014) and Author’s Synthesis
19
CSA practices - impacts on biodiversity, GHG, and soil water
The CSA practices have multiple impacts. The impacts of CSA practices are
discussed on biodiversity, GHG emission, and soil water (Table 6).
Table 6. Trade off of CSA practices, biodiversity, GHG emission and soil
and water contamination
CSA practice Biodiversity GHG emissions Soil and water
(carbon contamination
sequestration)
Agroforestry Biological corridors Increased carbon Reduced sediment
system with that increase habitat sequestration. and residue of agro-
hedgerows. for multiple chemical in rivers
species. and streams.
Conservation Conservation of Increased soil carbon Reduced sediment
tillage with terrestrial and by increasing the and residue of agro-
mulch. aquatic organic matter and chemical in rivers
biodiversity. organic carbon. and streams.
Contour ditches Reduced Reduced GHG Reduced runoff and
biodiversity. emission. soil drag.
Pest- and disease- Increased soil No significant Reduced pesticides
tolerant beans biodiversity by impact. in soil and water.
variety decrease of
pesticides.
Stone barriers No significant No significant Protection of water
impact. impact. sources.
Water reservoirs/ Increased soil No significant No significant
ponds and drip biodiversity during impact. impact.
irrigation. drought.
Source: Sain et al. (2017) and Author’s Synthesis
Conclusion and Policy Recommendations

Conclusion
Climate change has been the major challenge for agriculture and food
system, particularly to the smallholder farmers for their food and nutrition
security and livelihoods in least developed and developing countries. This
study assessed and explored the climate change situation and its trends,
adaptation and mitigation strategies and programs, and solution measures
through adopting climate smart agriculture in South Asia. This study rely on
the secondary information and literature review. Results revealed that the
global warming is ever increasing in the world and affecting in constantly
20
increasing temperature, erratic precipitation, increasing drought, flash floods,
typhoon, cyclone, and sea level rise. The agriculture sector is severely
affected and reduced the yields of agriculture crops, livestock, and fisheries.
The negative effects of climate change could reduce through promoting
climate smart agricultural technologies including appropriate capacity
development, research and development, establishing early warning system,
agriculture insurance programs, farmers’ incentive policies, and coordinative
efforts against climate change in the South Asia.
Policy recommendations
Climate smart agriculture is the best option to address the challenges of
climate change extreme events and associated hazards in agricuture and food
system. As climate change is the consequences of multi-faceted activities, the
policies in promoting climate-smart agriculture and reducing effects would
require a clear understanding of its relative suitability, costs and benefits, and
the environmental implications (Khatri-Chhetri & Shirsat, 2017). Policies need
to be prioritized towards in promoting adaptation practices, increasing carbon
sequetration, and reducing GHG emisison. The GHG emision can be reduced
from agriculture; for example, nitrous oxygen may reduce by proper fertilizer
application, livestock emissions reduce by proper livestock management with
high yielding breed, and methane gas reduce by improved rice cultivation
technologies. Some prominent strategies and policies are suggested below:
i. Research and development
 Varietal development of crops for stress (drought and floods)
tolerance, disease and pest resistance, and high yielding. Improved
breeds of animal could cope with the climate change effects.
 Promote climate resilient improved technologies suitable for crop
specific and location specific.
 Transfer climate resilient improved proven technologies between the
countries in the region.
ii. Information and knowledge management
 Improve access to data related to global warming and climate change
of global, regional, sub-regional, and national levels that should have
quality, reliability, timely and valid for formulating appropriate and
realistic policies.
 Establish and operationalize early warning system, weather
forecasting and climate information dissemination mechanism.
 Develop emergency vigilance systems and reduce the loss from
climate hazards.
21
 Provide information on climate change causes, impacts, risks and
options for building resilience.
iii. Policies and institutional development
 Establishment of enabling environment for formulating climate smart
agricultural policies and back up CSA with necessary acts, rule and
regulations. Policy should integrate land, agriculture, forests,
livestock, fisheries, water, and allied disciplines.
 Formulate climate resilient value chain development policies.
 Policy consistency and tie-up of global and regional conventions and
covenants with national, sub-national, and local policies.
 Establishment of innovative institutions comprising multi-
disciplinary groups of experts to formulate and advice policies and
programs for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
iv. Financial access
 Access of financial instruments to enable farmers on appropriate
climate change financial services and provide safety nets against
climate change shocks and stresses.
 Develop financial contingencies for emergency situations such as
famine caused by harvest failure and climate change induced
extreme events.
 Build strong capacity for financing climate adaptation and mitigation
measures.
v. Technical approach
 Identify risks from actual and anticipated climate hazards.
 Explore and innovate technologies for improving ecosystem and
promote CSA;
 Develop resource use efficiency measures.
 Strengthen extension system orienting climate change and CSA
measures.
vi. Human resource capacity building
 Strengthen the human resource capacity, particularly the farmers,
technicians, professionals, and policy makers on exploring issues,
challenges, opportunities, policies, technologies, innovations, and
practices to cope with the climate change effects.
 Promote innovative technologies build on local knowledge coupled
with global advanced technologies and international convention and
covenants.
22
vii. Coordination and Non-farming
 Improve functional coordination among global and regional multi-
lateral and bi-lateral communities, south-south and north-south
cooperation, and multi-stakeholders coordination at the national, sub-
national, and local levels for combating climate change effects
through capacity building, climate financing, and technologies
transfer.
 Promote off-farm income-generating activities that could help to
enhance climate resilient capacity of rural farming communities.
 Formulate policy options for reducing dependence on agriculture and
natural resources where these exacerbate climate change risks.
viii. Promote agriculture insurance programs for crops and livestock at
national, sub-national and local levels to reduce climate change risk.
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24
Chapter 2
Strategies to Climate Change in Bangladesh
Shainur Azam Khan
Deputy Director, Department of Agricultural Extension

Khamarbari, Barguna, Bangladesh
Email: dddaebarguna@gmail.com; Phone: +880 1712164776
Abstract
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an ambition to improve the integration of
agricultural development and adaptation to changing climate in order to
achieve food security. Although the concept seem to be new in the world, it
has already been practiced at farmers’ level. For example, floating seed bed
cultivation is a technology, which has been practiced successfully by farmers
since hundreds of years. Recently, many international, regional and national
organizations are implementing policies and programs in promoting and up-
scaling CSA practices to promote sustainable agricultural development. The
national strategies, policies, partnerships and investments are creating
enabling environment for enhancing CSA at the farm household levels.
Global initiatives in consistent with regional and national partnerships along
with ground reality based policies and programs are essential for successful
implementation of climate smart agriculture in Bangladesh.
Introduction
Agriculture of Bangladesh largely depends on some climate related variables,
such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, day-length etc. Natural disasters like
floods, droughts, soil and water salinity, cyclone and storm surges have been
largely affected agriculture system in the country. Devastating natural
hazards like floods, droughts, cyclones and salinity intrusion are likely to be
aggravated by climate change and sea level rise. Studies predicted that flood
and water logging in the central region, flash-flood in the northeast region,
drought in the northwest and southwest region, and salinity intrusion and
coastal inundation in the coastal regional might be a more acute problem in
future.
In recent years agriculture sector in Bangladesh has grown significantly due
to introduction of new crop varieties as well as mechanization supported by
conducive public policies. This has led to considerable improvements in food
security as well as rural poverty reduction. Agriculture in the country is
25
characterized by predominant subsistence farming systems largely dominated
by small and marginal farmers, yet a significant shift towards commercial
farming with high value crops, fisheries and animal products. Climate-smart
agricultural strategies are especially critical in Bangladesh where many
smallholders occupy low-lying, flood prone deltas. CSA interventions can
draw on traditional practices like the Sorjan system as well as new practices
like floating bed cultivation of vegetables in the low lying southern districts.
Financial limitation for CSA investments and related activities are
constrained to the farmers in Bangladesh. For example, because of the
financial constraint, climate index insurance models have not been proven
successful at a remarkable scale. Microcredit has been insufficient in
boosting agricultural sector growth as many CSA activities require more
macro-credit (e.g. conservation machinery). However, several low risk
interventions like pond excavation and are more likely to be eligible for
commercial funding. Improvements in agro-meteorological services are
essential for increased private sector investment in agriculture. More
information on the long-term impacts of such investments on natural
landscapes is needed in order to ensure sustainability. This study has been
conducted to explore the CSA practices, constrains, challenges, opportunities
and policy issues of Bangladesh.
Climate Change and It’s Impacts on Agriculture

Agriculture sectors contribute about 17% of the country’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) and serving as the largest employment sector in the country
(BBS, 2016). The population of Bangladesh has almost doubled since the
1970s, reached approximately 161 million people in 2016. This increased
population coupled with high population density (>=1,000 /km2) and
growing urbanization, have put considerable pressure on arable land. Most of
the farms in Bangladesh are small-scale (about 90%) and fragmented.
However, Bangladesh got middle-income country status recently, the SPI
(Social progress Index) scores of the country is still lowest in the world.
Women’s empowerment in particular, remains constrained by limited
decision-making power and unsatisfactory control over productive resources
and income.
About 70% of the country’s land accounts for agriculture, while around
59.2% of the agricultural area is considered arable in the country (BBS,
2016). Due to increased pressure on land by urbanization and expansion of
industrial area, the overall crop land area in Bangladesh has decreased in
recent years. Meanwhile, intensification has increased significantly and land
is double cropped in most areas, with an average cropping intensity of 192%
throughout the entire country (SRDI, 2010). In some areas, land can be
cultivated with up to three and four crops, especially at higher elevations
26
where high yielding varieties of rice, wheat, potato, mung bean and
vegetables are grown.
Greenhouse Gases (GHS) emission

The emission of CO2 has been increasing steadily in Bangladesh over the
past decades where agriculture sector accounts for 39% of the country’s
GHG emissions (BRAC, 2014). Cropland and enteric fermentation (livestock
production) contributed equally to agricultural GHGs in 2013. Nevertheless,
the agriculture and livestock sector remains the main source of emissions in
the country in absolute terms.
Agricultural systems in Bangladesh

Agriculture in Bangladesh has in the past traditionally been subsistence-
oriented, while being transformed rapidly into more commercial production,
especially high value crops, livestock and aquaculture. Most farms grow field
crops and vegetables, raise trees for fuel, fruits and timber, and rear livestock
such as cattle and poultry. Many farmers in Bangladesh also participate in
pond aquaculture production and commercial shrimp culture in saline-prone
areas of southern districts.
Rice is the country’s dominant crop and a key component of the population’s
diet. Three main paddy rice systems are farmed in the country i.e. Aman,
Boro and Aus. Bangladesh is currently the 4th largest rice producing country
in the world. Jute is an important fibrous commercial crop, has been
cultivated in Bangladesh for centuries. Bangladesh accounts for 48% of the
global jute production. Jute is effective in rotation and relay cropped with
other crops given its deep root system and abundant vegetation contributing
to improve soil fertility. The country has invested in considerable jute crop
research and was the first to map the genomes of two local jute species. With
the recent approval of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to eggplant
and blight resistant potatoes for cultivation by the Government of
Bangladesh (GoB).
In Bangladesh, other key crops include wheat, mustard, and maize, often
sown after the Aman rice crop in winter. Maize is especially productive in
Bangladesh given the widespread adoption of hybrid varieties and irrigation,
explaining the country’s high yield performance relative to the surrounding
region.
The global position of Bangladesh in terms of fisheries and aquaculture
production is third and fourth, respectively. Fisheries and aquaculture
contributes 11% of the total employment of the country. The livestock
accounts for 13% of the agricultural GDP.
27
Food and nutrition security in Bangladesh
The food grain production has been tripled from 1972 to 2014. There is
significant progress in ensuring the nutrition and health of its population and
in meeting the targets of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) (WB,
2016). Rice self-sufficiency has been achieved and supply of calories from
fish, meat and vegetables have been rising sharply for the past five years as
the country experiences significant economic growth. Per capita calorie
intake was estimated at 2,318 kilocalories (kcal), which is higher than the
minimum requirement of 2,122 kcal/day in 2010. Roughly 17% of the
population is under nourished, with child under weight and wasting rates at
36% and 16% respectively (FAO, 2015; CIAT & WB, 2017). The northeast
and the southeast areas are the most prone to stunting.
Climate change and agriculture

Bangladesh is considered as one of the most disaster prone country in the
world. The country is likely to be affected by sea level rise and saltwater
intrusion, mean temperature increases, rainfall variability, and an increase in
the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Major weather events,
for example the cyclones of 2007 and 2009 had tremendous losses (2 million
tons) of rice, which was enough to feed for 10 million people.
The south, southwest, and southeast coastal regions of Bangladesh are
increasingly susceptible to severe tropical cyclones and associated saltwater
intrusion. In 2017, it was recorded 100 ml rainfall in a day in Barisal district,
which is a record in the history of 200 years (BBS, 2016). Early rainfall in
March and unexpected rainfall in November causes huge loss in rice yield
every year. The average temperature in October has increased in recent years
hampering the flowering of High yielding Amon rice.
A study using International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural
Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) model for Bangladesh shows that
climate change will potentially contributing to increase in yields and extend
land area for some crops, while decreases for others crops. In general, most
production systems in Bangladesh are projected to be adversely affected by
climate change. The negative impacts found to be in pulses, wheat, and
oilseed-rapeseed by adverse climate change. The model projected the overall
yield declines in maize, pulses, vegetables, jute and wheat, and increases for
milk and meat yields by the year 2050. Furthermore, the impact of climate
change on area cultivated is mostly negative, with the exception of rice and
oilseed-rapeseed. With regards to changes in agricultural net trade, the model
also suggests that Bangladesh may become more dependent on imports of
pulses, oils, and wheat.
IMPACT shows that the average temperature of Bangladesh would likely to
increase 2.1 degree by 2070 in Bangladesh. The precipitation is projected to
28
increase 12.3%. Furthermore, the impact of climate change on area cultivated
is mostly negative, with the exception of rice and oilseed-rapeseed. BBS
(2016) reveals that the production of rice, jute, oilseed, vegetable, wheat and
pulse production is likely to decrease by 2050 accounting the figure for
5.3%, 3%, 6.3%, 5.7%, 6.4%, 0.4%, respectably whereas the production of
cattle would increase by o.1%.
Adaption and Mitigation Strategies in Agriculture

Farmers in the southern coastal plains of Bangladesh have been adopting
many CSA practices for centuries to reduce the effects of floods and
cyclones. Initially, the technology was started for shrimp farming (for
example, traditional sorjan farming). Additional technologies are: climbing
vine-type vegetables are also commonly grown on trellises over the pond;
floating vegetable gardens have also been introduced in tidal flooded areas
using water hyacinth layered with soil; in low-lying waterlogged regions,
farmers in Bangladesh have historically utilized a host of ridging and
furrowing methods.
Saltwater intrusion into the tidal rivers of Bangladesh has become especially
acute over the past 40 years. The use of salt-and submergence tolerant and
high yielding crop varieties are therefore an important to cope with climate
change effects of rising temperature. Access to improved seed is constrained
by a sluggish process between seed release and use. Most of the released
seed is multiplied through the Bangladesh Agriculture Development
Corporation, which is not in time and not the enough quantity. In response to
the losses caused by changes in seasonal monsoon occurrence, the
availability of submergence-tolerant rice varieties released seven years ago
for the flash flooding prone areas. After the monsoon period, the winter in
Bangladesh is dry, devoid of much rainfall. Thus, salt in the ground is
evaporated to the soil surface that contribute to increase saline.
The major constraints to the adoption CSA practices by small-scale farmers
in Bangladesh include the limited availability of credit, not sufficient
extension staff to disseminate improved technologies and practices, and the
limited implementation of effective financing mechanism. Index-based crop
insurance, for example, was modelled by Oxfam in cooperation with a
private insurer, yet the lack of a clear business model, still difficult to scale
up in the country. According to UKaid et al. (2017), following are the CSA
practices and associated impacts (Table 1).
29
Table 1. CSA practices by production system as implemented in Bangladesh
Impact on CSA Pillars
CSA practices
Productivity Adaptation Mitigation
Aman rice
Use of Promotes high Reduces the risk Promotes above-
submergence- yields per unit of crop losses and below-ground
resistant and high- area, hence caused by carbon sinks through
yielding varieties: potential increase temporary or increased
(BRRI dhan51, in income. permanent flood accumulation of dry
BRRI dhan52 etc.). conditions. matter.
Use of short- Promotes high Increases Provides moderate

duration and high- yields per unit resilience to biotic reduction in GHG
yielding varieties: area, hence stress and climate emissions per unit of
(BRRI dhan56, potential increase shocks. Enhances food produced.
BRRI dhan57, etc. in income. water use
BINA dhan7). efficiency.
Boro rice
Use of solar- Increases yield per Minimize water Reduces GHG
powered irrigation. unit area, use per unit of emissions due to
especially during production, reduced fuel/energy
the dry season. increasing water required for
Ensures income use efficiency and pumping and/or
diversification. resilience to carrying water for
climate shocks. irrigation.
Use of salinity- Increases in soil Increases in yield Moderate reduction
resistant and high- biomass stability due to in GHG emissions
yielding varieties: accumulation can increased per unit of food
(BRRI dhan61, enhance soil resilience to stress produced. Promotes
BRRI dhan67 etc.). fertility that lead to caused by salinity. carbon sinks through
increase increased
productivity. accumulation of
biomass.
Aus rice
Direct seeding. Leads to potential Reduces soil Reduces GHG
increases in yield degradation and emissions related
in long term. erosion. Increases with soil tilling.
water availability. Increases soil carbon
stock.
Use of lodging- Promotes high Reduces the risk Promotes above-
resistant (tall) high- yields per unit of crop losses and below-ground
yielding varieties: area, hence caused by carbon sinks through
(BRRI dhan48, potential increase temporary or increased
30
CSA practices
BRRI dhan55 etc.). in income. permanent flood accumulation of dry
conditions. matter.
Jute
Ribbon retting Reduces fiber Can save half of Provides moderate
method. damage increasing the water, reduces reduction GHG
the production of environmental emissions per unit of
high-quality fiber. pollution. produce.
Use of salinity- Can save half of Can save half of Provides moderate
resistant varieties: the water, reduces the water, reduces reduction GHG
(BJRI deshi pat8). environmental environmental emissions per unit of
pollution. pollution. produce.
Spices
Salinity- and Increases in yield Increases in soil Moderate reduction
drought-resistant stability due to biomass in GHG emissions
varieties: (BARRI increased accumulation can per unit of produce.
morich 1&2). resilience to enhance soil Promotes carbon
salinity stress. fertility. sinks through
Enhance increased
organoleptic accumulation of
properties of the below-ground
produce. biomass.
Oilseed
Use of short- Promotes high Optimizes the use Provides moderate
duration and high- yields per unit of available soil reduction in GHG
yielding varieties: area, hence an moisture emissions per unit of
(BARRI increase in income contributing to food produced.
sarisa14&18). and profit due to avoid crop loss.
reduced production Increases water
costs. use efficiency.
Use of salinity- Increases in Increases in soil Provides moderate
resistant varieties: productivity biomass reduction of GHG
(BARI surjomukhi stability due to accumulation can emissions per unit of
2). increased enhance soil food produced.
resilience to stress fertility. Promotes carbon
caused by salinity. sinks through
increased below-
ground
accumulation of
biomass.
31
CSA practices
Vegetables
Tomato, aroid Increase vegetables Increases farmers’ Contributes to
gourds etc. production capacity to limit increase the above-
Sorjan cultivation throughout the the crop exposure ground biomass
method. year. Increases to tidal water constituting a carbon
economic return submergence. sink.
from fallow land.
Floating beds Increases in Reduce risk of Protects soil
cultivation on water income due to complete crop structure and
bodies. harvesting of failure. Allows organic carbon
multiple crops in optimum use of reserves. Promotes
one season and natural and local fuel and energy
generates available savings due to
additional income resources. Creates reduced tillage.
from the sale of additional
seedlings. cropping area.
Wheat
Use of disease- Reduces Increases farmers’ Reduces GHG
resistance production costs. capacity to limit emissions by
varieties(Blast): Enhance crop the crop exposure reducing the use of
(BARRI ghom 33). production and to crop damage synthetic pesticides
quality, hence caused by (fungicides)
potential increases diseases. Reduces therefore the carbon
in income. the need for footprint reduction
external inputs for per unit of food
crop protection. produced.
Conservation Higher profits due Increases moisture Reduces fuel
agriculture. to increased crop retention due to requirements for
yields and reduced mulching and tillage. Mulching
production costs. cover crops. and cover crops
Reduces soil increase soil carbon
erosion. capture and soil
organic matter.
Maize
Conservation Potential increases Increases moisture Reduces fossil fuel
agriculture. in profits due to retention due to requirements for
increased crop mulching and tillage. Mulching
yield and reduced cover crops, and cover crops
production costs. reduced soil increase soil carbon
erosion caused by capture and SOM.
heavy rains, and
32
CSA practices
soil tillage.
Intercropping with Faster growth and Reduces exposure Allows better
short-duration higher feed to adverse manure
vegetables. conversion ratio climatic management,
due to proper conditions, thereby reducing
housing. reducing animal related GHG
stresses (e.g. cold emissions.
waves).
Cattle
Compost and Increases land Promotes the use Reduces the use of
biogas production. productivity, of organic waste nitrogen-based
product quality and and eliminates fertilizers, thus
income. Organic pathogens. reducing nitrous
fertilizers produced Contribute to oxide emissions.
can be used on cover heating Reduces methane
forages to enhance needs, reduces emissions from
productivity. pressure on local manure, and
resources such as promotes on-farm
timber. energy generation.
Commercial Increases total Promotes the use Diversification of
livestock fattening. production and of alternative feed animal diet can lead
animal sources. to reductions in
productivity per Integration of methane emissions,
unit area. Increases agro-forestry reducing the amount
income and food systems can of GHG emissions
security. increase farmer’s per unit of food
resilience to produced.
climate shocks.
Year-round Increases in Allows production Maintains or
aquaculture. household income system improves soil carbon
and profit due to diversification, stock and/or soil
the possibility of hence reduces the organic matter
harvesting of risk of complete content.
multiple products failure. Optimizes
throughout the the use of
year. Increases available
productivity per resources such as
unit area. land.
Source: UKaid et al. (2017)
33
Institutions for Adaption and Mitigation in Agriculture
A number of institutions have been established to address climate-related
challenges of country’s agricultural sector. Most universities and national
agriculture research institutes conduct research or help communities for
climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in agriculture. Moreover,
a large number of Non-Governmental Organizations (e.g. BRAC, CIMMYT,
BARI, BCAS, BINA, BLRI, IFRI, PKSF, IRRI, BRRI, and etc.) are
currently working on climate change, agriculture, and food security in
Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh plays an active role in
international forums on climate change as a signatory member of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
Bangladesh plays host to approximately 1,500 NGOs, commercial and
specialized banks such as Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan
Bank, and a government-sponsored micro-finance projects and programs.
These institutions provide micro-financing for agriculture and few of them
offer macro-credit program to facilitate larger-scale investments that can help
the agriculture sector transform from subsistence to sustainable
commercialization. It is essential for Bangladesh to attract significant
funding from international organizations as well as domestic sources for
addressing climate change adaptation or mitigation issues. Such development
partners are UNDP, IFAD, UNEP, FAO, USAID, DANIDA, WB, ADB, etc.
The total allocation for Bangladesh in Agriculture was 4% of the country’s
total budget in 2016-17 FY. The budget for agricultural inputs subsidies
decreased in recent years as compared to the past. However, the Government
has received an additional US$ 12 million for climate change adaptation,
raising the fund balance to US$ 375 million.
Success Story on Climate Smart Agriculture in Bangladesh

In referring to UKaid, et al. (2017), the livelihoods and food security of many
rural families depend upon half acre ponds (deep sink) in Southern
Bangladesh. These ponds, are dug with wide and tall embankments offering
resilience against flood and cyclone damage and providing an elevated
platform on which to grow vegetables and other high value crops. The ponds
themselves serve as a bed for paddy rice and, following harvest prawns or
other fishes. `Sorjans’ are a traditional farming method in low-lying water
abundant regions of Bangladesh.
Hasina Begum, Barguna Sadar Upazila (sub-district) joined a training classes
in 2010 along with 24 women and men from her village to receive training
based on indigenous knowledge and newly emerging sorjan management
practices. With the gained knowledge, Hasina Begum now dreams of a better
future for her family. After the training, Hasina Begum prepared their own
34
nursery and ensure the stocking density of the shrimp is adequate, buying
quality feed and ensuring water quality, and cultivate vegetable seeds
including cucumber, cabbage, beans and ladies’ finger (okra), brinjal etc.
In November 2016, Hasina Begum and her husband harvested fish and
vegetables from one Bigha (33 decimal) land from where they sold for a total
US$ 854 against a cost of US$ 503. By using the new techniques, they were
able to achieve a 30% decrease in production costs and nearly seven times
more income from the previous year. Many private and government banks
(such as Krishi Bank, Sonali Bank) are investing in Sorjan excavations given
their relatively low risk and profitable returns. Because of the economic and
resilience benefits of this practice in Sorjan, this technology has been
replicated in other parts of the country. Hasina Begum is the pioneer of
modern sorjan cultivation in her locality. She established `Sonatala
Bhumukhi Gram Wonnaon Samabaie Samity’ in her locality with present
member 600. Recently, this practice has been established as model for climate
smart agriculture in Bangladesh.
Conclusion and Recommendations

The policies focus on adaptation and mitigation strategies of climate change
in agriculture need to be improved and effective implementation of climate
smart agriculture is crucial. The CSA approach is the best option for
sustainable agricultural development combating climate change effects in
Bangladesh. Effective implementation mechanisms with clear roadmap is
crucial for promoting CSA. The following recommendations are made for
promoting CSA approach:
 Strengthening climate related information services and making
readily available to farmers, researchers and policy markets that
would greatly improve to response climate change effects.
 Advisory services to be provided on the technical aspects of CSA
practices to the extension agents that help to contribute for reducing
GHGs emissions.
 Improved functional coordination among the various institutions
concerning to CSA projects and programs is essential for the
sustainable agricultural development.
 Multi-stakeholder platforms, joint CSA initiatives, and regular
knowledge and experience-sharing opportunities among diverse
actors involved in research, policy, and implementation.
 Agricultural Information Service (AIS) at the Union Parishad
complex could be a potential starting point for strengthening of
village level information hubs under the Department of Agricultural
Extension (DAE).
35
 More emphasis should be given to ICT sector as it has potential to
facilitate higher adoption of CSA practices by farmers through
mobile phones and apps.
References
BBS. 2016. Yearbook of agricultural statistics. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics,
Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh.
BRAC. 2014. Final report on Ganges coordination and change enabling project (G5).
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
CIAT & WB. 2017. Climate-smart agriculture in Bangladesh. CSA country profiles
for Asia Series. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and
World Bank. Washington, D.C., USA.
FAO. 2015. FAOSTAT. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), Rome.
SRDI. 2010. Saline soils of Bangladesh. Soil Resource Development Institute
(SRDI), Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh.
UKaid, WB, Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, CCAFS, and CIAT.
2017. Climate-smart agriculture in Bangladesh.
WB. 2016. Dynamics of rural growth in Bangladesh- sustaining poverty reduction.
World Bank, Washington DC, USA.
36
Chapter 3
Strategies to Climate Change in Bhutan
Jigme Tenzin1*, Loday Phuntsho2 and Lakey Lakey 3

1
Deputy Chief Horticulture Officer, 2 Principal Horticulture Officer
3
Principal Agriculture Officer
Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan
*Corresponding Author’s email: jigmetenzin@moaf.gov.bt
Abstract
Bhutanese economy is primarily agriculture-based and agriculture sector
contributes 17% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as
provides livelihoods for about 57% of its population. Agriculture in Bhutan
is highly influenced by climate change extreme events. This paper analyzes
and reviews the climate change scenario, climate smart agriculture (CSA),
policies and programs to address adaptation and mitigation strategies, and
practices in Bhutan. Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) in Bhutan is
estimated to be 1.559 megatons (Mt) Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2eq),
while the CO2 sequestration capacity is estimated at 6.3Mt, and hence, the
net emissions is at -4.7Mt. Bhutan’s forest cover of more than 71%
significantly contributes to preserving carbon sinks in the country. However,
the increasing trend of GHGs emissions in recent years indicates imminent
adverse effects on the agriculture system if appropriate and timely measures
are not put in place. Glacier-melt and glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF),
erratic rainfall and water supply, flash floods and droughts, hails,
windstorms, and emergence of new pests and diseases are some important
and emerging climate change effects. Bhutan lacks institutional,
infrastructure, and technical capacity in responding to changing climate and
its effects, particularly in agriculture. Urgent response from the government
and concerned stakeholders is crucial to undertake key actions and minimize
the effects of climate change to improve food and nutrition security and
contribute to reducing poverty in the country. Promoting climate smart
agricultural (CSA) could contribute to resilient agriculture, and formulation
of commodity specific policies and programs will help align international
commitments with national and sub-national goals.
37
Introduction
Bhutan is a landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas (26045’N and
28015’N latitude and 88045’E and 92010’E longitude). The total area of Bhutan is
38,394 Km2 (MoAF, 2010), and the current population is estimated at 779,666
(NSB, 2017). Bhutanese economy is primarily based on agriculture sector
providing the major source of livelihood for around 57% of the population.
Bhutan is divided into six agro-ecological zones: wet-subtropical, humid-
subtropical, dry-subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate, and alpine (Table
1). The wet-subtropical, humid-subtropical, and dry-subtropical zones are
located in the Himalayan foothills in the southern belt characterized by high
humidity and heavy rainfall with temperatures ranging from 150C to 300C
(MoAF, 2010). Cool and warm temperate zones are in the main central valleys,
characterized by cool winters and hot summers, respectively, with moderate
rainfall. Summer temperatures usually range from 150C to 260C, while winter
temperatures range from -40C to 150C. Alpine zone is composed of snow-
capped peaks and alpine meadows with very cold winters and cool summers.
Table 1. Agro-ecological zones and agriculture production

Agro-ecological Altitude Area Area Major crops and
zones Range (hectare) (%) livestock
Wet Subtropical 100-600 214,918 5.60 Paddy pulses, tropical
Humid Subtropical 600-1200 392,700 10.23 fruits, vegetables
Dry Subtropical 1200-1800 503,465 13.11 Maize, paddy cattle,
pigs, poultry, vegetables
Warm Temperate 1800-2600 714,554 18.61 potatoes, temperate
Cool Temperate 2600-3600 917,155 23.89 fruits, vegetables, yaks,
cattle, sheep, horses
Alpine 3600-7500 1,096,618 28.56 Yaks, buckwheat,
Total 3,839,409 100.00
Source: MoAF (2015)
Agriculture system in Bhutan is still predominantly subsistent where farmers

practice traditional and subsistence farming system. Climate change is one of
the major challenges encountered by the agriculture sector. Long duration of
dry spell, erratic rainfall, windstorms, hails, drying up of springs sources,
outbreak of pests and diseases are some of the important evidences of climate
change impacts experienced in Bhutan. Undertaking key actions to minimize
the impacts will require collection of appropriate data on climate changes,
aligning climate smart practices with national goals, and enhancing technical
skills and knowledge of concerned stakeholders at all levels, so that national
goals of food self -sufficiency and food security are realized.
Bhutanese agriculture is constrained by different factors. Agriculture fields
are mostly located along steep geographic terrain, thereby, posing major
38
challenge for farm mechanization. About 31% of the agriculture land is
located on slopes resulting in soil loss of 8.6 tons/ha annually. This loss of
texture and nutrients in the soil renders agriculture land less productive.
Average size of household land holding is less than 2.5 ha, which is one of
the major constraints in agriculture commercialization. Of the total cultivable
land of 94,903 hectares, 26% (24,975ha) of is left fallow due to the shortage
of irrigation facilities, wildlife conflict, and rural-urban migration.
Shortage of irrigation water and related infrastructure is another common
challenge that often leaves a large proportion of rice fields uncultivated. Only
about 18% of the arable land is irrigated and is frequently affected by
landslide and other natural calamities. As most of the cultivation in Bhutan is
rain-fed, the variability of rainfall induced by climate change directly impacts
crop yield. Further, water shortage also limits orchard development,
vegetable production, and animal feeds production. A spike in the outbreak
of some diseases and pests has resulted in increased crops losses. Against the
backdrop of these entire emerging and pertinent scenario, this study attempts
to assess the effects of climate change on agriculture and recommend
appropriate measures in adopting climate smart agriculture in Bhutan.
Climate Change Trends and It’s Impacts on Agriculture

Land use
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan requires maintaining at least
60% of total geographical land under forests areas. As a result, 71% of the
land is under forest area, while only about 2.93% of total land area is under
agriculture crop production (Table 2). The rest of the land is made up of
marshy, meadows, shrubs, bare land, snow cover, water bodies, and built and
non-built up areas (waste dump sites, mines, stone quarries and other).
Table 2. Agriculture land use in Bhutan
Sub-class Total Area (Ha) Total Area (%) Cultivated Land

(%)
Wetland 31361.23 0.82 27.86
Dry land 69670.79 1.81 61.90
Apple Orchard 2041.47 0.05 1.81
Citrus Orchard 5086.42 0.13 4.52
Areca nut Plantation 984.92 0.03 0.88
Cardamom Plantation 3397.95 0.09 3.02
Others 13.43 0.00 0.01
Total 112556.2 2.93 100
Source: MoAF (2010)
39
Climate change trends
Monthly temperature trend
Climatic condition in Bhutan is determined by topography, elevation, and
rainfall pattern. Warm temperate (1800-2600masl) and cool temperate (2600-
3600masl) zones are the main central valleys characterized by cool winters
and hot summers with moderate rainfall. Summer temperature usually ranges
from 150C to 260C while winter temperature ranges from -40C to 150C.
Alpine (3600-7500masl) zone is composed of snow-capped peaks and alpine
meadows with very cold winters and cool summers. The huge variation in
rainfall within a relatively short distance in Bhutan is a result of rain shadow
effects due to the country’s mountainous terrain. Precipitation generally
diminishes significantly from south to north. The mean annual temperature in
Bhutan is 180C; the highest during June- July and the lowest during October
–February (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Monthly Temperature

Source: BMCI & ICIMOD (2016)
Temperature change
Bhutan’s 24 weather stations show a rise in temperature of about 1°C in
summer and 2°C in winter since the year 2000 (BMCI & ICIMOD, 2016).
Analysis of historical data for Bhutan (2005–2014) shows a steady increase
in summer mean temperatures in temperate and subtropical regions, and a
decline in winter mean temperatures in temperate regions. However, annual
mean temperatures (Figure 2) in both temperate and subtropical regions are
gradually rising (MoAF, 2016).
Rainfall pattern change

Analysis of rainfall data from 2005 to 2014 shows that the annual mean
rainfall pattern is asymmetrically decreasing (Figure 3) (MoAF, 2016).
Rainfall has been considerable decreasing in the sub-tropical region than that
in temperate.
40
Figure 2. Summer and winter mean temperature.
Source: MoAF (2016)
Figure 3. Average annaul rainfall pattern

Source: MoAF (2016)
Climate change projections

Temperature and precipitation projection
Figure 4. Annual mean air temperature (°C) from 1980 to 2069 (Source: NEC (2012)
41
HadCM3Q0 simulation shows that the temperature would have increased by
3.5°C from 13.5 °C in 1980 to 17°C in 2069 ( Figure 4). Similar results are
seen in ECHAM5 simulation that show projected temperature increase of
3.5°C from 12.0°C in 1980 to15.5°C in 2069 (NEC, 2012). The trend in
annual precipitation from 1980 to 2069 seems to show a progressive and
steady increase (Figure 5). Atmospheric General Circulation Model
(ECHAM5) shows a steady increase of annual precipitation from 2000mm in
1980 to 2600 mm (an increase by 600mm) in 2069, while the HadCM3Q0
shows an increase of annual precipitation from 1900mm per year in 1980 to
2400 mm (500 mm increase) per year in 2069 (NEC, 2012). Similarly, a
recent study also shows that the annual rainfall is expected to increase by
461mm by 2050 (Parker et al., 2017), which is consistent with other findings
and projections.
Figure 5. Annual trends of mean total annual precipitation (mm) from 1980 to 2069.
Source: NEC (2012)
Greenhouse gas emissions

The CO2 sequestration capacity including Land Use Change and Forestry
(LUCF) is estimated at 6.3 Mt in Bhutan, while the Greenhouse Gas
Emissions (GHGs) (excluding LUCF) is estimated at 1.559 megatons (Mt)
Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2eq); hence, net emission is estimated at - 4.7
Mt (Gawel & Ahsan, 2014). The large forest area (72% of the total area) of
Bhutan contributes to maintaining Bhutan’s status as carbon sinks.
Agriculture sector’s emissions which constitute almost two-thirds of the total
GHG emissions in Bhutan are associated with enteric fermentation (61%),
crop residues (2.3%), rice cultivation (11.4%), burning of crop resides (1%),
manure left on pastures (14.6%), manure management (5.8%), and synthetic
fertilizers (0.6%) (NEC, 2012). Since agricultural emissions make up the
42
dominant share of overall emissions and as pressure on forests is likely to
increase, reducing agriculture’s contribution to total emissions through
climate-smart practices is required. The GHG emissions from transport and
industry sectors have been increasing in recent years, and will have
significant effects in the future, if not managed in time (NEC, 2012).
Climate Change and It’s Impacts

Climate change and it’s impacts on agriculture
It is projected that climate change (CC) will have mixed effects on
agriculture production; potentially contributing to increase in yields along
with land area for some crops, while a decrease for other crops is predicted
based on the analysis using the International Model for Policy Analysis of
Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT)1. Under CC, the overall
land area for agriculture production is projected to increase more than under
No Climate Change (NoCC), especially for potato and tropical fruits (citrus),
while for temperate fruits (apple) CC will likely decrease the cultivated land
area (CIAT & World Bank, 2017). This fairly suggests that mandarin orange
production could be expanded beyond the present agro-ecological zone of
cultivation towards higher elevations. Almost all crop yields are expected to
increase over the period of 2020 – 2050 regardless of the scenario. The
analysis suggests that yield increases under CC are likely to be higher than
under NoCC, with greater increases under CC in temperate fruits (apple),
tropical fruits (citrus), rice, vegetables, (cardamom and chili), and potato by
0.8%, 6.2%, 0.9%, 4.9% and 5.0%, respectively. Only maize yield is
expected to be lower under CC compared to a NoCC scenario in 2050, by
about -10.3 %( CIAT & WB, 2017).
Agriculture sector employs about 69% of the total population and contributes
16.52 % to GDP (NSB, 2017), where 10% of the total contribution is from crops
alone. Agriculture system is predominantly subsistent where farmers practice
self-sustaining and integrated farming system. Major crops cultivated in Bhutan
are paddy, maize, potato, citrus, apple and vegetables (Table 3). Only about 18%
of the total area is irrigated, while rest of the crops are grown under rain-fed
conditions. Farm mechanization is difficult due to the rugged landscape that
renders farming extremely labour intensive. Agriculture is becoming
increasingly challenging due to climate change impacts such as increasing soil
erosion, rapid loss of soil fertility, increasing incidences of pests and diseases,
drought and erratic rainfall, windstorm, hails, etc.
1An analysis using the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities
and Trade (IMPACT) [41] was carried out for selected key production systems in Bhutan,
analyzing impacts of climate change over the period 2020 – 2050, on net trade, yield and area
(for crops), and animal numbers (for livestock products) for the preparation of Climate Smart
Agriculture Profile for Bhutan.
43
Table 3. Major agriculture crops production trend (in Ton)
Crop Name 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Paddy 78,014 75,228 77,038 80,261 83,332
Maize 73,024 75,715 77,244 83,714 82,035
Potato 43,000 50,390 53,612 48,276 58,820
Vegetables 43,025 46,468 49,698 49,590 55,869
Cardamom 643 1,162 1,781 2,091 2,736
Citrus 49,501 33,469 45,226 15,977 42,003
Fruits & Nuts 20,324 18,823 18,572 23,616 24,523
Apple 7,666 8,032 7,051 5,308 6,587
Source: DoA (2012-16)
The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides remains a contested issue for
the entire agriculture production system. This has necessitated looking at
exploring other options like organic agriculture, for instance. As agriculture
production system in Bhutan use limited chemical inputs, more than 95% of
the production is considered natural farming. Further, farmers rely on
traditional inputs such as manure, leaf litters, and crop residues for soil
fertility management. The mixed farming system of crops and livestock as
followed by farmers also largely contribute to sustainable agricultural
development. Bhutan remains highly vulnerable to emerging climate change
impacts due to its geographic location and economic dependency on climate-
sensitive renewable natural resources. The most vulnerable areas to climate
change in Bhutan are forests and biodiversity, water and land resources,
glacial lake, and the health sector (BMCI & ICIMOD, 2016).
Reduction in agricultural water availability

Springs are the major source of water. However, they are being depleted
especially during the longer dry season, thus posing serious threat to rural
livelihood and economy. As a result of recurring dry winters, springs are
drying up and water shortages are being reported in most places in eastern
and southern regions. Farms are left fallow, and farmers have migrated to
urban areas looking for better opportunities. Glaciers are retreating and
permanent snow line is moving significantly higher where river discharges
are likely to increase for some time due to accelerated melting, but will then
likely decrease as glacial storage go down. This will directly lead to
increasing fallow land in rice cultivation due to lack of water.
44
Erratic rainfall and drought
As maximum area under agriculture production is on steep slopes, changes in
temperature and precipitation directly affect the frequency and intensity of
drainage, soil erosion, and thereby loss of crop diversity besides reducing the
arable land and damage of roads and related infrastructures. Climate change
not only affect the physical aspect of farming environment, but also food
distribution systems, resulting in price distortion of essential commodities.
Flash floods have become more frequent and have intensified in the last
decade due to increasing
intensity of rainfall, and
untimely start and end of
monsoons. Landslides
are a recurrent
phenomenon in Bhutan
and closely linked with
flooding events. In May
2009, cyclone Aila
resulted in incessant
rainfall that caused one
of the worst disasters in
Bhutan, damaging Figure 6. Flood in 2016
agriculture land and
Source: Kuensel (2016)
public infrastructures
(Figure 6).
Widespread forms of both in-situ and physical land degradation are recorded
in the country. Some of the physical forms of land degradation are topsoil
capping, sheet erosion, rill erosion, gullies, mass wasting of soils and
landslip. It is also estimated that 8.6 T of soil per hectare is lost by erosion,
especially during rainy season in traditional farming practices (DoA, 2011).
In 2010, landslides and flash floods damaged more than 2000 acres of
agricultural land and damaged farm roads and irrigation channels of 4165
households.
Drought is another serious event experienced with long dry spell resulting in
complete failure of crops as well as delays in planting schedule that disrupt
crop production cycle. Maize grown mostly under rain-fed conditions is one
of the worst affected of crops. Citrus productivity drop in 2015 and thereafter
is attributed to drought spells that coincide with the crop’s critical water
requirement period.
45
Windstorm
Bhutan is increasingly experiencing incidence of windstorms every year. The
severity and frequency of windstorms have increased over the past few years,
especially in pre-monsoon season. In April 2008, windstorms damaged 498
rural houses including agricultural farms in the eastern region. In 2010, more
than 5000 acres of agriculture crops were affected by hail and windstorms,
damaging a wide range of staple crops, such as maize, rice, potato, chili and
buckwheat (MoAF, 2011). The latest incidence was observed in March 2018
when large areas of maize and areca nut were damaged, affecting more than
240HH.
Pests and diseases

Warming trend induces the spread of pests and diseases in areas they never
existed before. In 1996, farmers in the high altitude areas lost between 80 to
90% of rice harvest due to a rice blast epidemic. Rice blast caused
considerable loss of rice production in western Bhutan in 1995/96, and stem
borer damaged over 90% in Samtse district in 2005. At altitudes above
1800masl, Turcicum leaf blight and grey leaf spots damaged an estimated 70
to 80% maize crop in eastern Bhutan in 2006/07; while tuber moth in potato
caused 95% harvest loss in eastern Bhutan in 2006, and fruit fly up to 80%
loss in mandarin orange production in 1990. In the recent years, increase in
armyworm spread and outbreak of Giant African Land Snails (GALS) have
become a major concern for farmers.
Shift in agriculture
A shift is being seen in cardamom and citrus growing where warm temperate
zones are found to be no longer perfectly suitable Leeches that are usually
found in warmer areas are now available in cooler regions, and potato tuber
moths - a common pest at lower subtropical region – are now observed in
temperate regions.
Climate change and its effects on food and nutrition security

Bhutan is almost food self-sufficient with about 96 % of its households
having sufficient food (NSB, 2017). The self-sufficiency rate in 2015 stood
at (for various commodities): rice 48%, beef 39%, pork 40%, chicken 76%,
eggs 63%, vegetables 56% and fish 2% (MoAF, 2015). Food insufficiency is
reported mainly in rural areas between the months of April to July every
year. However, 88% of children aged 6-23 months do not receive nutrition as
required for a healthy life. About a fifth of the children less than 5 years are
stunted, 9% underweight and 4.3% are wasted. Anemia is prevalent among
44% of the children under five and in more than a third (35%) of women of
reproductive age (MoH, 2015).
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Bhutanese agriculture is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change
due to Bhutan’s geographical features (Parker et al., 2017). Over the past
years, the country has experienced rapid changes in average temperature,
precipitation patterns, and increased risks of climate hazards, including
excessive rains, flash floods, windstorms, hailstorms, and droughts, causing
massive losses and damage to farming households (Shrestha et al., 2012 and
UNDP, 2013). Despite the efforts made in sustainable development climate
change impact continue to affect Bhutanese agriculture and rural livelihoods
(BMCI & ICIMOD, 2016). According to MoAF (2017), about 19% of
farmers have changed their cropping pattern as part of the adaptation and
mitigating intervention towards developing a climate resilient farming
system.
Adaptation and Mitigation Technologies to Climate Change in

Agriculture
Bhutan is experiencing devastating losses by climate change events that need
of mitigation and adaptation strategies to be formulated to achieve food and
nutrition security targets.
Climate change adaptation technologies
The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) for Bhutan
closely follows its strategies for Low GHG Emission Development. The
strategy envisions ensuring sustainable forest management, promoting a
green and self-reliant economy, investing in clean renewable energy, and
promoting climate smart agriculture and livestock farming practices.
There are 25 out of 2,674 glacial lakes in Bhutan identified as the most
dangerous and prone to GLOF (BMCI & ICIMOD, 2016). Two important
vulnerabilities from glacial retreat and glacial lack outburst flood (GLOF) in
agriculture identified in Bhutan’s National Action Plan for Adaptation
(NAPA) include:
i. Loss of lives and livelihoods through impacts on agricultural lands
and people from GLOF.
ii. Reduction of water resources due to receding glaciers.
Currently, Bhutan is implementing one of the first National Adaptation
Program of Action (NAPA) projects to reduce the water level, construction
of check dams and stabilization of slopes by plantations in vulnerable areas.
Assessment of watersheds’ ‘Ecosystem Services’, and ‘Integrated Watershed
Management Plans’ are developed for major river basins in Bhutan that
mainly focus on surveying water source depletion and sustainable utilization
plan development. Following are the major climate change adaptation
technologies adopted in Bhutan.
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Improved crop varieties and management
Farmers are gradually adopting drought-tolerant, pest and disease resistant,
and early-maturing varieties of cereals and vegetables. Indigenous varieties
that are more adaptable under changing climate are explored in addition to
varietal improvement along with improved planting and crop management
practices. Crop production sites are changed from year to year to reduce
disease and pests incidences and adjust cropping calendar. Farmers realize
that cropping intensification, intercropping with legumes and vegetables, and
crop rotation could help counter climate change effects.
Figure 7. Climate smart production practices
Mulches are being adopted to improve the soil moisture conservation, reduce
weed intensity, and improve soil fertility mainly in vegetables and fruit crops
along with other protected cultivation practices (Figure 7). The agro-forestry
in cardamom cultivation using shade trees is being practiced by farmers in
the cardamom growing areas. Farmers are trained and their capacities built
on various aspects of climate smart agriculture technologies.
Sustainable land management and soil nutrient management

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) technology fits well within the mixed
farming landscape of Bhutan, and the emphasis is primarily being made in
climate change vulnerable areas where most of the lands are sloppy. Most of
the cultivated farmlands in Bhutan lie on steep slopes, characterized by land
degradation that result in annual fertile top soil losses of 29 tons/ha. Since
land is the most important natural capital, most of the projects and local plans
(districts and sub-districts/communities) invest in activities contributing to
sustainable land management practice. Common activities include contour
bonding, terracing, and hedgerow plantations. MoAF has developed the
Agriculture Land Development Guidelines (ALDG) for sustainable
management of agricultural land in Bhutan in 2017.
Climate smart soil conservation and nutrient management includes the use of
manure, leaf litters/moulds, crop residues, bio-gas slurry, and following no-
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till or direct sowing techniques. Plantation of fodder trees and grasses are
promoted along sloping farmland as hedges that not only provide animal
feed, but also minimize sheet erosions and further provide support as
windbreak. Elsewhere, soil loss has been reduced by half through the
introduction of the hedgerow systems, which also build up carbon stock
through addition of soil organic matter.
Improved water and irrigation management

Improved water and irrigation management with the use of water efficient
technologies such as sprinkler and drip irrigation both under green houses
and open area vegetables and fruits (for apples and citrus) cultivation are
practiced. Ridge system of potatoes for moisture conservation, and alternate
wetting and drying for paddy cultivation to reduce the loss of nutrient from
soil erosion is being widely adopted. Water harvesting technologies are
adopted in places where there are limited sources of water for domestic uses
including vegetables and fruit crops production.
Conventional and existing practices through open canal have high water
seepage and evaporation rates, resulting in inefficient water delivery. In order
to address this issue, implementation of put-right condition measures and
renovation of existing irrigation channels for uninterrupted supply of
irrigation water is being implemented. Improved irrigation system has
provided assured irrigation to about 40270 ha of land through the 14 newly
constructed and 50 renovated irrigation channels during 11th Five Year Plan.
Organic farming
Organic farming concepts focusing on green economy and carbon neutral
development policies in mainstream farming system is being implemented in
Bhutan. Efforts and investments are made to promote organic farming for
food security and poverty alleviation mainly in resource poor areas. Farming
in Bhutan has been primarily natural, and is still largely a subsistence system
utilizing limited or minimal quantity of inorganic inputs, and thereby
allowing for a relatively easy graduation into a fully organic system.
Currently the major crops under organic productions are sweet buckwheat,
herbs, asparagus and vegetables. Fruit crops are grown free of chemical or
with minimal use of inorganic inputs. Use of pheromone traps against pod
borers/stem borers/weevils/armyworms and bait traps for fruit flies are
becoming popular. Nutrient management in the soils is easy as more than
69% of the farmers raise livestock and use leaf litter collected from forests.
Regulatory and quarantine system

With changing climate, new pests and diseases and other related plant and
zoonotic diseases are recorded (frequent outbreak of GALS and Bird Flu) in
49
the country. Development of standard operating procedures specific to the
prioritized pests and diseases, bio-security measures for exotic pests and
diseases, infrastructure required for containment (such as decontamination
facilities -Incinerators/ Autoclaves) have been put in place. There are at least
three quarantine stations equipped with decontamination facilities at
Bhutan’s border.
Challenges to climate change adaptation technologies

Several challenges and barriers are encountered in adopting and up-scaling
CSA technologies in Bhutan. Ridge system for planting of potato and raised
bed for vegetables is constrained by steep terrain that also limit farm
mechanization. Constructing terraces and contour hedgerows on sloping land
is labour intensive and entails high financial costs. The cattle population on a
farm is often too small to produce sufficient organic manure and collecting
leaf litters is also difficult and labour intensive. On-farm preparation of
composts is both time and labour consuming, and is further compounded by
slow decomposition process as a result of low temperature and microbial
activities under Bhutan’s climatic conditions. Further, intercropping legumes
and vegetables are less practiced as it renders weeding operations difficult.
The adoption of upland paddy cultivation is also marginal owing to
unpredictable rainfall and high weed intensities.
Practices associated with integrated pest management and integrated soil fertility
management are expensive and face considerable technical, cultural and social
barriers. Small land holding and fragmented land with scarcity of irrigation
facilities inhibits intensive cultivation of cash crops such as cardamom and
vegetables. Farmers have limited access to financial means and credits, reducing
their ability to invest in modern technologies such as greenhouses for improved
vegetable cultivation, or improved irrigation technologies (such as drip and piped
irrigation, sprinklers, and water harvesting technologies). However, inadequate
information on climate change trend and availability of technologies towards
adaptation is the larger and more pertinent challenges Bhutan faces as there are
no dedicated institutions with complete mandate on climate studies and its
impacts on agriculture.
Climate change mitigation technologies

Climate change mitigation deals with reduction of GHS emission. The most
significant sources of emission are enteric fermentation (40%), followed by
agricultural soils (37%), manure management (17%), and rice cultivation
(6%). Concerted efforts in sustainable agriculture and enhanced livestock
management can help considerably in mitigating agriculture GHG emission
and resulting contribution to climate change. The climate change mitigation
technologies have been adopted in Bhutan are in two ways:
50
Mitigation of enteric fermentation
Implementation of sustainable land management practices has already been
initiated to reduce GHG emissions in Bhutan. Land management includes the
terracing, hedgerow plantations, use of green manures, and alternative
wetting and drying of land for cultivation. Livestock is an integral part of
farming and a crucial part of the economy. Mitigation strategies in livestock
farming should be aligned with appropriate technologies including improved
livestock management, use of manure and biogas, increasing the digestibility
of forage and feeds, proper nutrient management, appropriate use of crop
fertilizer, use of organic materials as nutrient source, and sustainable land
management practices in climate change vulnerable areas.
Mitigation in energy and industrial sectors

Mitigation programs are initiated in the country through Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) project. CDM project is being implemented to control
vehicle emission through vehicle emission standards, progressive tax rates
for larger vehicles, and tax exemption for low emission vehicles like electric
cars. Similarly, Bhutan’s Renewable Energy Policy aims at generating 20
Mega Watt (MW) clean power by 2020 using a mix of renewable energy
technologies such as (i) Solar - 5 MW, (ii) Wind - 5 MW, (iii) Biomass - 5
MW, and (iv) Other s- 5 MW. Further, implementing improved cooking
stove and heating appliances, encouraging the use of CFLs, LED lamps, and
other energy-efficient lighting fixtures, adoption of energy-efficient
technologies in the industrial sector including processing of construction
materials and in foods and chemicals, etc., reflect Bhutan’s national
commitment to mitigating GHG emission.
Policies, Institutions and Infrastructures for CSA

Policy framework for CSA
Legal framework and policies incorporate international agreement, protocols,
acts, policies, strategies, long-term and short-term plan, rules and regulations,
and directives for responding climate change effects as adopted in Bhutan.
Some of the relevant legal and policy instruments are discussed below:
i. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan requires at least 60% of
land under forests; and stipulates the need to safeguard and conserve
Bhutan’s natural environment, and rich biodiversity, prevent of all
forms of ecological degradation.
ii. Bhutan signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, Doha
Amendments to the Kyoto Protocol in 2015, and the Paris
Agreement for Climate Change in 2016.
51
iii. Bhutan submitted a new Climate Action Plan and Bhutan’s INDCs to
the UNFCCC in 2015.In its INDCs, Bhutan committed to remain
carbon neutral.
iv. The INDCs closely follow Bhutan’s Strategy for Low GHG Emission
Development; sustainable forest management, promoting a green and
self-reliant economy, investing in clean renewable energy, and
promoting climate smart livestock farming and agriculture practices.
v. Recent tax revisions do not impose taxes on the import of electric
cars, while import tax of 120% is imposed on import of other cars.
vi. The National Environmental Strategy, formulated in 1997 guides
Bhutan to meet the requirement of its populace without sacrificing the
quality of the natural environment or depleting the natural resource base.
vii. Acts and policies supporting nature conservations are: Forest and
Nature Conservation Act 1995, Biodiversity Action Plan 1998,
Pesticides Act 2000, Livestock Act 2000, and National Irrigation
Policy 2012.
viii. Bhutan identified CSA as one of the key strategies for adaptation to
climate change in the 11th FYP. “Carbon Neutral, Climate and
Disaster Resilient Development” is identified as one of the National
Key Result Areas (NKRA) in the current 12th FYP.
ix. Bhutan’s Economic Development Policy focuses on low carbon
development, and therefore prioritizes organic farming,
biotechnology, agro-processing and promotion of green and climate
smart agriculture practices (RGoB, 2016). Bhutan aims to become
100% organic in the future.
x. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy 2010 encourages FDI in
green and sustainable technologies and the promotion of socially
responsible and ecologically sound industries (MoEA, 2010).
Institutional framework for CSA

National Environment Commission (NEC) is the key decision-making body
related to protection, conservation and improvement of the natural
environment. It is the national focal agency for the UN Framework
Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) and is mandated to review and
formulate policies and legislation related to environment. The NEC is leading
the Climate Change Coordination Committee, which was established in 2016
as a forum to discuss and coordinate matters related to climate change in
Bhutan. The NEC is composed of concerned ministries and representatives of
key environmental organizations to achieve the national goals in
environmental protection and climate change. It is also engaged in various
52
sectors of economic development such as hydropower, infrastructure and
agriculture in order to align respective policies and private sector
development efforts with national principles of environmental conservation.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF) is another key organization
implementing climate change adaptation initiatives.
There are several national and international research organizations actively
supporting studies and research programs focused on enhanced agricultural
productivity, assessing vulnerabilities, and increasing agricultural resilience
to climate change. These include the College of Natural Resources (CNR) in
Lobesa, Agriculture Research and Development Centres (ARDCs), the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Potato Centre
(CIP), the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and the
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
However, it is usually the local government at the sub-district that implement
the activities through extension agents.
The key international organizations actively working on climate smart
agriculture through programs implementation and funding climate change
adaptation and mitigation initiatives in Bhutan are: the World Bank,
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations, World Food Programme (WFP), Asian
Development Bank (ADB), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Netherlands
Development Organization (SNV). The NGOs and other organizations,
mostly local, engaged directly or indirectly in CSA are the Bhutan Trust
Fund (BTF), the Tarayana Foundation, and the Samdrupjongkhar initiative
including some cooperatives.
Infrastructures for CSA research and development

i. The NEC is the key organization that coordinates the overall
development of climate change policy and national guidelines.
ii. The National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology under the
Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) collects and provide
climate/weather information.
iii. The MoAF is the key agency that conducts research and extension on
CSA technologies.
iv. The agriculture sector utilizes existing ARDCs in the regions for
research initiatives, and monitoring and evaluation of CSA
technologies.
53
Human Resource Development
Bhutan is way behind in generating comprehensive knowledge and
information on climate change and in the conduct of intensive research. CSA
technology generation and implementation is limited in Bhutan despite the
significant and imminent impact of climate change on agriculture. The CSA
technologies are supported by ICIMOD, SNV, CIAT, CGIAR, ACIAR,
UNDP, etc., both in terms of technical expertise and funding assistance.
There is limited human resource capacity for implementing and integrating
climate smart agricultural techniques at all levels. With limited knowledge,
responding to climate change issues through policy formulation and program
implementation is seriously impeded and therefore coping mechanisms for
climate change challenges on food and nutrition security are not adequately
instituted. Capacity development need to focus on collection of real-time
climate data, information analysis, weather forecasts, GIS technology, crop
modeling, and long-term climate projection studies and implications on
agriculture. There are no concerted efforts in taking stock of phenology
changes in crops and pest outbreaks to develop suitable CSA technologies.
Therefore, Bhutan needs to build institute and strengthen capacity on climate
research, policy analysis and formulate appropriate policies and strategies to
address climate change effects on agriculture, and food system. This will
also, inevitably, require substantial support from international development
partners.
Supports of International Communities for INDCs Implementation

As a least developed country, Bhutan lacks national capacity in terms of
institution, infrastructure, and technology in dealing with climate change and
its effects on agriculture. The current progress in CSA is made through the
supports of externally funded projects focused on sustainable agriculture by
promoting climate resilient agriculture. Continuation of such support is
crucial to further strengthen the capacity of farming communities, policy
makers, and concerned stakeholders. External support is required on
infrastructures development such as real-time meteorological stations,
laboratories for diagnosis of plants, soils, pests and diseases; and advanced
IT equipment and machineries to implement CSA initiatives. Some of the
important international agencies engaged in supporting climate related
interventions are the IFAD, World Bank-funded Global Agriculture Food
Security Program (GAFSP), UNDP funded GEF-LDC project, SNV, JICA,
ACIAR, ADB, ICIMOD and other Global Climate Change Alliances. Other
54
development partners include Austrian Cooperation Bureau, Bhutan
Foundation, UN Program on Reducing Emission from Deforestation and
Forest Degradation (UN-REDD), United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), FAO, and Oxfam, CIAT &World Bank, 2017. Development of
international collaborations and institutional linkages play a critical part in
contributing towards national capacity development and building capable
CSA institutions in the country.
Best Practices on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

Some successful practices on climate change adaptation and mitigation in
agriculture as adopted in Bhutan are:
Green livestock farming

 Stall-feeding for animal has been adopted by more than 206
households in remote areas for higher milk production, reduced
grazing pressure on meadows and forests.
 Established biogas facilities for households in rural areas, and
significantly reducing dependence on firewood.
 Improved pasture development, preparation of silage/ hay making,
enrichment of fodder, winter fodder development, and ensiling
techniques benefiting more than 293 households.
Efficient irrigation systems for horticultural crops

 Sprinkler irrigation system for vegetable and fruit crops is taken up
by 1460 HH, along with rainwater harvesting technique to address
water shortages. More than 15 water harvesting units for improved
orchard management and crop diversifications have been established
in rural areas.
 More than 635 households (HH) have set up poly-tunnels and
greenhouse and uses water harvesting for vegetable gardening.
 More than 9 citrus demonstration orchards are established in major
citrus growing areas showcasing CSA technologies where other
adjoining farmers adopt to help increase their production.
 More than 15 low cost plastic lined water harvesting tanks have been
set up to supply irrigation water for citrus as part of the citrus
rehabilitation program in major citrus growing areas in 2018/19,
benefitting 300-400 households.
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Water Harvesting Drip System Protected Cultivation
Figure 8. CSA technology for water use efficiency
Sloping land management for horticulture and field crops

 Thousands of households have taken up hedgerow plantations;
planting with fodder trees/grasses in the farm periphery to increase
crop yield and for easy access to fodder supply.
 Thousand hectares of dryland brought under proper terracing and
contours leading to increase crop yield and reduced soil erosion.
 Ridge potato plantation is adopted by almost all the potato growing
farmers in Bhutan, and has helped achieve better yield and conserve soil.
Increased organic agriculture production

 More than 9522 ha of land is used in organic production (~10% of
the total cultivated land).
 Demo sites on organic farming are established, and intercropping
and cover cropping are practiced by thousands of farmers who use
zero chemical inputs (green manure) that capture better market and
income opportunities.
 Farmers have established organic farms such as the Druk Organic
Farm in Toktokha, Wangdue (20 ha), Wang Sisina Integrated Farm
(12 ha), and other such farms in Chhukha district ( >8 ha).
 Of the 20 districts, 3 districts are already declared organic in the
country.
Climate smart plant protections techniques

Thousands of farmers have adopted climate smart plant protection techniques
and a number of positive results are recorded.
Discontinuation of calendar spray in apple
With the introduction of IPM in 1993, farmers have given up the practice of
calendar spray in apple. Unlike in the past when they sprayed 5-6 times per
56
season, farmers now practice need-based application of pesticides, primarily
during critical periods. Prophylactic sprays against insect in other related
crops are also discontinued.
Adoption of bait splashing in citrus
After the introduction of bait splashing, farmers have abandoned the practice
of cover spray for the control of fruit drop by fruit fly in citrus. Farmers are
also carrying out collection of dropped fruits to reduce the population of fruit
flies in subsequent years as a part of fruit fly management program.
Trunk borer and twig borer
Trunk borer in citrus and apple are managed by cleaning the holes with a
flexible wire inserted with a small piece of cotton wool or piece of cloth
dipped in kerosene. Holes are then plugged with mud. Twig borers are
managed through pruning affected twigs and burning them.
Late blight control in potato

Farmers are now trained in the identification of the diseases and timely
application of prescribed doses of fungicides as soon as the disease is
observed. This has helped reduce damages caused by the disease which was
very severe in the past, so much so that whole crops have been wiped out.
Rice blast control

Package of practices including seed replacement, seed treatment, disposal of
infected straws, farmers’ training, nursery protection, pest surveillance,
cultural practices/sanitation, use of resistant cultivar and fungicide spray as
an ultimate recourse if symptoms are observed have been put in place and are
strictly followed. Following the adoption of these IPM strategies, there has
been a significant reduction in the disease incidences after the last major
outbreak in 1995.
Chili wilt disease control

Cultural control method that involve the use of healthy seedling, crop
rotation, proper spacing, planting in raised bed and a good drainage system
has reduced the disease spread and its resulting widespread damages.
Strengthened regulatory and quarantine system

 Bhutan has strengthened its Regulatory & Quarantine System (RQS)
to combat pests & diseases, while equipping quarantine stations with
decontamination facilities (incinerators/ autoclaves), introducing bio-
security measures for exotic pets and diseases, establishing
biological pits and making basic disinfectant and sanitizers and other
safety equipment at all quarantine check points.
57
 Under the ‘management of pandemic outbreaks of pests disease –
GALS’, approximately 60000kgs of GALS were destroyed and
prevented from further spreading to other localities.
Recommendations with Reference to Koronivia Joint Work

Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture recognizes the fundamental importance
of agriculture in responding to climate change, and the FAO is one of the
major institutions in supporting with program activities (FAO, 2018). In the
context of KJWA, the following recommendations could be made as part of
Bhutan’s response to climate change and its impact on agriculture and food
security.
i. Bhutan’s existing policy on achieving food security and self-
sufficiency needs further strengthening, and alignment with global
CSA policies and programs.
ii. Capacity needs to be strengthened on CSA approach at all levels.
iii. Rural development programs have to be aligned with CSA as a
priority as poorer communities are more vulnerable to climate
change impacts.
iv. Sustainable increase of crop productivity along with diversification
of crop varieties to be focused to build resilient agriculture farming
communities.
v. Bhutan need to initiate early warning systems and put contingency
plans in place in relation to extreme weather events and its effects
such as drought, floods, landslides, storm, soil erosion, hails, pests
and diseases outbreak, that have major implications on crop
production. This would again entail capacity building and
establishment of infrastructures.
vi. Assessment of risk and vulnerability of agricultural systems to
different climate change scenarios, including but not limited to pests
and diseases in guidance and collaboration with regional and
international experts is crucial.
vii. Bhutan’s wide crop diversity and rich indigenous knowledge need to
be identified, characterized and their potential in supporting climate
resilience tapped. This will provide platform for possible benefit
sharing in research and development including their socio-economic
and environmental significances as well as gender mainstreaming.
viii. As suggested by the Joint Work, identification and assessment of
agricultural practices and technologies to enhance sustainable
productivity and resilience to climate change considering agro-
ecological diversities is equally important.
58
Conclusion
Bhutan is facing growing challenges in agriculture from increasing impacts
of climate change. There is a lack of national capacity in terms of institution,
infrastructure, human, and technology. It is crucial to build capacity to better
understand CSA and its practices, create awareness on climate change and its
impact on agriculture and food system at the central, regional, district and
sub-district levels.
In order to undertake the key actions to minimize the adverse effects of
climate change and to contribute to the overall goals of food security and
self-sufficiency, the government and relevant stakeholders have to emphasize
on updating information on climate smart practices and agriculture,
international commitments and policies that align with national CSA goals,
building international collaborations to seek expertise on CSA technologies,
and in enhancing technical skills and knowledge of concern stakeholders.
Further, national capacity building on climate change should focus on
research and development, monitoring, extension, and policy development
through proper institutional set-up. Concerted efforts must be made to
educate people on the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food
security, water resources, forests and biodiversity. Appropriate institutional
set-up together with adequate human resources should be streamlined to
address the challenges in realizing the country’s goal of food security and
self-sufficiency in the face of climate change. This will have significant
contribution in supporting greater preparedness in reducing vulnerability to
impacts of climate change.
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61
Chapter 4
Climate Smart Agriculture: Policies and Practices for
Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change in India
Mathyam Prabhakar
Principal Investigator, National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Hyderabad-500059, India
Email: m.prabhakar@icar.gov.in
Abstract
To meet the challenges posed by climate change on the agricultural system,
India has accorded high priority in understanding the impacts of climate
change and developing adaptation and mitigation strategies. The Prime
Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) has identified
agriculture as the priority area of eight National Missions in India. Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched a network project and
National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), in the year
2011. The major aim of NICRA is to enhance the resilience of Indian
agriculture to climate variability and climate change through development
and application of improved production and risk management technologies.
Temperature and rainfall trends in various regions of the country was
analyzed, and the impacts of elevated temperature and CO2 on growth and
development of crops, horticulture, livestock, and fisheries sectors were
assessed. Adaptation and mitigation options for various systems have been
developed. The project is implemented in 41 ICAR institutes, 121 Krishi
Vigyan Kendras (Farm Science Centres) and several other research institutes
across the country. Climate resilient agriculture has been promoted by taking
one village in each of the 151 climatically vulnerable districts of the country.
Experiences from the past eight years under NICRA project has led to
replication of climate resilient village models in several states of India. A
network of human resources specialized in climate change research,
adaptation and mitigation is available to take forward the mandate of climate
resilient agriculture in the years to come. Government of India is committed
to reduce the emission intensities by implementing several Government
sponsored schemes across the country such as National Adaptation Fund for
Climate Change, National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture, Green Climate
Fund, and National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture.
62
Introduction
Agriculture and allied sectors like animal husbandry, forestry, and fisheries
accounted for 17% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with about 50% of
workforce engaged in this sector (Economic Survey, 2017/18). India ranks
first globally with highest net cropped area followed by US and China. The
economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is steadily declining
with the country's broad-based economic growth towards industrialization.
Still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a
significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India. India exported
$ 18.57 billion worth of agricultural products in 2017/18 (APEDA, 2018)
making it the seventh largest agricultural exporter worldwide. Indian
agricultural and processed foods are exported to more than 120 countries,
primarily in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, SAARC countries, the
European Union and the United States. The agricultural growth rate has been
erratic and increasing (Figure 1) with higher rate in fisheries and livestock
sectors among others.
Figure 1. Growth Rates in India’s GDP across Agri. Sub-sectors (at 2004-05 Prices)
Source: Saxena et al. (2017)
Climate Change, Projections and Its Impacts on Agriculture

An increase in carbon dioxide is likely to be beneficial to several crops, but
associated increase in temperature and variability in rainfall would
considerably affect food production. The AR-5 of IPCC indicates a
probability of 10 to 40% loss in crop production by the year 2080-2100
(IPCC, 2014). Future projections through modeling shows that a loss of 4 to
5 million tons in wheat production in future with every 1C rise in
temperature (NICRA, 2018). Climate change is likely to aggravate the heat
63
stress in dairy animals and adversely affect their productive and reproductive
capabilities. Increasing sea and river water temperature is likely to affect fish
breeding, migration and harvest. Indian coastline, which is about 7,517km is
vulnerable to climate change impacts such as water intrusion and coastal
salinity. A rise in temperature as low as 1°C could have a profound impact on
survival and geographical distribution of different fresh water and marine
fish species. Increased extreme weather events have been experienced in
some or other parts of the country viz., droughts (2000-2004, 2006, 2009,
2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015), floods (2005, 2006, 2012, 2014 and 2015),
cyclones (2012 and 2015), heat wave (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010 and
2016), cold wave (2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2017), hailstorm
(2014 and 2015). Increased number of mid-season droughts and high
intensity rains take away fertile soil leading to water stress, reduced food
production, stability and livelihoods of farmers in the country. Small
changes in temperature and rainfall would have significant effects on the
quality of cereals, fruits, aromatic and medicinal plants. Pests and diseases
are highly dependent upon temperature and humidity, and therefore will
greatly be influenced by climate change. The recent outbreak of whitefly on
cotton in northwest India and pink bollworm at several cotton growing areas
of the country is attributed to aberrant changes in weather.
Assessing vulnerability to climate
change and variability is first and
foremost step in evolving
appropriate adaptation strategies to
cope with changing climate. Such
analysis also helps in targeting
adaptation investments to regions
that are more vulnerable. According
to IPCC, vulnerability is “the
degree to which a system is
susceptible to, or unable to cope
with, adverse effects of climate
change, including climate
variability and extremes.
Vulnerability is assessed by using
the indicator method. A number of
relevant indicator and variables
were chosen based on review of Figure 2. District level vulnerability atlas
literature and causal relationship Source: Rao et al. (2016)
with the three components of
vulnerability and a database for 572 districts (having rural area) in India was
developed (Figure 2). The variables included to represent sensitivity are net
sown area, cyclone proneness, drought intensity, flood proneness, ground
64
water exploitation, population density etc. which determines the level of
sensitivity of the district to changing climate. In order to capture the degree
of change in climate in terms of change in drought occurrence, incidence of
dry spells, change in annual rainfall, heat wave, cold wave, etc. to which a
district is exposed, climate projections of the PRECIS model for A1B
scenario for the period 2021-2050 were considered. The changes in different
climatic parameters were computed relative to the baseline 1961-1990 of the
same model. The variables considered to represent adaptive capacity include
rural poverty, literacy, work force engaged in agriculture, consumption of
fertilizer nutrients, net irrigated area, ground water availability, etc. which
determine the adaptation behavior of the districts with respect to climate
change.
Districts with higher adaptive capacity are assumed to adapt better to
changing climate. The data on these indicators were normalized based on the
nature of relationship. They were then combined into three indices for
sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity which were then averaged with
weights given by the experts to obtain the relative vulnerability index. Based
on the index, all the districts were divided into five categories. It can be
observed that districts with higher levels of vulnerability are located in the
western and peninsular India. It is also observed that the highly fertile Indo-
Gangetic plains are relatively more sensitive, but less vulnerable because of
higher adaptive capacity and lower exposure. There are already instances
where in the findings of the study are being used to locate different
development projects that address climate change and variability and to
identify the appropriate interventions for research or extension. NABARD,
GIZ, World Bank, CABI are some of the organizations that are using the
output. Some of the state governments (e.g. Telangana, Madhya Pradesh,
Tripura) are also making use of the findings to develop the state action plan
for climate change as required by the GoI. The Government of Maharashtra
initiated a large program called ‘Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture’
(PoCRA) where the methodologies and findings of this study are being used.
Government of Andhra Pradesh has used the findings in developing a project
proposal submitted to Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies, Programs and Activities

Climate change has become an important area of concern for India to ensure
food and nutritional security for growing population. To meet the challenges
of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate and
formulate policy on adaptation and mitigation in agriculture to contribute
global fora like UNFCC, it is important to have concerted research on this
important area. With this background, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
65
launched a network ‘National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture’
(NICRA) during the year 2011. NICRA aims to evolve crop varieties tolerant
to climatic stresses like floods, droughts, frost, inundation due to cyclones
and heat waves. Under this project about 41 Institutes of ICAR are
conducting research under Strategic Research Component covering various
theme areas viz., development of multiple stress tolerant crop genotypes,
natural resource management, quantification of greenhouse gas emissions in
agriculture and to develop technologies for their reduction, climate resilient
horticulture, marine, brackish and inland fisheries, heat tolerant livestock,
mitigation and adaptation to changing climate in small ruminants and
poultry.
Climate smart crop varieties

Large number of germplasm screened for stress tolerance on drought, heat,
salinity, submergence tolerance in different fields. Numbers of advance
breeding materials were generated and evaluated at multi-locations for
developing new cultivars. Germplasm lines of rice and wheat tolerant to
drought and heat stress have been collected from different climatic hot-spot
regions of India. Based on the drought susceptible index a reference set will
be developed for allele mining using micro satellite markers. Marker assisted
back cross breeding was carried out using molecular markers link to the QTL
governing drought tolerance into Pusa Basmati-1 (rice). Two rice genotypes
for submergence tolerance were registered with National Bureau of Plant
Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi. One salinity tolerant variety is in
final year of All India Coordinated Research Project trials. Three superior
heat tolerant hybrids were developed. Four drought tolerant rice varieties
were released for Tripura. Two extra-early (50-55 days) green gram varieties
were identified for summer cultivation (IPM 409-4 and IPM 205-7) and one
multiple stress tolerance redgram wild accession (C. scarabaeoides). Five
heat tolerant and 12 drought tolerant genotypes in tomato were identified.
Number of mapping population in rice, wheat & maize were developed for
identifying QTL for various abiotic stresses in these crops for utilization in
maker assisted selection (MAS) breeding.
Natural resource management

Direct-seeded rice (DSR) with mung bean residue incorporation, brown
manuring (BM) with sesbania, rice residue retention (RR) in zero till (ZT)
wheat/rabi crops are important conservation agriculture (CA) practices. It was
observed that mung bean residue (MBR) + DSR – ZTW – ZT summer mung
bean (ZTSMB) gave highest productivity, net return, water productivity and low
GWP. In long term, efforts to assess CA practices on productivity enhancement,
nutrient use efficiency, soil health and quality, it was observed that seed (3.8 t ha-
1
) and stover (5.6 t ha-1) yields in maize in CA were on par with conventional
66
system (CT). Also, significantly higher grain (5.3 t ha-1), stover (6.5 t ha-1) yields
and harvest index (0.44) were realized with balanced fertilization (NPKSZnB).
Analysis of Resource Conservation Technologies (RCT) in NEH zone indicated
that conventional Tillage (CT) has higher cumulative soil respiration (>18%)
compared to zero tillage.
Agroforestry offset carbon dioxide from atmosphere is 0.77 tons of CO2 ha-1
year-1and agroforestry system are estimated to mitigate 109.34 million tons
CO2 annually from 142.0 million ha of agriculture land. Further, it is
estimated to offset 33 % of total GHGs emissions from agriculture sector
annually at country level. The net ecosystem methane exchange during rice
growth period was highest between active tillering and maximum tillering
stages of rice. The diurnal variations in mean Net Ecosystem Exchange
(NEE) in submerged rice ecosystem in both dry and wet seasons varied from
+ 0.2 to - 1.2 and + 0.4 to - 0.8 mg CO2 m-2 s-1. The cumulative seasonal
methane emission was reduced by 75% in aerobic rice compared to
continuously flooded rice. The seasonal emissions were lower in slow release
N fertilizer, especially, when applied on the basis of Customized Leaf Colour
Chart (LCC). Zero tillage in wheat lowered the GWP as compared to tilled
wheat. Similarly, CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes were influenced by tillage /
anchored residue and anchored residues of 10 and 30 cm in zero till reduced
the N2O emissions in rainfed pigeon pea-castor system. In efforts on
mitigation strategies by reducing carbon foot prints through conservation
agriculture in rainfed regions, carbon foot print from various practices like
decomposition of crop residues, application of synthetic N fertilizers, field
operations and input production indicated that there is a scope to reduce
carbon foot prints by reducing one tillage operation with harvesting at 10 cm
height with minimal impact on the crop yields.
Long-term conservation horticultural practices in mango orchards improved the
quality of soils through enhancing the organic carbon fraction and biological
status, especially near the surface. Soil aggregates and water stability improved
under conservation treatments. Cover crop, Mucuna, could conserve maximum
moisture and reported higher Glomalin content in soil indicating an
improvement in soil aggregation. Assessment of biochar on productivity,
nutrient use efficiency and Carbon sequestration potential of maize based
cropping system in North-Eastern Hill region indicated a higher soil microbial
biomass carbon (SMBC), dehydrogenase enzyme activity (DHA) and soil
organic carbon (SOC) with application of biochar @ 5.0 t ha-1 along with 75%
RDF + 4 t ha-1 FYM, while exchangeable aluminum and exchangeable acidity
were reduced. GHG inventory for different cropping systems and production
systems were established (Figure 3). GHG emissions quantified from
Conservation Agriculture (CA) – 15 to 20% reduction, resource conservation
technologies (Biochar, zero tillage, reduced tillage, mulching etc.). Carbon
Sequestration in different agroforestry systems was 16-22 t C ha-1.
67
Figure 3. GHG inventory from agriculture in India (CO2 eq. in Gg)
Source: BUR (2015)
Under NICRA, emphasis has been placed on the development of

technologies, which can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions without
compromising on yield. As part of this initiative, various ICAR institutes
such as Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi; Indian
Institute of Farming Systems Research (IIFSR), Modipuram; Indian Institute
Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal; Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI),
Jodhpur; ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region (ICAR-RCNEH),
Umiam are working on various themes related to the GHG emissions.
Practices which can further reduce the GHG emissions such as improved
systems of paddy cultivation, fertilizer management, improved fertilizer
materials, crop diversification, etc. are explored from the paddy based
systems. The proven mitigation practices, which can reduce the GHG
emissions, are being demonstrated to farmers as a part of Technology
Demonstration Component (TDC) of NICRA. The TDC of NICRA is being
implemented in 151 climatically vulnerable districts of the country by taking
one or cluster of villages in each of the vulnerable district.
Location specific and crop specific mitigation practices such as system of
rice intensification (SRI), direct seeded rice cultivation (dry and wet methods
of cultivation), soil test based fertilizer application, rational application of
nitrogen, integration of trees especially fruit trees in the arable systems,
efficient irrigation methods such as drip and sprinkler which can reduce the
energy use while irrigating field crops, demonstration of zero tillage
cultivation as an alternate to burning crop residues in rice-wheat systems of
Punjab and Haryana, integration of green manure crops in the existing
cropping systems, promotion of green fodder crops and greater use of green
68
fodder for livestock etc. are being demonstrated as part of TDC of NICRA in
the 151 climatically vulnerable districts of the country. The proven resilient
practices are being integrated in the development programs such as crop
diversification in traditionally paddy growing regions as part of the National
Food Security Mission (NFSM) wherein 1.02 lakh ha is being diversified
from paddy to other less water consuming crops in the country during the
year 2015-2016. Similarly the different systems of cultivation such as system
of rice intensification, direct seeded rice are being promoted by the
development programs as part of the NFSM where in 1.63 lakh ha area was
brought under these improved methods of paddy cultivation in the country
during the year 2015-2016. Such kind of efforts would contribute to
reduction of GHG emissions in the country.
Innovative horticulture
Horticultural crops are affected by climate change in the country. Flooding
for 24 hours severely affects tomato during flowering stage. Onion during
bulb stage is highly sensitive to flooding, whereas warmer temperatures
shorten the duration of onion bulb development leading to lower yields.
Reduction in chilling temperature in the recent years in Himachal Pradesh
drastically affected apple production, and the farmers are shifting from apple
to kiwi, pomegranate and other vegetables. More importantly, temperature
and carbon dioxide are likely to alter the biology and foraging behavior of
pollinators that play key role in several horticultural crops.
Under NICRA project research has been initiated at 5 ICAR Institutes viz.,
Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru; Indian Institute
of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi; Central Potato Research Institute
(CPRI), Shimla; Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH),
Srinagar and Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (DOGR), Pune. The
technique for inter-specific grafting of tomato over brinjal has been
standardized and large-scale demonstrations have been taken up to withstand
drought and flooding in tomato.
A microbial inoculation with osmo tolerant bacterial strains have been
developed to improve yield under limited moisture stress in tomato.
Environmentally safe protocol was developed for synchronizing flowering in
mango, which is induced due to changing climate. Several resource
conservation technologies viz., mulching, zero tillage, reduced tillage,
biochar etc. have been demonstrated in climatically vulnerable districts
across the country through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). Large-scale
adoption of this climate resilient technologies enable to adopt the changes
associated with global warming and also keep pace with increasing demand
for horticulture products in the country in years to come.
69
Innovative livestock sector
Biochemical, morphological and physiological characterization of indigenous
cattle breeds were carried out and compared with exotic breeds. The traits
identified in indigenous breed viz., heat shock proteins, air coat color, wooly
hair etc. that impart tolerance to heat stress could be used in future animal
breeding programs to develop breeds that can withstand high temperature.
Different feed supplements have been identified and tested successfully to
withstand heat stress in cattle. Studies on prilled feeding in cattle showed that
they help lowering stress levels and methane emission. Custom designed
shelters system and feed supplementation with chromium propionate, mineral
supplements (Cu, Mg, Ca and Zn) both in feed and fodder significantly
improved the ability to withstand heat stress. At ICAR-Research Complex
for North Eastern Hill Region, Umiam, the local birds of Mizoram are
predominantly black in color, small size, crown appearance on head, light
pink comb with black, poorly develop wattle, small ear lobe, shank is brown
to black and elongated. The average annual egg production of local birds is
45-55. Local birds are more tolerant to common diseases of poultry.
Innovative deep litter pig housing model was developed that offers the
advantages of better micro-environment both summer and winter, better
physiological adaptation, protecting animal welfare and behavior, faster
growth rate of piglets and higher performance and productivity and low
incidences of diseases/ conditions. The performance of Vanaraja poultry
under backyard farming at different altitude under diversified agro-climatic
condition was evaluated. Vanaraja birds have high tolerance to incidence of
diseases and showed wide adaptability under different altitude. Many of
these climate resilient technologies viz., feed supplement, shelter
management, improved breeds, silage making, de-warming etc. have been
demonstrated in the farmers’ field through KVKs in the 151 climatically
vulnerable districts across the country. Up-scaling of these technologies
through respective State Governments would enable the livestock farmers in
the country cope with vagaries associated with climate change.
Innovative fisheries
Relationship of temperature and spawning in marine and freshwater fisheries
sector is being elucidated so that fish catch in different regions can be
predicted by temperature monitoring. A shift in the spawning season of oil
sardine was observed off the Chennai coast from January-March season to
June-July. Optimum temperature for highest hatching percentage was
determined in Cobia. A closed poly house technology was standardized for
enhancing the hatching rate of common carp during winter season. An e-
Atlas of freshwater inland capture fisheries was prepared which helps in
contingency planning during aberrant weather. For the first time a
greenhouse gas emission measurement system was standardized for brackish
70
water aquaculture ponds. Cost effective adaptation strategies like aeration
and addition of immuno-stimulant in the high energy floating feed helped
freshwater fish to cope with salinity stress as a result of seawater inundation
in Sundarban islands. Relationship was established between increase in
Surface Sea Temperature (SST) and catch and spawning in major marine fish
species. Simulation modeling was used to understand the climate change and
impacts at regional/national level.
Micro level agro-advisory

The dissemination mechanism was strengthened with different methods used
by the AICRPAM centers viz., Dandora, pasting posters at different
important places where people frequently watch, through SMS to the mobile
phones of farmers who are registered with AICRPAM centers and KVKs.
Special mobile applications were also developed by AICRPAM centers for
dissemination of AAS. The feedback obtained from the farmers stated that
many of them were satisfied with the timely Agromet advisories which
benefitted them a lot. In reality expansion of these services throughout the
country will benefit of farming community and helps in doubling of their
income.
District Agriculture Contingency Plan (DACP)

Contingency planning in agriculture is one of the major strategies of
preparedness for tackling aberrant weather events. Existing agricultural plans
available at the state level or agro-climatic zone level (a cluster of 3-5
districts) are generic in nature and geared to drive agricultural growth by
often assuming the occurrence of a normal monsoon in the ensuing season.
On the other hand, district agricultural contingency plans take into account
the vulnerability of a given district to various weather related risks coupled
with a critical analysis of the forecast for the forthcoming season so as to
enable to plan for various probable contingencies. In the face of increasing
climate variability, adoption and implementation of the district level
contingency plans is a priority for many state governments. The increased
incidence of extreme weather events as witnessed in recent decades pose
serious challenges to sustaining agriculture and this could be attributed to
climate change.
Government of India, as part of collective responsibility to support state
governments initiated the process of documentation of available technologies
for each district in the country, which is the primary administrative unit for
intervention. The National Agricultural Research and Extension System lead
by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) through its institutes and
state agricultural universities developed technologies to overcome the
negative effects due to these weather aberrations and extreme climatic
events. These documents are titled as 'District Agriculture Contingency Plan
71
(DACP)' and are prepared for all the major weather related aberrations
including extreme events viz., droughts, floods, heat wave, cold wave,
untimely and high intensity rainfall, frost, hailstorm, pest and disease
outbreaks, towards preparedness and real time responses, covering field and
horticultural crops, livestock, poultry and fishery.
The district based contingency plans were prepared for 648 out of 651
targeted districts in the country so far and hosted on ICAR/ Depart of
Agriculture and Cooperation (http://farmer.gov.in/; http://agricoop.nic.in/acp;
http://crida.in/) and were made available to all state agriculture departments
for implementation. Another 26 districts which are considered to be urban
are not taken into consideration for contingency plans development.
Policy and Institutional Frameworks for Adaptation and

Mitigation
National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) was established in
August, 2015 to meet the cost of adaptation to climate change for the State
and Union Territories of India that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse
effects of climate change. Government has set up a budget provision of Rs2
350 crores for the year 2015/16 and 2016/17, with an estimated requirement
of Rs 181.5 crores for financial year 2017/18 for NAFCC. The projects under
NAFCC prioritizes the needs that builds climate resilience in the areas
identified under the SAPCC (State Action Plan on Climate Change) and the
relevant Missions under NAPCC (National Action Plan on Climate Change).
Considering the existing arrangement with NABARD as National
Implementing Entity (NIE) for Adaptation Fund (AF) under Kyoto Protocol
and its presence across the country, NABARD has been designated as
National Implementing Entity (NIE) for implementation of adaptation
projects under NAFCC by Govt. of India. Under this arrangement, NABARD
would perform roles in facilitating identification of project ideas/concepts
from State Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC), project formulation,
appraisal, and sanction, disbursement of fund, monitoring & evaluation and
capacity building of stakeholders including State Governments. So far, 27
projects have been sanctioned to different states in India with budget outlay
of $ 95.8 Million.
Vulnerability assessment map prepared under NICRA is being used by
different Ministries and several NGOs/CBOs, which attributes as follows:
 NICRA is also contributing to National missions like NMSA, Water
mission, Green fund and INDC.
 GHG inventory by NICRA partner institutes contributes to BUR
reports.
2
Rs is Indian currency (1 USD equivalent to 68 Rs. As of 2017)
72
 Outcome of NICRA project supported some of the policy issues in
Sates of Maharashtra (BBF Technology), Million farm ponds in the
Sates of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ground water recharge
initiatives (Southern states), drought proofing in Odisha, NABARD
action plans, NICRA model village expansion in Assam etc.
 Contingency planning workshops organized every year in different
States helps in preparedness to face weather aberrations.
Over all, NICRA project is contributing towards developing adaptation and

mitigation strategies in the country and enabling to make Indian agriculture
more resilient to climate change. Besides NICRA project there are several
centrally sponsored schemes (Table 1) initiated by Government of India
through National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
Table 1. National Schemes and Programs in India to Combat Climate Change

Name of scheme Year of start
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) 2007
Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture 2007
National Mission on Oilseed and Oil Palm 2007
National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology 2007
National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) 2011
Integrated Scheme on National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) 2016
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)–Micro Irrigation 2016
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) – Crop Insurance 2016
Neem Coated Urea (30 million tonnes per annum) 2016
Soil health cards (110 million) 2016
Source: Anonymous (2018)
Infrastructures for CSA Research and Extension

Under NICRA project we have built some of the unique facilities for the first
time in Asia. High throughput Plant Phenomics facilities established at 4 core
institutes of ICAR will facilitate screening of large number of germplasm
lines for different traits. A huge number of genetic resources were collected
of target crops viz., rice, wheat, maize, pigeon pea, chickpea, black gram,
green gram, tomato and mango and work on phenotyping for characterization
of the germplasm is under progress at different partner institutes. Some of the
promising genotypes identified so far have been used in genetic enhancement
73
for new varieties and hybrids that can withstand climatic stress like drought,
heat, flood etc. Free Air Temperature Enrichment facility (FATE), Free Air
CO2 Enrichment facility (FACE), Temperature Gradient Tunnels (TGT), CO2
Temperature Gradient Chambers (CTGC) help us in understanding response
of different crops to elevated temperature and carbon dioxide. The
construction and operation of psychometric chambers was undertaken for
studying the effect of different environmental conditions viz., temperature,
humidity, and air movement on livestock, with special reference to cattle and
buffaloes.
Country-wise studies on effect of temperature on flowering behavior in
mango led to development of a spray formulation with agro techniques to
overcome synchrony of flowering. The issue of drought and flood in tomato
has been addressed through inter-specific grafting of tomato. Location
specific brinjal rootstocks for different scion combinations of tomato
varieties / hybrids have been identified for different locations.
A concept of micro level agro-met advisories at block level was developed
and on pilot basis with the help of block level forecasts provided by Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD), scientists at network cooperating centers
and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) initiated agromet advisory services
(AAS) in 25 selected districts. This service is expected to expand to other
districts in the country.
Human Resources for CSA Technology

Adapting to changing climate often needs decision making at critical times
for the responses which range from adoption of resilient technologies of crop
and livestock management which enable the farmers to cope with the
extremities of climate. To adopt appropriate climate resilient agricultural
technologies, farmers understanding is crucial on coping mechanisms to
overcome the climate variability. In this backdrop the key objective of
NICRA project is to promote climate resilience through a long-term adaptive
management of agriculture by conserving important resources like soil and
water. NICRA project envisaged extensive capacity development of the
small farmers, project functionaries as well as the related stakeholders on
climate readiness and imparting knowledge and skills on climate resilient
agriculture. These capacity development programs are carried out at various
levels. This helped in translating the knowledge, tools and good practices in
to the suitable action taken by farmers and other stakeholders.
An integrated approach for organization of capacity building activities was taken
up by 41 partners of strategic research, 11 Agricultural Technology Application
Research Institute (ATARIs), 121 Farm Science Centres (KVKs), 25 All India
Coordinated Research Project on Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) –NICRA
centres, 23 All India Coordinated Research Project on Agro-Meteorology
74
(AICRPAM)-NICRA centres and 34 competitive and sponsored research
projects across the country. This huge network of capacity building institutions
under NICRA organized training programs to cater the knowledge and skill
requirement of stakeholder involvement in the project thus leading to
enhancement of capacities for effective delivery of outputs.
International Supports for NDCs Implementation in Agriculture

International response to climate change was achieved through Paris
agreement. The agreement was built on the Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDCs) submitted by parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agricultural
sectors (crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture) feature
prominently in these national commitments, as outlined in the FAO study.
Developing countries like India will potentially take the lead in
implementing their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Support for
the agricultural sectors should be a priority for the international community
given their prominence in the INDCs and their potential to enhance
adaptation and mitigation ambition.
Green Climate Fund (GCF) has been designated as an operating entity of the
financial mechanism of the UNFCCC. The decision to set up the GCF was
taken at COP 16 in Cancun on December 2010 and the GCF was
operationalized in COP 17 in Durban in 2011. In the context of sustainable
development, the Fund aims to promote a paradigm shift towards low
emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support
to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and
to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of
those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of
climate change. The Fund will play a key role in channelizing new,
additional, adequate and predictable financial resources to developing
countries and will catalyze climate finance, both public and private at the
international and national levels. The finance is expected to meet the agreed
full and incremental costs for activities to enable and support enhanced
action on adaptation, mitigation, technology development and transfer
(including carbon capture and storage), capacity-building and the preparation
of national reports by developing countries. NABARD is accredited as
National Implementing Entity in 10th Board meeting of GCF held on 9 July
2015 on fast track. NABARD is eligible to submit large size projects having
outlay of more than USD 250 million. Eligible project proponents can submit
project concepts or proposals to NABARD.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched with an aim to help its
developing member countries in Asia and the Pacific, mobilizes funding to
meet their goals under the Paris Agreement. Climate finance by ADB is
expected to contribute to mitigating climate change. Other resources include
75
bilateral sources, multilateral funds such as the Climate Investment Funds
and the Global Environment Facility are also very important for India to
achieve its commitments towards adaption and mitigation of climate change.
Best Practices on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

Technology Demonstration Component (TDC) under NICRA aims to
demonstrate location specific practices and technologies to enable farmers
cope with current climatic variability. Demonstration of available location-
specific technologies related to natural resource management, crop
production, livestock and fisheries is being taken up in the climatically
vulnerable districts for enhancing the adaptive capacity and resilience against
climatic variability. Technologies with a potential to cope with climate
variability are being demonstrated under TDC in 151 most vulnerable
districts selected across the country through KVKs.
Institutional intervention Component under NICRA aims at creating enabling
support system in the village comprising of strengthening of existing
institutions or initiating new ones (Village Climate Risk Management
Committee (VCRMC)), establishment and management of Custom Hiring
Centers (CHCs) for farm implements, seed bank, fodder bank, creation of
commodity groups, water sharing groups, community nursery and initiating
collective marketing by tapping value chains. Hundred CHCs for farm
machinery were setup under NICRA project, which are being managed by
VCRMC comprising of villagers. Module on use of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) for knowledge empowerment of the
communities in terms of climate risk management is also being planned in
selected KVKs for generation of locally relevant content and its
dissemination in text and voice enabled formats. About 128KVKs/ farm
science centers associated under NICRA projects have also taken initiatives
such as participatory village level seed production of short duration, drought
and flood tolerant varieties, establishment of seed banks involving these
varieties were established in the KVKs, demonstration and of improved
varieties of fodder seeds and establishment of fodder bank in NICRA
villages.
GHG emissions (CO2, CH4 and N2O) due to implementation of climate
resilient interventions in various production systems (annual and/perennial
crops, irrigated rice, inputs, livestock, forestry and land use change) were
converted to an equivalent value (ton CO2 equivalent) in 7 villages of Gujarat
and Rajasthan, which were found to be negative suggesting a sink in GHG
emissions.
76
Recommendations in Reference to Koronivia Joint Work
The state of the art infrastructure facilities have been established,
standardized and put in to function in core institutes of ICAR to undertake
the climate change research. Manpower (Scientists, Research Associates,
Research Fellows, Technical Officers etc.) have been trained to handle and
operate these facilities. Crop improvement for multiple stresses takes several
years of research and multi-location testing. Efforts made under this project,
resulted in development of varieties/hybrids ready for large-scale cultivation.
Whereas, many are under different stages of development which may require
few more years to be released as variety/hybrid/breed. Simulation modelling
to assess the impact of climate change at regional level is still at initial stage.
Standardization of minimum data sets and compilation of data from different
sources have shown good progress. In the next phase, these data sets will be
used for modelling. Research, essentially long term in nature, should
continue further to achieve the intended outputs and outcomes.
Over the past eight years working with TDC of NICRA has provided an
opportunity for on-farm learning regarding the performance of several
climate resilient technologies and their impacts on the adaptation and
mitigation aspects of climate change. There is still need to develop variety of
adaptation options for different sub-sectors within agriculture, for different
regions and for farmers with varying resource endowments. Such an effort is
to be accompanied by identification of factors that help adopt technologies
on a wider scale.
The commitments of the country to emission reductions require generate
appropriate information and data on emissions as well as options that help
reduce emissions. Techniques standardized so far under NICRA for
estimation of GHG emissions from different management practices will be
used for further reducing carbon footprint of production systems in the
country. Government of India has committed for the reduction of emission
intensity of GDP by 32-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and the outputs of
NICRA project contributing to several national project reports i.e., Intended
Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), Biennial Update Report
(BUR), Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMAs), National
Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and several other Missions
under National Action Plan on Climate Change. The system-wide impacts
and responses to climate change need to be understood better and more
comprehensively. The efforts in this direction, which have begun, recently
have to be taken through their logical course for such an understanding is
necessary to identify and prioritize various adaptation options. The activities
initiated few years back under NICRA should continue and expand in scope
and content, and enable to develop multi location multi sector mitigation and
adaptation strategies so that we combat major challenge posed due to climate
change in Agriculture.
77
References
Anonymous. 2018. A farmer friendly handbook for schemes and programmers
2017/18. Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmer’s Welfare,
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. P.195.
Retrieved from http://agricoop.nic.in.
APEDA. 2018. Indian export statistics. Agriculture exchange. Retrieved from
http://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in.
BUR. 2015. First biennial update report to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change, Government of India, p.184.
IPCC. 2014. Climate change synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II
and III to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.). IPCC,
Geneva, Switzerland, p.151.
MOF. 2018. Economic survey. Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of
Finance, Government of India. Pp.1-314.
NICRA. 2018. National innovations in climate resilient agriculture- Research
highlights. ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture,
Hyderabad.
Prabhakar, M., Sammi Reddy, K. and Maheswari, M. 2018. Adaptation and
mitigation to climate change in agriculture through a network project, National
Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture. In: Agroforestry opportunities for
enhancing resilience to climate change in agriculture (Eds: GR Rao, M
Prabhakar, G Venkatesh, I Srinivas, KS Reddy), ICAR-Central Research
Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, India, ISBN:978-93-80883-42-7.
Prasad, Y.G., Maheswari, M., Dixit, S., Srinivasa Rao, Ch., Sikka, A.K.,
Venkateswarlu, B., Sudhakar, N., Prabhu Kumar, S., Singh, A.K., Gogoi, A.K.,
Singh, A.K., Singh, Y.V. and Mishra, A. 2014. Smart practices and technologies
for climate resilient agriculture. Central Research Institute for Dryland
Agriculture (ICAR), Hyderabad. p.76.
Rama Rao, C.A., Raju, B.M.K., Subba Rao, A.V.M., Rao, K.V., Rao, V.U.M.,
Ramachandran, K., Venkateswarlu, B., Sikka, A.K., Srinivasa Rao, M.,
Maheswari, M. and Srinivasa Rao, Ch. 2016. A district level assessment of
vulnerability of Indian agriculture to climate change. Current Science, 110:
1939-1946.
Saxena, R., Singh, N.P., Balaji, S.J., Ahuja, U., Kumar, R. and Joshi, D. 2017.
Doubling farmers’ income in India by 2022-23: Sources of growth and
approaches. Agricultural Economics Research Review, 30: 265-277.
Srinivasa Rao, Ch., Prabhakar, M., Maheswari, M., Srinivasa Rao, M., Sharma, K.L.,
Srinivas, K., Prasad, J.V.N.S., Rama Rao, C.A., Vanaja, M., Ramana, D.B.V.,
Gopinath, K.A., Subba Rao, A.V.M., Rejani, R., Bhaskar, S., Sikka, A.K. and
Alagusundaram, K. 2016. National innovations in climate resilient agriculture
(NICRA), research highlights 2016. Central Research Institute for Dryland
Agriculture, Hyderabad. p.112.
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Chapter 5
Strategies to Climate Change in Maldives
Aminath Shafia
Director General, Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Male, Maldives

Email: shaf0015@gmail.com; Phone: +960 3339245
Abstract
Maldives is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to face the
adverse effects of climate change by disrupt water supply, flood, draught,
cyclone, and sea level rising. The geographical nature of the dispersed low
lying coral islands, fragmented population, urbanization pressure, slow rates
of technological advancement, and economic instability led to reduce the
productivity in agriculture and fisheries, eventually made the country
extremely vulnerable to food security and livelihoods. Food production in the
country is limited to horticultural crops and fishing. Increased temperatures,
more frequent and prolonged dry conditions, intense rainfall and flooding,
salt water intrusion, soil erosion and wind gusts have destroyed farming
activities in the country. Fisheries are equally vulnerable to climate change
and there are anecdotal evidences of linkages between low fish catch and sea
surface temperatures, acidity, sea levels, and upwelling’s and ocean currents.
Impacts on marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs, could be devastating;
while marine aquaculture will be challenged by increasing temperature and
extreme events, and also by environmental hazards (for example, harmful
algal blooms). Moreover, climate change related extreme events can take a
toll on fisheries and agriculture infrastructure. Despite the higher risk of
climate change impacts on agriculture and food system, review of the
existing policies indicates several gaps exist and the country has
inadequacies to address the challenges. The government need to address the
negative effects on health consequences and the economic impacts of climate
change, which needs urgent interventions along with appropriate policies and
programs to strengthen climate smart agriculture through mitigation and
adaptation strategies.
Background
Maldives consist of nearly 1200 islands formed as 26 natural atolls, which
are administratively grouped into 20 atolls, spread across the Indian Ocean,
and located in the South West of India. The archipelago has a territorial area
of 90,000 km2 and the total land mass is approximately 300km2. Over 95% of
79
the geographical area is covered by water and only 33 inhabited islands have
a land area of more than one km2, while just three islands have land areas
larger than three km2. Eighty percent the islands are less than one meter
below sea level and highest elevation is 2 meters.
Maldives is located on the equator and has a warm and humid tropical
climate dominated by two distinct seasons: dry and rainy. Dry season or
northeast monsoon extends from January to March, while rainy season or the
northwest monsoon is comprised of an inter-monsoon period (March to mid-
May) to full monsoon from mid-May to October each year. The relative
humidity ranges from 73 to 85%. Daily temperature varies throughout the
year with a mean annual temperature of 28°C. The central, southern and
northern parts of the Maldives receive an annual average rainfall of 1925,
2278 and 1786mm, respectively. However, the climate pattern in the
Maldives is drastically changing due to the extreme events associated with
climate change. Tidal wave swells, storm surges accompanied by wind gusts,
heavy down pours and flooding are becoming more frequent in the
archipelago.
The economic base of Maldives is extremely narrow and dominated by
tourism accounting over 28% of the country’s GDP. Following the tourism
sector, fisheries, construction, and commerce play a significant role and
contributed about 5-10%. Agriculture is still a principal preoccupation and a
source of livelihood for a large number of people, particularly those who are
living in the rural islands. Maldives experienced a major down turn due to
Asian Tsunami in 2004 that reduced agriculture growth rate from 4.3% to
0.5% in 2005. In order to recovery and reconstruction of the damage of the
Tsunami, a larger amount of resources of US$ 11.1 million was invested and
since then a steady growth was achieved estimated to be 1.7% in 2010.
Statistics for Male’ city (the capital where a third of the population resides) is
reported to increase in poverty. For every 100 person living in the capital 44
is poor, indicating the higher levels of urban poverty. Urbanization lead
poverty is a serious concern in Maldives, which can have direct impact on
the food security and could be worsened by climate change. The study also
indicated that the poverty gap ratio still remains relatively constant
suggesting minimal or no improvement over the years in the poverty
conditions of the very poor. This segment of the population also faces
uncertainly in access to healthy and nutritious food.

Maldives is highly dependent on a fragile ecosystem of its coral reef islands.
Being a small island state, it is extremely vulnerable to environmental
threats. It is technically considered as one of the most vulnerable countries
to climate change and consequent effects on sea level rise. Maldives is a
80
party of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and is the first country to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Maldives also
had ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and
formulated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) in
2002. UNFCCC identifies small islands states among the most vulnerable
countries in the world to the adverse impacts of climate change. Because of
unique geophysical features and socio-economic characteristics, Maldives is
vulnerable to climate change and its impact on food security has been
underestimated. The geographical nature of the dispersed low lying coral
islands, fragmented population and urbanization pressure, economic
instability leading to poverty, low productivity in agriculture and fisheries
sector, slow rates of technological advantages in infrastructure (including
transportation and storage/ warehousing, etc.) make the country extremely
vulnerable to food security. The climate change may cause sporadic
shortages of food that people are unable to access in the rural communities.
Food production including fisheries and agriculture, infrastructure
development, achieving adequate health and nutritional status and the ability
of household to purchase food is a current development concern in the
country. Lack of access to food with adequate nutrition is being more
vulnerable in the country. Maldives faces difficulty in all aspects of food
security, including availability, accessibility, utilization and stability of food.
Low food production coupled with limited variety (food production is limited
to horticultural and root crops only) makes the country dependent on imports
which results in high costs, especially in the rural areas. Irregular supply and
serious transportation constraints across the country added further barriers to
Maldivians consumers for getting nutritious food. Consumption of meat,
fresh fruits and vegetables is rare in the atolls. Locally grown fruits and
vegetables such as taro, cucumber, chilli, and papaya are limited that
compelled to import items such as apples, oranges, carrots and cabbages.
Impacts of climate change on different sectors

The climate change has been affected to the various sectors, more particularly
tourism, fisheries, water resources and agriculture as discussed below.
Tourism sector
Tourism is the main player in the local economy, which accounts for 28% of
GDP share and more than 60% of foreign exchange receipts. It provides
direct employment for over 22,000 people; employee engaged in 98 resorts,
17 hotels, 25 guesthouses, and 156 safari vessels (MTAC, 2011). Over 90%
of government tax revenue comes from import duties and tourism-related
taxes. Revenues from the tourism sector play a significant role in
employment, income and addressing the food import bills. While, this sector
is vulnerable to global economic and climatic fluctuations.
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Fisheries sector
Fisheries remain a critical role in food supply and economic development in
Maldives and is a major contributor to the food and nutrition security. Given
the fact that the 99% of the Maldivian territory is comprised of ocean, fish
especially tuna is the primary source of protein in the local diet. Per capita
fish consumption is estimated to be 181kg/year. Thirty nine percent of the
total catch is consumed locally (Sinan, 2012). Reef fish is significantly used
in the local tourism cuisine and also communities depend on reef fishery as a
source of income. Over the past 5 years, fisheries sector contribution to GDP
and fish catch shows a declining trend. Fish catch data also depicts the most
consumed species of fish in Maldives; skipjack tuna catch to have dropped
sharply (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Fish catch (2007-2016)

Source: MoFA (2018)
Agriculture sector
Agriculture is prominent sector for the livelihood of rural population and
plays an important role in food and nutrition security, especially for those
who are residing in the rural areas estimated to be more than 7000 small
farmers and their families and 82 commercial islands leased for crop
production (MoFA, 2018). The agriculture sector provides a significant
proportion of the foods and supplies of vital non-food items such as timber,
cordage, traditional medicines, and firewood and so on. In some islands,
field crops, such as sweet potatoes, cabbage, cassava, chilies, watermelons,
papaya eggplant, pomegranate, gourds, eggplant and pumpkins are grown
year round in small-scale. In certain islands, especially those in the south part
where low-lying swampy areas are available, growing of root crops such as
taro and breadfruit, which are traditional staple crops in Maldives. Some
islands have developed specialized production of certain crops, such as
Shaviyani Feevah in banana, Alifu-Alifu Thoddoo in watermelon, and
Gnaviyani Fuahmulah in Taro.
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The available land for cultivation is extremely limited and widely dispersed.
The soils are infertile due to weakly developed structure of top layers with
high filtration rate and low water-retention capacity. The calcareous soils are
above neutral pH and in general highly deficit in both macro and
micronutrients hence, requires heavy fertilization. Agriculture in the country
is rain-fed and water for irrigation is very limited that exhaust to decrease
agricultural production. Moreover, the government due to its small economy
is not able to provide investments for agriculture programs or specialized
technical services required for sector expansion and diversification. It is
therefore estimated that Maldives produces less than a tenth of its food
requirements. As a result, majority of the food products including 100% of
the staples (rice, flour and sugar) are imported (Figure 2).
2000
CIF Value ( Million Rufia)
1500
1000
500
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Fish & Sea Food Meat & Poultry
Fruits & Vegetables Other food
Figure 2. Value of food import bills
Source: Maldives Customs Services (2012)
Water sector
Water is important for the life. Without water security, there will be no food
security. Producing enough food for one person for one day requires about
3,000 liters of water or about 1 liter per calorie. When compared with the 2–5
liters required for drinking, it is clear that water for food production is a
critical issue to meet the requirements for the growing population. Clean
water is a scare resource in Maldives due to the unsuitable hydrogeological
settings of the country, and it is closely related to food production and food
utilization. Clean water is necessary to enhance cropping intensity in
agriculture. The freshwater aquifer lying beneath the islands is a shallow
lens, 1-1.5m below the surface and no more than a few meters thick. Surface
freshwater is lacking throughout the country with the exception of a few
swampy areas in some islands. Traditionally people depended on shallow
wells to get access to the groundwater lens for drinking water. This resource
is severely depleted due to population and environmental pressure.
Currently, more than 90% of the atoll households require rainwater as the
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principal source of drinking water. In capital city, Male', the situation is more
complex and 100% of the population depend on desalinated water. The
rainwater harvest is stored in communal or household storage facilities,
which are vulnerable to climate related events such as tidal waves and
flooding. In Maldives, the main drinking water sources are; i) rain water, ii)
ground water and iii) desalinated and imported bottled water. The rainfall is
mainly determined by the two seasons: the northeast monsoon and the
southwest monsoon. The southwest monsoon prevailing from May to
November is the rainy season and the northeast monsoon from January to
March is the dry season.
Climate Change Trends, Projections and Impacts on Agriculture

Food security is the outcome of food system processes all along the food
chain. Climate change affects the food security through its impacts on all
components of global, regional, national and local food systems. Climate
change and its real impacts are already being felt and studies had highlight
that it will first affect the people and food systems that are already
vulnerable, but over time the geographic distribution of risk and vulnerability
is likely to shift. Certain livelihood groups need immediate support, but
everybody is at risk (FAO, 2008). With an upward trend in global climate
change related events being observed in the world as well as in the Maldives.
Floods and storms are the most devastating climate change hazards than that
those of draught and extreme temperature (Figure 3).
250
200
150
Numbers
100
50
0
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
3455 470 2689 395

Floods Droughts Storms Extreme
Temperature
Figure 3. Global climate events (Source: UNISDR, 2012)
84
The risks associated with climate change is felt in different ways, which
varies from droughts, sea level rise, changes in temperature and precipitation
that induced to increase frequency and intensity of extreme events. Maldives
experienced four major types of climate change effects:
 Increasing sea-surface temperatures.
 Increase -sea-surface heights or sea- level.
 Increasing rainfall distribution.
 Increase in temperature.
Climate change projections (Rimes, 2012)

Temperature
‘Near Surface Temperature’, which is usually 2 meters shows that there is a
steady increase in temperature despite of year to year variation. For whole of
the Maldives, the range of surface air temperature changed for three time
slices i.e. 2030s (0.87°C to 1.63°C), 2050’s (1.19°C to 2.25°C) and 2080’s
(1.67°C to 3.72°C).
Rainfall
Overall an increasing trend of annual rainfall is forecasted. Observed annual
rainfall based in Maldives station data for the period (1975-2010) ranges
from 1750mm to 2250mm, while the future projections from the set of
General Circulation Models (GCM) examined show a range of 1250 to
3185mm. This implies an overall increasing trend of annual rainfall in GCM
projections for the future. However, there are positive impacts of increasing
rainfall on food production, the heavy down pours are known to disrupt food
systems.
Sea level change

The change in sea surface height for time slice 2080s and inferred that sea-
surface heights changes from 8.2cm to 9.5cm (Rimes, 2012). Increasing see
level could influence the tourism sector as it has been exposed regularly to
windstorms, heavy rainfall, extreme temperatures and draught, sea swells and
storm surges.
Climate change impacts in agriculture and food system

Climate change affects along the food system at the household, community,
national, regional and global levels. Climate change impacts first to the
people and food systems and over time the geographic distribution of risk
and vulnerability is likely to shift. Certain livelihood groups need immediate
supports, but everybody is at risk (FAO, 2008). It affects the production of
agriculture in several ways (Table 1). It is worth noting here the impacts of
the 2004 Asian tsunami to the agriculture sector. It was reported that the
85
tidal waves damaged several field crops in 2,103 farms, destroyed backyard
crops and agricultural tools in 11,678 homesteads, and damaged more than
700,000 fruit trees in the inhabited islands. The damage to land and
groundwater resources severe in 35 agricultural islands and saline water
intrusion affected 112 inhabited islands (MoFA, 2005).
Table 1. Impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector in Maldives

Sea level rise Changes in Changes in Increase in extreme
temperature rainfall events
patterns
 Damage to  Plant and trees  Increased  Increased rainfall
agriculture undergoes rainfall would associated with
crops and growth stress. increase water storm and associated
lands from  Slow growth availability heavy down pours
salt water thus reduce for agriculture can lead to flooding
intrusion, salt yield and and other and loss of fertile
spray and variability in uses. top soil and heavy
flooding. production. crop loss.
 Loss in  Wilting and  Decline in  Loss in biodiversity.
biodiversity. scorching of rainfall cause  Increase in plants
 Cause salt plants reducing plant stress, diseases due to
water the quality of reducing pests.
intrusion to produce. productivity  Damage to crops.
the fresh  Slow recharge and harvest.  Loss agriculture
water aquifer. of water lenses  May increase production and
 Loss of reduce incidence of income.
productivity productivity water borne  Destruction of
as trees and  Reduce disease that agriculture
plants are availability and affects plants. infrastructure.
affected by supply of  Increase risk  High cost of
salt water. ground water of animal and rehabilitation.
 Loss of for agriculture. poultry
 Spread of wind
traditional  Increase in dry disease
borne diseases and
food crops as spells and management.
pests.
their habitat limits
become too  Create opportunities
production.
exposed. for invasion of alien
 Increase insect plan plant and insect
 Changes in and pest species.
soil quality population.
with  Hinders animal and
 Increase risk poultry production.
increasing for animal and
salinity of poultry
soils. production.
Source: Key informant Interview (2012)
86
Impacts due to sea level rise
Salt-water intrusion due to gradual rise in sea level will be devastating to the
agriculture sector. Global mean sea level rose 10-20cm during the 20th
Century at the rate of 1 to 2mm/year. For Maldives the observed long-term
trend in relative rise in sea level for Hulhule is 1.7 mm/year (MEEW, 2006).
Increase in sea level rise would increase the salinization of groundwater.
Agriculture is highly dependent on fresh water supplies. In Maldives the
islands have limited freshwater resources which are extensively used for
household purposes. Water is vital for the sustainability of agriculture and
very little water can be drawn without changing its salinity level.
Vulnerability of the agriculture sector to salt water intrusion was evident
from the damage caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. Many
perennial food plant species grown in the islands such as mango, breadfruit
and guava have poor resistance to salt water. Salt often destroys the plants,
which have a long-term impact on the island livelihood, environment and
food production (DNP, 2009).
Sea level rise also exacerbate erosion. In 2009, forty-one inhabited islands
reported severe beach erosion. Empirical evidence suggests that many crops
species in farm land and littoral forests within close proximity to the
coastline are affected by erosion. Coconut and other salt tolerant species are
destroyed by severe erosion. Coconut is the dominant crop grown extensively
throughout the country and constitutes an important part in Maldivian diet.
Apart from being a major item for food preparation and drinks, coconut palm
is an important source of livelihood for the people of Maldives. Coconut
timber is used for boat building as well as for construction of houses. Thatch
from the coconut leaves are used in construction of the tourist resorts. Tender
coconut is sold throughout the year especially in Male’ and the tourist resorts
as a refreshment drink. Damage to agriculture production including the
coconut palms affects the livelihood or the income to buy food, there by
directly affecting the food security of the people.
Impacts due to changes in rainfall

Decline in rainfall can be devastating to agriculture production. Crops are
either rain-fed or irrigated from harvested rain water. Often farmers’ falls
short of rain water for irrigation especially when crops are produced
hydroponically. Surface water is lacking throughout the country with very
few swampy areas. Traditionally people depended on the shallow wells as a
source of water for agriculture. In many islands ground water cannot be used
due to contamination. The thickness of the groundwater aquifer in the island
is determined by the net rainfall recharge, size of the island and permeability
of the soil column. The fresh water aquifer already stressed from over
extraction face the risk of total depletion during dry spells. Climate change
predictions depict an increase in annual rainfall for the Maldives indicating a
positive impact on the water resources.
87
Impacts due to extreme events
The elevated sea level with high winds during storm surges causes significant
loss and damages to agricultural land. Storm surges have the potential of
creating high waves enough to completely inundate a medium to small size
islands and destruction to agriculture crops, storage facilities and whole value
chain of agricultural commodities in the country (MEEW, 2007). In addition
flooding and strong wind have also curtailed agriculture productivity through
trees and plants being uprooted and affected by salt water. Loss of fertile top
soil further deteriorates the productivity of the agriculture sector. Such events
also cause changes in pest and disease voracity and weed growth, affecting
the production. Vulnerability of the agriculture sector to extreme events is
evident from the damage caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 which
is addressed earlier.
Additional events further highlight the vulnerability of the islands to climate
related events. Between 2000- 2005, ninety islands experienced flooding and
among these 37 islands flooded six times or more (MEEW, 2006). Similarly,
in 2007 sea induced flooding caused salt water intrusion to 33 islands
causing significant damage to agriculture sector. This has caused significant
damage to crops agriculture farms and home gardens and vegetation. These
environmental factors can be more intensive in small sized islands with
extremely low elevation. Over 80% of the total land area of Maldives is less
than 1 meter above mean sea level. The consequences of such impacts are
likely to be more severe in the Maldives because agriculture is already under
stress due to poor soil, limited land available for cultivation and water
scarcity. For Maldives the vulnerability is particularly severe when these
factors act in combination. The Tsunami, which occurred during the dry
season, severely degraded groundwater quality and soil fertility. The
degradation of soil has rendered infertility that hamper the growth of
nutritious food.
Temperature, humidity, rainfall and other weather parameters had also
influenced pest and disease spread through different mechanisms. Higher
temperatures speed up the lifecycle of some insect pests, so that pest
populations grow faster. Similarly impacts on disease vector insects affect
the spread of diseases. Each year the spending on emergency pest and disease
control is on the rise and the dependence on toxic chemicals to manage the
pest and diseases are exuberating.
Impacts of climate change on the fisheries sector

There is shortage of empirical study on the linkages between the climate
change and its impact on fisheries sector. Fishing is essentially a hunting
88
activity, which heavily depends on the vagaries of nature and climate change
is creating more anomalies both failures and bonanzas among multiple
species as well as drastic shifts in migratory fish species.
The impact of climate change on fisheries sector is severe (Table 2). There is
no doubt fisheries sector (including mariculture) has unique issues and
vulnerabilities with respect to climate change which require specific well-
considered responses. Biological and ecological responses to physical
changes (e.g. productivity, species abundance, ecosystem stability, stock
locations, pathogen levels and impacts) and direct physical affects have been
experienced by the sector. Fisheries sector was hard hit by the extreme event
of 2004 Asian Tsunami with losses equivalent to MRF 320 million due to
direct and indirect loss including damage to the vessels, equipment and
businesses.
Table 2. Impacts of climate change on the fisheries sector

Changes in Increase in
Sea level
Changes in temperature rainfall extreme
rise
patterns events
 Changes in ‘Sea Surface  Decrease Loss to
Temperature’ affect the tuna ocean fisheries
fishery. salinity and infrastructure
Change in  Instability of supply pH and (fishing
ocean unfavorable to export market. reduce food boats,
current for fish. equipment,
 Sharpening of gradient
storage etc.)
structures.
during
 Coral bleaching increase with storms.
warmer temperatures affect
the coral, bait fishery and reef
fishery.
Impact to the tuna fishery

Availability of fish is affected by biophysical conditions of the pelagic
environment particularly El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and
associated changes in sea surface temperatures. With tuna movement and
abundance in the Indian Ocean closely linked to the climate driven ocean
productivity, the implications, distribution and abundance can be locally
significant. In Maldives during the El Nino years in 1997-1998 catch rates of
skipjack tuna were depressed while yellow-fin tuna was elevated and the
effect was reversed during the La Nina years (Adam, 2006).
89
Impact on the live bait fishery
The habitats for live bait are the coral reef systems that are highly vulnerable
to changes in ‘Sea Surface Temperatures’. With increase in temperature coral
bleaching occurs with significant implications on the availability of live bait.
In 1998, with the coral bleaching event the abundance of long nose file fish
rapidly declined. Without adequate and continuous supply of live bait pole
and line fishery will not exist in Maldives. The bait is taken from small
schooling varieties associated with coral reefs. The most popular species are
silver sprats, fusiliers and cardinal fish (Adam, 2006). Effect of climate
change to the live bait abundance directly affects the tuna fish production.
Impact on the reef fishery

Reef fishery is an important source of food and important source of
livelihood for atoll communities. Reef fish thrives in the coral reef system.
Since the introduction of the tourism industry in 1972 the demand for reef
fish has increased and reef fishing has become an important source of
livelihood for atoll communities. While some fish are caught for the local
tourist market, certain types of reef fisheries are targeted for export market.
With coral reefs highly sensitive to changes in temperature, reef fishery is
affected in terms of reef fish structure and resilience. In 1998 due to coral
bleaching two reef fishery species disappeared. This in turn affects the
livelihood of the reef fishers affecting the food security.
Vulnerability to extreme events

Vulnerability of the sector to extreme events is evident by damage caused by
the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. Damages include the loss or destruction
of 120 fishing vessels; partial damage to 50 vessels, several boats shed as
well losses of reef fishing boat equipment and cages. Infrastructure damage
to the fisheries sector was valued at MRF 320 million.
Impacts of climate change on water supply

There is increasing evidence that climate change and climate variability will
affect the quality and availability of water supplies. This in turn will affect
food security across all 4 dimensions (Table 3).
90
Table 3. Impacts of climate change on the water resources
Changes in
Changes in
Sea level rise rainfall Increase in extreme events
temperature
patterns
 If dry  Decline  During flooding and high
period in waves the rainwater storage
extends rainfall facilities are affected.
Salt water over can  Overburdening of wastewater
intrusion extraction affect the and sewer systems.
into the face the ground  Disruption of safe water
fresh water risk of water supplies through damage to
lens leading water aquifer. infrastructure.
to shortages.  Decline  Flood water in low-lying
deterioration in areas creates breeding
the quality rainwate grounds for mosquitoes with
of water r used increased risk of dengue.
for
 Floods can increase the
drinking
incidence of diseases such as
purposes
skin diseases.
.
The IPCC has projected that flooding and

landslides pose the most widespread direct “Climate change affects
risk to human settlements from climate every aspect of society, from
change. The UNFCCC predicts that “a
the health of the global
future of more severe storms and floods
economy to the health of our
along the world’s increasingly crowded
coastlines is likely, and will be a bad children. It is about the
combination even under the minimum water in our wells and in our
scenarios forecast”. Beyond the immediate taps. It is about the food on
and apparent devastation caused by the table and at the core of
flooding, including loss of life and nearly all the major
livelihoods, flooding has major impacts on challenges we face
water resources. It can over burden the today”…..
waste water sewer system leading to UN Secretary General Ban
contamination of water, which can cause Ki-moon,
water outbreaks of diseases. During the
Tsunami of 2004 the negative impacts to 24 May 2009
ground water highlights the damage that
can occur due to extreme events. Groundwater was forced out of wells while
others were inundated by flood water resulting in dramatic increase levels of
salinity. Leaking septic tanks further contaminated the water and fecal
91
coliform levels were found to be greater than 100/100ml substantially in
excess of acceptable levels (UNEP, 2005). The disruption of safe water
supplies through damage to infrastructure while flooding creates breeding
grounds for mosquitoes which increases the risk of dengue and skin disease.
The tsunami, which occurred during the dry season, destroyed approximately
50% of rainwater tanks, rendered entire island populations without access to
safe drinking water, and severely degraded groundwater quality and soil
fertility. The impacts of flooding and storm events can be extensive. Waste
and hazardous substances such as spilled oil can cause further harm.
Reduction of water quality has had a significant impact on hygiene and
health, degradation of the soil has rendered infertile, hampering the growth of
nutritious foods, contributing to under nutrition.
Gender, like poverty is a cross cutting issues in food security and climate
change. Women are believed to be in general more vulnerable to the effect of
food insecurity due to their physical, social biological and physiological status.
For e.g. food consumption pattern of women of reproductive age has a great
impact on the future generations’ wellbeing. Pregnant and lactating mothers as
they have an increase need for food and water and their morbidity are limited.
Studies have also shown that pregnant women are particularly at high risk to
malaria and preferred by the mosquitoes. While immunity and nutrition was
recognized, it was also suggested that physiological and behavioral changes
during pregnancy put them more at risk to the deadly disease.
Women also play a significant role in providing livelihood opportunities,
especially those in the rural areas are limited and are challenged with
working in harsher environments. Recent statistics indicate 54% of the
registered farmers are women who are engaged in the production spheres
exposing themselves high temperatures and toxic chemicals. Similarly,
women engaged in fish processing work in risky environments. While there
are no formal studies done on the impact of climate change and food security
on women health, anecdotal evidence suggest that household and caring
burdens coupled with limited livelihood opportunities and decline in food
security cause considerable stress on women and girls compared to their male
counterparts. The situation can be elevated with the increasing trend of
female-headed households both in rural and urban settings.
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies

The agriculture sector with poor natural resources and inadequate
infrastructure faces an array of challenges. Some of the major challenges are:
lack of institutional arrangements, legal framework and policies;
infrastructure and research on climate change adaptation is non- existing; and
human resource capacity to address the sectors requirement is grossly
inadequate. It is therefore important to seek assistance to improve the policy
92
gaps and improved coordination within the country. With several intuitions
involved climate resilient development there needs to be a coherent
integration and coordination mechanism. Investments in this sector need to
prioritize to improve sustainable food value chains from production to folk.
Improved technologies and infrastructure, which is critical to the food
system, need to be in place. It is also critical to have in place, appropriate
plans and tools to monitor and evaluate climate change actions within the
country.
Maldives IDCA aims to undertake adaptation actions and opportunities and
build climate resilient infrastructure to address the current and future impacts
of climate change. Maldives placed high priority on adaptation and
mitigation in agriculture to climate change effects and identified three major
areas for the strategic interventions.
Enhancing food security

 Strengthening climate risk insurance mechanism to protect the
farmers and reduce income losses from extreme weather events.
 Establishment of strategic food storage facilities & distribution
centers – increase accessibility & reduce risk of food shortages.
 Prioritize research and development on promoting alternate
technologies to make agriculture more resilient.
 Establish mechanisms to make food markets and distribution system
more efficient for ensuring food security in the country.
Fisheries
 Diversification of the fisheries sector to sustainable use of available
marine resources and aquaculture.
 Facilitate and increase access to finance to mariculture.
 Strengthen insurance mechanism for fisherman.
 Facilitate fisheries industry to adapt tuna catch from shallow water to
deep water.
Reef biodiversity
 Coral reef conservation through ecosystem approach as adaptation
measure to increase the resilience of the coral reef ecosystem.
 Reduction of pollution through appropriate policies – e. g., improve
sewage systems disposal of waste etc.
In addition, institutional strengthening to adopt climate change (e.g. land use

planning & population consolidation), public health, infrastructure
development, enhancing early warning, coastal protection and tourism sector
management have been prioritized for improving food and nutrition security.
93
Agricultural strategies are more focusing on increasing food production
through improving technologies in agriculture, empowering women, and
strengthening marketing systems. Fisheries sector do not have any direct
interventions in relation to food security. Environment sector through the
development of NAPA highlighted the need to strengthen agriculture and
fisheries technology, land availability, quarantine services including
environment friendly pest and disease control, building capacity of farmers
and fisher folks and conducting climate research. Health sector has embarked
on an ambitious integrated health and nutrition development strategic
framework which highlights improving accessibility to food, developing
nutrition related education and awareness and compilation of data and
information on food security and nutrition through education and research.
Case Studies
There was an extreme event, tropical cyclone “Nilam’, in Maldives under the
Indian Ocean during October - November 2012 that caused devastating
damage by the ripple effects; heavy rainfall and wind gust disrupted the lives
of people living in 23 islands across the country. The effect of this Nilam is
discussed below:
Shelter
A total of 16 islands experienced flooding both in the house and compounds
damaging homes. Among the hard hit: HDh Hanimaadhoo: 102, HDh
Nolhivaram: 47, L. Fonadhoo: 29 and Sh Milandhoo: 55 households were
severely flooded. Schools, recreational facilities and businesses were also
affected due to flooding.
Food
Tem islands experienced food shortages or had less than one week’s staple
food available in the islands. In HA Hoarafushi 74 families needed
emergency food relief. Islands also experiences shortages in fuel for cooking.
Water
Eight islands experiences ground water contamination with sewage and agro
–chemicals. Many islands needed extra bottled drinking water.
Health and sanitation

A total of 10 islands experienced disruption to toilet and cleansing facilities.
Ten islands experienced health related issues. Spread of viral fever and
diarrhea, shortage of medicines and flooding of health infrastructure.
94
Livelihoods
Livelihood was severely affected in 17 islands. Agriculture was severely hit
by strong wind and flooding caused by heavy rainfall for several days.
Among the reported cases, L. Fonadhoo farms of 47 households completely
destroyed. Several days of heavy rainfall destroyed farmland in L. Gadhoo
(50%), L. Maavah (90%), Sh. Milandhoo (55%), LGDh. Kodedhoo (80%).
In other islands perennial fruit trees (mango, breadfruit) & shade trees in the
home compounds and littoral forest was severely damaged. Few islands
experienced loss in fishing gears and farm machinery.
Conclusion
The challenges of climate change due to fluctuating temperatures, intense
rainfall and floods, draught, cyclone, typhoon, rising sea level, ocean
warming and acidification constitute the major barrier to achieve targets of
agriculture and food security, sustainable development and livelihoods of the
people. Both fisheries and agriculture sector have devastating effects
through loss of natural resources and livelihoods. Food security threats will
be further intensified by the loss of infrastructure in health, water, tourism,
transportation and energy sector. Climate change adaptation and mitigation is
important to address the climate change effects and create environment for
healthy and safe life. To achieve this strategic goal it is important to
appropriately plan and define sectoral objectives and secure investments to
achieve the needs and requirement of the sectors. These investments need to
be translated into productive outcomes in diversification of production
systems to cope with the climate change, boost availability of fish and food
crops through investments in infrastructure, education and awareness,
improve livelihood opportunities in food production and processing
especially for youth and women, strengthen infrastructure for food
distribution and improve nutrition and health status.
References
DNP. 2009. Malives fouryears after the Tsunami progress and remaining gaps.
Department of National Planning, Maldives.
DNP. 2012. Household income and expenditure survey (2009/2010). Department of
National Planning, Male, Maldives.
FAO. 2008. Cllimate change and food security: A framework document. Rome.
Gregory, P.J. 2005. Climate change and food security.
MEE. 2010. National economic and environment development studies. Ministry of
Environment and Energy, Maldives.
MEEW. 2006. Nationla Adaptation Program of Action. Ministry of Environment,
Energy and Water, Maldives.
95
MHF. 2010. Maldives demographic and health survey- 2009. Ministry of Health and
Family, Male.
MMA. 2012. Monthy economic review 201. Maldives Monitory Authority, Male'.
Moosa, S. 2006. Vulnerability and adaptation: Assessment of human health in the
Maldives, Male'.
UNDP. 2005. After the Tsunami rapid environmental assessment. United Nations
Development Program.
96
Chapter 6
Strategies to Climate Change in Nepal
B. R. Sapkota1 and S. Devkota2

1*
Senior Crop Development Officer 2Horticulture Development Officer
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Government of Nepal,
Singhdurbar, Kathmandu, Nepal
*Corresponding Author’s Email: bhoj.sapkota@nepal.gov.np
Abstract
Agriculture in Nepal is highly affected by climate change (CC) extreme
events such as drought, floods, land slide, and hailstone that lead to increase
crop losses, harshen food and nutrition security, and deteriorate the
livelihoods of people. Though there is mixed performance of cereal and
vegetable crops yield due to CC in short term, it would cost for agriculture
production and food security in long term if this issue remained unsolved
with sufficient responsive mechanisms. This paper highlights the CC
scenario and its impact on Nepalese agriculture; cascading policies and
programmatic efforts; institutional setup; coordination mechanism; human
resource; and infrastructure in Nepal to safeguard from CC induced
vulnerability. Nepal has paid serious concern with several policies and
program initiatives towards CC resilience and mitigation. However, greater
efforts rendered in addressing the extreme CC events in Nepal, the adaptation
and mitigation measures are handicapped by serious gaps: implementation
capacity, limited investment, weak research and innovation system, and
structural incompetency. Furthermore, there are lapses in coordination and
linkages between the three tiers of government, and across government and
non-government sectors; and hence country is losing its potential
opportunities to capitalize the advantage of synergetic efforts in climate
resilient building. Enhanced human resource capacity, informed decision
making process, strong enough institutions, competent research and
development structure, stronger policy and programmatic alignment,
prioritized financing and functional coordination between the stakeholders
are the prioritized need of the country towards climate resilient agriculture
for improving food and nutrition, sustained economic growth and prosperity.
Keywords: Climate change, climate smart agriculture, adaptation,
mitigation, Nepal
97
Introduction
Agricultural production system in Nepal is highly vulnerable to climate
change. It is estimated that about 82.9 % of Nepal's population lives in the
rural areas and agriculture remain the major source of their livelihoods (CBS,
2017a). Agriculture sector accounts for 27.6% of country’s Gross Domestic
Products (GDP), and around two third of population depends on agriculture
(MoF, 2018a). Most of them are small farmers with average size of holding
is 0.68 ha. and 51.87% of holding have land below 0.5 ha (CBS, 2013).
Despite of endowment with diversified settlements and ecosystems, Nepalese
agriculture is mostly driven by rain fed (Shrestha & Zinck, 2001) and
agricultural productivity is strongly correlated with changing climatic
situation. As temperature has been increasing since the decade of 1960s,
particularly atmospheric temperature is rising at higher level as compared to
other non-mountainous countries. Variation on rainfall pattern in term of
intensity and period, problems of drought, landslide and abnormal seasonal
temperature are the visible effects of CC (Malla, 2008) in Nepal. Many
developing countries including Nepal are at more risk from CC (IPCC, 2014)
and growing concerns of increasing agricultural productivity and food
security (Karn, 2014).
Since, most of population depends heavily on relatively fragile ecosystems,
agriculture is highly affected by climate variability, uncertainty and
extremes. Natural resources degradation coupled with increasing trend of
climatic risks creates the overriding challenge to sustain Nepalese agriculture
and it is estimated that CC costs average about 1.5-2% of current GDP per
year (IDS et al., 2014). As Nepal is at the frontline of vulnerable country to
the risks of CC, slight changes in the climatic parameter can have serious
impact on the livelihood of the poor people; and they have to face paramount
challenge to build their ability for CC adaptation and reducing their
vulnerability. It requires an urgent need to identify and promote sustainable
technologies and practices that can increase resilience of farmer and can
contribute in achieving food security and agricultural development goals.
In this scenario, country needs to appropriately orient its agricultural
production system towards Climate smart agriculture (CSA). CSA approach
integrates economic, social and environmental dimension of the sustainable
development and with the improved management and utilization of natural
resources and adoption of appropriate methods and technologies throughout
the value chain of agricultural commodities. Categorically, CSA approach
bases on three foundations, namely; sustained increase in agricultural
productivity and income; adapting and building resilience to CC; and
limiting emission of greenhouse gases in possible areas (FAO, 2013).
Nepal has adopted several policies and programs for building resilience to
CC. CSA has been addressed by different policies and programs of CC
98
mitigation and adaptation, while it is not sufficiently integrated into periodic
and annual agricultural development plans and programs. However, for the
country like Nepal having diverse agro-climatic zones, CSA is highly
relevant approach to contribute in achieving the Sustainable Development
Goal, particularly SDG- -I, SDG- II, and SDG-XIII.
Climate Change and Its Impacts on Agriculture

Maximum and minimum temperature trend
The maximum temperature of the country was estimated to increase at the
rate of 0.06 oC/year during 1977 to 1994. The trend was more prevailed in the
northern high altitude region as compared to national average. Similarly,
warming was more pronounced in post monsoon estimated to be
0.081oC/year and in winter season 0.061oC/year as compared to other seasons
(Shrestha et al., 1999). The another analysis of climate data of the period of
1961 to 2012 showed the trend of maximum temperature at the rate of
0.037oC/year in the country, indicating the highest value for higher altitude
and the lowest value for low plain of Terai (DHM, 2015). Whereas
Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) concluded the maximum
temperature trend for the period of 1971 to 2013 was 0.056 oC/year, with
highest positive trend for monsoon season (0.058 oC/year) and highest
positive trend (0.086 oC/year) for high Himalayas region (DHM, 2017).
Recently, an analysis of the data from 1901 to 2014 revealed that the annual
mean surface air temperature significantly increased in the Hindu Kush
Himalayan (HKH) region at a rate of about 0.10 °C per decade whereas the
rate was almost double (0.2 °C per decade) during last 50 years (Krishnan,
2019).
The minimum temperature of the country was increasing at the rate of
0.012oC/year during the period of 1961 to 2012 (DHM, 2015). Whereas, the
minimum temperature trend of the country was 0.002oC/year during the period
between 1971 and 2013. There was highest positive trend of minimum
temperature in Terai region (0.018oC/year) and, contrastingly, negative trend in
high Himalayas (-0.015oC/year). Similarly, during this period, highest positive
trend of minimum temperature was for monsoon season, whereas, decreasing
trend for winter, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons (DHM, 2017).
Precipitation trend and monsoon shift

DHM (2017) estimated precipitation trend was found to be -1.333 mm per
year for the period of 1971 to 2013. There was highest decreasing trend
(-3.17mm/year) in high mountain region, and the post-monsoon season of the
country has highest decreasing trend with the value of -0.324mm/year
(DHM, 2017). During the period of 1968 to 2014, the date of departure of the
summer monsoon has been delayed by 5 days per decade (DHM, 2015).
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Extreme event trends
Time series weather data (1971-2013) of DHM showed the extreme
precipitation is significantly increasing in North-Western and Northern areas
of Nepal. Number of rainy days are increasing mainly in North-Western
districts, whereas very wet days and extremely wet days are decreasing
mainly in the Northern areas. The warm days and warm night trends are also
increasing significantly, the cool days are decreasing, while and cool nights
are increasing significantly in the northern and North-western parts, and cool
nights are decreasing significantly in the south-eastern districts (DHM,
2017).
The extreme events estimation in Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region
revealed that occurrences of extreme cold days and nights have declined
during 1901 to 2014 at the rate of 0.85 days and 2.40 days per decade,
respectively. In contrast, occurrences of extreme warm days and nights have
increased for the same period at the rate of 1.26 days and 2.54 days per
decade, respectively (Krishnan, 2019). More than 90% respondents of the
large scale household survey (5060 household sample) reported that the
monsoon rainfall has decreased, while temperature and consequent drought
increased and shift in the seasonal time (CBS, 2017b) over the last 25 years.
The Government of Nepal (GoN) estimated that climate related disasters lost
worth at about NRs. 17,252 million during the period between 2010 and
2018. The climate induced events during this period were flood, flash flood,
heavy rainfall, windstorm, hailstone, epidemic, landslide, avalanche and cold
wave. Among these events, flood, landslide and heavy rainfall account
90.30%, 7.31% and 1.78%, respectively of the total loss (NDRRP, 2019).
Nepal's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission

Estimation of the GHGs emission from energy, industrial processes,
agriculture and waste (without Land use, land-use change, and forestry-
LULUCF) was 29,347 CO2-eq Gg in 1994; 24,541 CO2-eq Gg in 2000; and
30,011 CO2-eq Gg in 2008. This showed slightly increase in GHGs emission
during the period of 1994 to 2008 (MOSTE, 2014). Government estimated
that Nepal's contribution to the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is
only about 0.027 % (MOPE, 2016).
A recent study estimated the trend of the GHG (CO2, CH4, N2O) emission of
Nepal from 1970 to 2012 (Figure 1) showed that Nepal's GHG emission was
28,700 kton CO2 equivalent in 1990; 30,760 kton CO2 equivalent in 1995;
32,930 kton CO2 equivalent in 2000; 34,360 kton CO2 equivalent in 2005;
37,990 kton CO2 equivalent in 2010; and 39,230 kton CO2 equivalent in 2011.
Similarly, estimated value of the GHG emission for 2012 was 40,550 kton CO2
equivalent, which was 0.087% of total global emission for the same year
(Janssens-Maenhout et al., 2017a; Janssens-Maenhout et al., 2017b).
100
45000
emissions in kton CO2eq /

40000
GHG (CO2, CH4, N2O) 35000
30000 CO2
year 25000
20000 N2O
15000 CH4
10000 Nepal Total GHG
5000
0
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Figure 1. Estimated GHG (CO2, CH4, N2O) emission of the Nepal
Source: Janssens-Maenhout et al. (2017a & 2017b)
CAIT Climate Data Explorer also estimated 44.09 metric ton CO2 equivalent
GHGs (including Land-Use Change and Forestry- LUCF) emission of Nepal for
2014 that account 0.09% to the total of world emission for the same year. It
is estimated that 52% of the total GHGs emission is only comes from
agriculture sector (CIAT et al., 2017) and the major agricultural contributing
activities to GHGs emissions are enteric fermentation (55%), rice cultivation
(14%), manure left on pastures (13%), manure management (5%), manure
applied to soils (3%), synthetic fertilizers (3%), crop residues (3%),
cultivation of organic soils (3%), and burning crop residues (1%).
Climate induced risks

Global Climate Risk Index (CRI), developed by German watch, ranked
Nepal the fourth most affected countries by the extreme weather impacts
after Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, and Dominica in 2017 (Eckstein et al., 2018).
Notre Dame Global Adaptive Initiative (ND-GAIN) index score- indicates
the vulnerability (in six life-supporting sectors) of the country's exposure,
sensitivity and ability to adapt the impact of CC, Nepal’s position at the
135th out of 181 countries (UND, 2019). National Adaptation Program of
Action (NAPA) to CC 2010 also admitted that country is facing multitude of
challenges related to CC, namely shrinking glaciers that is expediting
frequency of glacial lake overflow and flash floods; landslides; more erratic
precipitation; and alterations in the pattern of temperatures, winds, fog and
hailstorms. It is estimated that 1.9 million people are highly vulnerable to
risks associated with CC and 10 million additional people will be threatened
by the same risks in future (MoSTE, 2010).
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Future projection of climate change
General Circular Model (GCM) projected the changes in temperature and
precipitation pattern for the future. Agrawala et al. (2003) showed that the
annual mean temperature of the country would continue to increase by 1.2
o
C, 1.7 oC and 3.0oC by the year 2030, 2050 and 2100, respectively.
Similarly, the annual mean precipitation would also continue to increase by
5%, 7.3% and 12.6% by the year 2030, 2050 and 2100, respectively.
Furthermore, magnitude of changes for summer monsoon, i.e. period of June,
July and August, is expected to be higher for the future that may increase the
risk of flooding and landslides.
The CC projection based on the analysis of historical data3 of Nepal has
shown alarming situation of the climate in future. The average temperature
change projected by 2050s and 2080s is 2.47°C and 4.29°C, respectively
(APN, 2005). The summary of the temperature and precipitation projection
based on 13-GCM model is mentioned below (Table 1).
Table 1. Climate change projection for Nepal

Seasons Temperature Change (°C) Precipitation Change (%)
A24 Scenario A2 Scenario
2020s 2050s 2080s 2020s 2050s 2080s
Annual 1.24 ± 0.20 2.47 ± 0.33 4.29 ± 0.47 -3.60 ± 3.08 1.81 ± 4.76 6.22 ± 6.56
Summer 1.05 ± 0.11 2.09 ± 0.18 3.67 ± 0.24 -0.76 ± 4.07 5.88 ± 6.67 14.98 ± 9.74
Winter 1.49 ± 0.11 2.89 ± 0.14 4.96 ± 0.19 -11.74 ± 2.69-10.93 ± 3.63-17.58 ± 2.53
Source: APN (2005)
Similarly, NCVST (2009), using General Circular Model (GCM), also

projected the remarkable increase in the temperature and precipitation in
future (Table 2).
3 Mean monthly data for maximum and minimum temperatures from 1975 to 2005 for 20
stations and mean precipitation data from 1971 to 2005 for 67 stations.
4 The A2 scenario stands for the condition characterized by a world of independently
operating, self-reliant nations; continuously increasing population; regionally oriented

economic development and low emissions.
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Table 2. Projection of changes in temperature and precipitation in Nepal
Parameter Year (%)
2030 2060 2090
Mean value of Annual Temperature 1.4 (0.5 - 2.0) 2.8 (1.7-4.1) 4.7 (3.0-6.3)
Changes (oC) projection
Mean value of Annual precipitation 0 (-34 to +22) 4.0 (-36 to +67) 8 (-43 to +80)
changes (%) Changes projection
Note: Value in parenthesis represent range
Source: NCVST (2009)
Furthermore, this study also projected that temperature increases are lower in
Eastern Nepal than Western and Central region by the 2090s. The frequency
of hot days in the pre-monsoon period are projected to increase 15-55 % by
the 2060s and 26-69 % by the 2090s. The frequency of hot nights in the pre-
monsoon period are projected to increase 15-55 % by the 2060s and 26-69 %
by the 2090s. Heavy rainfall is projected to increase slightly in the monsoon
and post-monsoon seasons, and decrease slightly in the winter and pre-
monsoon seasons.
Based on the historical data for Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, it is
projected that this region will warm by 1.80 ± 0.40 °C even if global
warming is limited to 1.5 °C as agreed in Conference of the Parties (COP21)
in Paris to limit the increase of global mean annual surface air temperature
below 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels. Similarly, summer monsoon
precipitation is likely increase by 4–12% in the near future (2036–65) and by
4–25% in the long term (2066–95) for the same region (Krishnan, 2019).
The projections of CC indicate that significant warming is most likely to
happen in future leading to increased frequency of extreme events like floods
and droughts. There is a threat to the mountain environment that obviously
increases the number of hazardous events to have greater effects on social,
economic and environmental areas.
Impact of climate change on agriculture

Impact of increased atmospheric concentration of CO2 combined with
increased temperature and increased rainfall across the different agro-
ecological belts of Nepal had revealed varying levels of impact to the yield of
rice, wheat and maize crops (APN, 2005) (Table 3).
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Table 3. Yield variability of rice, wheat and maize at different altitudes as
influenced by CO2
Climatic Increase or decrease in yield to the baseline (%)
scenarios
Rice Wheat Maize
Terai Hill Mont* Terai Hill Mont. Terai Hill Mont.
Increase in 9.5 5.9 16.6 41.5 24.4 21.2 9.0 4.9 15.5
atmospheric
concentration of
CO2 by 250ppm.
Scenario of 1+4˚ 3.4 17.9 36.1 -1.8 5.3 33.3 -26.4 -9.3 26.8
C rise in
temperature
* Mont represent to mountain region.
Source: APN (2005)
Report of APN (2005) showed that rice yield increased in various levels
under these two conditions. Similarly, wheat yield impacted favourably in
case of mountains. However, increase in temperature had negatively
impacted the yield of maize crops for Terai and hill region. The yield of rice
and wheat increased by 26.6% and 18.4% due to double CO2; and by 17.1%
and 8.6% due to increase in temperature, respectively (Malla, 2008). There is
positive effect of CO2, temperature and precipitation in yield of rice and
wheat in all regions, but negative effect in maize especially in Terai. The
paddy yield data for 39 years revealed that as a degree rise in temperature in
September, decreases the rice production in Morang by 141 kg/ha, and every
degree rise in temperature during July-September decreases rice production
by 235 kg/ha (10.37% of the average production). Whereas, a degree rise in
the minimum temperature during the month of October increases the rice
yield in Rupandehi district by 222 kg/ha. In addition, rice production
increases by 0.50 kg/ha for every millimeter increase in rainfall during the
crop season. Similarly, it is revealed that every degree increase in the
maximum temperature in the month of January increases the wheat yield by
63 kg/ha in Morang. In line with that, every millimeter increase in rainfall
during January also increases the wheat yield by 4 kg/ha (MOSTE, 2014).
GoN projected the national loss in food production to be 5.3% in 2020s,
3.5% in 2050s and 12.1% in 2080s, Ceteris paribus. The loss of food grain
thus will accounts to 435 thousand metric tons in 2020s, 302 thousand metric
tons in 2050s, and 1040 thousand metric tons in 2080s (MOSTE, 2014).
The planting time of vegetable seed crop has been shifted by 13-25 days; and
there was also change in flowering (15-30 day) and ripening time of
vegetable seeds. Similarly, with the changes in climatic variables there was
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decrease in quantity and quality of seed, poor germination of seed, poor pod
and seed setting along with the change in crop canopy (Thapa, 2012). It is
also noticed that agro-ecological zones of Nepal is shifting, incidence of
pests and diseases is increasing, new invasive crop species are appearing and
crop genetic diversity is losing, and rice productivity in Mid-hill and Terai is
decreasing due to impacts of CC.
The increased temperature and relative humidity is said to be the increased
risks of aflatoxin development in feedstuffs whereby increasing the risks of
poisoning for animals (Pant, 2011). Climatic changes has increased incidence
of infertility (especially in cattle and buffaloes), and skin diseases for the
animal. Similarly, there is decreased in fodder and forage supply to livestock,
especially in eastern high hill regions. High prevalence of parasitic diseases
in almost all regions is also visible in Nepal (Thakur, 2011). CBS (2017)
reported that 60.25% households have observed emergence of new disease in
crops and 45.98 % household observed emergence of new diseases in
livestock.
Climate change effects might have both positive and negative advantages.
The net farm income is likely to be increased with low precipitation and high
temperature during the fall and spring seasons whereas farmer could increase
their farm income with relatively low temperature and enough precipitation
during the summer season (Thapa et al., 2015). The analysis of 36 years data
(1975 to 2010) showed that the precipitation has a positive impact on
agricultural GDP; as one additional millilitre of rainfall increases, NRs. 9.6
million values to the agricultural GDP increase. Whereas, one degree rise in
temperature would have loss in agricultural production leading to decreased
value addition by NRs. 542 million (Acharya and Bhatta, 2013).
Future annual impacts of CC on agriculture, hydroelectricity and water-
induced disasters would be equivalent to 2–3% of current GDP by 2050s, and
around 0.8% of current GDP in 2070s. The additional costs that would be
incurred for implementing resilience strategies in the agricultural and
irrigation sector estimated at US$1.7 billion (present value) for the period
2014–2030 and 21.76 % of that cost would be borne only by public sector
budget (IDS et al., 2014).
Adaptation and Mitigation Policies and Programs

Nepal has duly taken different policies and legal initiatives in line with the
various international conventions and covenants ratified by government, and
provisioned institutional mechanisms to achieve the overall development
goals through adaptation and mitigation measures. Nepal has committed to
the concept of green development to mitigate the impact of CC.
Implementation of strategic programs for national, sub-national, and local
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adaptation, initiation of carbon trade, address and internalization of
environment sensitive issues are the major efforts made by government with
the involvement of national and international non-governmental
organizations. Environment friendly local governance program is in
implementation phase in 11 district of Nepal. It has institutionalized the
environment impact evaluation system to integrate environment management
issues in the development programs. The provision of CC budget code has
been initiated and different local adaptation programs are under
implementation to bring National Adaptation Plan into action. Nepal has also
kicked off its effort to implement the Paris Agreement 2015. Standards
related to air quality and vehicle pollution is being implemented by the
government. There is good start that Nepal has started to receive income
from carbon trade under the provision of Kyoto Protocol.
Plan and policy initiatives on climate change

Following are the major plans and policies in Nepal to address the climate
change impacts.
i. Climate Change Policy, 2011.
ii. National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA), 2010.
iii. Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA), 2012.
iv. Climate-resilient planning tool, 2011.
v. Climate Change Budget Code, 2012.
vi. Agricultural Development Strategy, 2014.
vii. Periodic plan, 2015.
viii. Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF), 2017.
ix. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), 2016.
Highlights of the major policies
Climate Change Policy (CCP) 2011

The CCP has been adopted by government since 2011 with the goal of
improving livelihood of people through mitigation and adoption measures to
combat the CC impact; adopting a low-carbon emission based socio-
economic development path; and supporting and collaborating nations to
comply its CC related national and international commitments. CCP has
adopted adaptation and mitigation measures to address the issues of CC
impact with seven ambitious quantitative targets. The major thematic policies
adopted by the CCP are: climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction; low
carbon development and climate resilience; access to financial resources and
utilization; capacity building, peoples’ participation and empowerment; study
and research; technology development, transfer and utilization; and climate-
106
friendly natural resources management. This policy has explicitly mentioned
that at least 80 % of available funds should be allocated for field-level CC
activities. This policy give thrust to develop and adapt modern water
conserving technologies; clean and green technologies; low methane emitting
agricultural technologies; climate-friendly technologies; drought and
submergence tolerant crop varieties; and climate-resilient structures and
infrastructure.
National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) 2010

NAPA -2010 has been formulated to address the most urgent and immediate
adaptation needs for least developed country party to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was developed as
a strategic tool that guides the assessment of climatic variability and lead to
systematically respond to CC adaptation issues by developing appropriate
adaptation measures. NAPA has given due priority to the community based
adaptation, building adaptive capacity of vulnerable people, community
based disaster management, glacial lake outburst monitoring and disaster risk
reduction, forest and ecosystem management, adopting to climate challenges
in public health, ecosystem approach for climate adaptation, and promoting
climate smart urban settlement (MoE, 2010). There are about 250 adaptation
options to the CC where 43 are the most urgent and immediate adaptation
actions. The adaptation options are arranged into nine cluster based
combined projects and estimated the financial need of around $350 million to
implement those projects.
National Framework on Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPA) 2011

LAPA -2011is implemented with prioritized adaptation actions at the local
level where the most climate vulnerable people residing. This plan has ensure
integration of CC adaptation and resilience measures into local and national
plans through bottom up approach (GoN, 2011). LAPA has outlined the
process for local adaptation planning consisting of sensitization, assessment
of vulnerability and adaptation, prioritization of adaptation options, LAPA
formulation, its integration into planning, implementation and progress
assessment.
Climate Resilience Planning Tool (2011)

Government has adopted climate resilience planning to guide development
organizations in formulating climate resilient plans and programs with wider
understanding of climatic variables at local level and follow desired adoption
activities that will subdue the climate induce impact in the present and future
while implementing development plans and programs (NPC, 2011).
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Financial Management Reform and Adoption of Climate Change Budge
Code 2012
Integrated Financial Management Information System have been introduced
by the GoN to reform the country's Public Financial Management systems
addressing CC issues. Similarly, various planning, budgeting and expenditure
tracking systems have been already on board (MoF, 2017; MoF, 2018a).
Climate Change Budge Code was introduced from fiscal year 2013/14 in
Nepal in view of tracking public expenditure in the CC relevant programs
and project facilitating the prioritization of development investment on the
most vulnerable areas.
Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) 2014

ADS is the long-term visionary plan for agriculture and allied disciplinary
development for 20 years (2015-2035) in Nepal. ADS focused on climate
change adaptation and mitigation for sustainable agricultural development
(MoAD, 2017). The plan duly considered increasing resilience to CC and
disaster, price volatility and other shocks are important measures for higher
productivity. The major activities in line with higher productivity outcomes
are: develop stress tolerant varieties and breeds of crops, livestock and fish;
establish an early warning system, establish climate information and weather
indexation systems; promote agricultural insurance; strengthen the food, seed
and feed/fodder reserve system; improve capacity of extension staff and
farmers; and establish a fund for preparedness and response to droughts,
flood, epidemics and emergencies. Furthermore, ADS has adopted different
measures for biodiversity conservation and CC adaptation and mitigation
measures: support the LAPA for CC, revision and implementation of
National Biodiversity and Action Plan, scale up the interventions on soil
conservation and watershed management- to promote adoption of sloping
agriculture land technology, and crop management practices, implement and
scale up schemes related to payment of environmental services etc.
Climate Change Agenda in Periodic Plan of Nepal

Nepal is integrating CC adaptation and mitigation measures in periodic plan.
CC agenda remains the critical for most of the development sectors like
agriculture, forestry, energy etc. The major programs of the country under
fourteenth periodic plan (NPC, 2017) for the period 2016/17-2018/19 are
institutional strengthening; environment protection and promotion;
environment pollution control and monitoring; environment impact
evaluation and assessment, CC adaptation and mitigation, strengthening of
hydrology and meteorology services, pilot projects on CC resilience; and
study and management of glaciers and risk associated with glacial outburst.
GoN is in the phase of formulating Fifteen Development Plan for the period
of 2019/20-2023/24. The approach paper of this plan focused to increase
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adaptation and mitigation capacity to the CC impacts through the
implementation of Paris Agreement; implement environment friendly, clean
energy and green development concept for the mitigation of CC; and
equitable distribution of international finance and technological benefits.
Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF) 2017

Nepal has launched Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF) in 2017
as a strong commitment of the government towards institutional reforms and
building capacities of the government to address the issues of CC. The CCFF
prioritized to address the major policy challenges to climate finance in Nepal
through establishment of the appropriate tools to ensure that most vulnerable
people receive the prime benefit of fund flow as it has marked that 80% of
climate budget allocation should be directed at the local level. This will
improve the climate finance readiness by strengthening existing public
financial management structures, improve effectiveness of existing climate
finance; and strengthen the implementation capacity.
Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2016

Nepal submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the
UNFCCC in October 2016. With the aim of achieving the goal as outlined in
the Paris Agreement, NDC outlines country's planned contribution. In a bid
to protect livelihood and ecosystem services from the impacts of CC, it has
duly realized the value of adaptation and resilience building and GoN
through this document expresses its sincere commitment to a localized
approach in coherence with LAPA and facilitate the process of managing
climate finance that could reach to the vulnerable people at local level
(MoPE, 2016).
National Adaptation Plan (NAP)

With the aspiration to reduce the vulnerability to CC and facilitate the
integration of CC adaptation in policies, programs and activities across
different sectors and levels, the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process is in
the formulation phase. Nepal has adopted an approach to its NAP process
that fits its specific context, considering the typical climatic and geographic
characteristics of the country, governance and development paradigm
(MoFE, 2018).
LAPA has ensured the localized adoption of CSA approach to the local level
whereas CCP further widens the scope of scaling up CSA at local level as it
has provisioned the 80 % of available funds to be allocated for field-level CC
activities. The ADS has also sufficiently covered the gravity of CSA
principles, however, it needs to be backed up by local specific action plan
with clear target. In the context of recent federalization of the state, concerns
are growing that there is weak linkage and coordination across the three tiers
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of the government (Subedi et al., 2018). It demands greater efforts to ensure
that these policies are well harmonized up to local levels. There is growing
role of Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA),
Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE) and other sectoral ministries to
make this happen immediately.
Major programmatic efforts

Prioritized budget allocation
Since the initiation of Climate Change Budget Code in fiscal year 2013/14,
total of CC budget allocation has been increased. The total CC budget for the
fiscal year 2013/14 was about NRs. 53,482.5 million and this value has been
reached to NRs. 489,563.9 million in the fiscal year 2018/19. The trend of
the allocated budget for highly relevant and relevant categories is increasing
(Figure 2). However, the trend of CC budget share for highly relevant
programs is not encouraging (below 6% of the annual budget) and even
decreased during last two fiscal years (4.51% and 4.61% of the total annual
budget for the fiscal year 2017/18 and 2.18/19, respectively) as compared to
initial four fiscal years (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Share of climate change budget in years national budget

Source: MoF (2013; 2014; 2015; 2016; 2017b & 2018a)
The public expenditure in agriculture sector was NRs. 1314.3 Million (in
constant 2011 price), which would be only 0.28% of the Agricultural Gross
Domestic Product (AGDP) in the year 2012 (Stads et al., 2015). During the
fiscal year 2016/17, Nepal government has allocated NRs. 2456.41 Million
(in current price) for the research program of the Nepal Agriculture Research
Council (NARC) and which would be around 0.33% of the AGDP for the
same period (MoF, 2016 & MoF, 2018b). While, the expenditure and
allocated budget in the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in this
sector is not available due to scattered nature of the program activities.
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Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) has focused on doubling agricultural
productivity and income of small-scale farmers by 2030. Similarly, GoN is
proposing ambitious target of achieving double-digit economic growth in the
next five-year plan (NPC, 2019). The government needs to prioritize this
sector in the future to protect the driving sectors of the economy like
agriculture and forestry, energy, water, infrastructure along with appropriate
plan of action in order to cope with emerging threats of CC. In other hand,
simply budget allocation doesn't always mean that resources were well
channelized in concerned sector, as the overall expenditure capacity of the
country is very low (Ghimire and Bhusal, 2015; CIAT et al., 2017). So, it is
imperative that government should not only allocate budget but also increase
its absorptive capacity in a right way.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation programs in agriculture

There are lots of efforts made by different sectoral ministries of the GoN,
International/Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Based
Organizations and other sectors with specified programs. For instance, the
major programs related to CC are: Pilot Project on Climate Resilience
(PPCR); Climate Resilient Extensive Drinking Water Project; REDD-
Forestry and Climate Change Cell, Building Climate Resilience of
Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions, Nepal Climate Change Support
Program etc. for the fiscal year 2018-19 (MoF, 2018a).
Some of the major CSA efforts made are: System of Rice Intensification
(SRI); green manure; conservation tillage practices; minimum/zero tillage
(direct seeding –wheat and rice); use of plastic house and water sprinklers;
sustainable agriculture soil and water conservation; slope stabilization and
landslide control; rainwater harvesting, plastic ponds; rangeland and forage
improvement; cultivation on river beds and shrub land; livestock shed
improvement; bio-energy; and adoption of biogas. These efforts are at initial
stage and proved as the successful approaches for combating CC, so need to
scale up further (Joshi, 2015). The major mitigation action are: farmers' field
schools for insect pest management, development and adoption of
submergence, drought, disease, and pest resistant crop varieties in the context
of CC adaptation capacity building.
Recently, MoALD is piloting Good Agricultural Practices integrating CC in
planning and budgeting process at federal, provincial and local level in
Nepal. Furthermore, other initiatives like crop modeling, yield forecasting,
disease forecasting, weather based insurance system in apple farms, crop and
livestock insurance system, conservation and optimum utilization of natural
resources, improvement, utilization and promotion of traditional and
indigenous crop varieties have been practiced as adaptation and mitigation
strategies for the CC in Nepal. Recent initiatives of Nepal to expand the area
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under spring rice, development of drought and submergence tolerant varieties
are some of the adaptation programs for Paddy. The varietal development
programs are highly concerned to build the adaptation capacity of Nepalese
farmers to the impact CC. There is long list of varieties of different crops,
developed by NARC, which have favorable varietal characteristics in the
context of changing climate scenario in Nepal and some of them for rice,
maize and wheat are mentioned below (Table 4).
Table 4. Major varieties (rice, maize and wheat) having adaptive capacity
on adverse climatic conditions in Nepal
Character Varieties
Rice
Cold tolerant Lekali Dhan-1 ,Lekali Dhan-3, Chandannath-1,
Chandannath – 3
Drought tolerant Radha-14,Sugandhit Dhan-1, Sukhkha Dhan-4,
Sukhkhadhan-5, Sukhkhadhan-6, Barkhe-2014,
Sukkhadhan-3, Sukkhadhan-2, Sukkha Dhan-1,
Khumal-13, Khumal-10, Tarahara 1, Hardinath-2,
Ghaiya – 1, Khumal-8, Barkhe-3004, Ram Dhan,
Mithila, Hardinath-1, Radha-4,
Water Ceiharang Sub-1, Swarna Sub-1, Samba Masuli Sub-1,
logging/Submergence Makawanpur-1
tolerant
Disease/Insect Pest Lekali Dhan-1, Lekali Dhan-3, Sukhkha Dhan-4
tolerant
Maize
High temperature Rampur Hybrid-10 and Rampur Hybrid-8, Arun-6
tolerant
Drought tolerant Rampur Hybrid-6, Rampur Hybrid-4 and Khumal
Hybrid-2,
Lodging tolerant Resunga Composite and Manakamana-6
Disease/Insect pest Rampur Hybrid-6, Arun-3, Arun-6, Khumal Hybrid-2,
tolerant Manakamana-6
Wheat
High temperature Tilottama, Danphe, Gaura, Vijaya, NL 971, Aditya,
tolerant Gautam
Drought tolerant Banganga
Disease/Insect pest Munal (UG 99 resistant), Chyakhura, Banganga,
tolerant/resistant Danphe, Gaura, Vijaya (UG 99 resistant), NL 971,
Aditya, Gautam
Source: SQCC (2017)
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In case of livestock sector, livestock population management and genetic
improvement (management and animal breeding, increase production
efficiency, reduction in the number of low productive cattle, disposal of
unproductive animals, improved feeding practices), manure management,
pasture management (avoid over grazing and careful selection of new
species) are the major programs for adaptation and mitigation.
Institutions and Infrastructures for Adaptation and Mitigation

Nepal has made commitment of the UNFCCC in managing CC impact. The
country has taken cascading efforts through policy and programmatic
initiatives. GoN has provided serious concern on CC and its impacts on
agriculture. Nepal has undergone restructuring and three tiers of Government
have been set up as per the new constitution. In each level of Government,
various institutions are functioning based on their competencies. The
summary of the major institutions in the agriculture sector under Federal,
Provincial and Local Governments is shown in Figure 3.
Institutional framework- federal, provincial and local governments

The MoALD is central responsible institution for policy and program
management for the country. The Agro-biodiversity and Environment
Section under the ministry has been established in MoALD to work as a
coordinating unit to handle CC issues on agriculture sector. Indeed, the
MoALD has limited capacity and human resources to sufficiently deal and
negotiate the matters as committed by government in the national and
international context. At province level, Ministry of Land Management,
Agriculture and Cooperative (MoLMAC) is the major responsible
government body to coordinate with different stakeholders working in
agriculture sector with the objective of developing CC resilience. Similarly,
Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC) and Veterinary Hospital and
Livestock Service Expert Centre, under the administrative control of
concerned MoLMAC, are established on district level to provide expert
service /knowledge to the local people. Whereas, ground level information is
collected by the agriculture service center as well as agriculture section of
municipality and on the basis of which technology dissemination is done at
local level. Broadly, the responsibility of managing over all CC responses
collectively rests upon following institutions (Figure 3) with separate areas of
expertise.
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• Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development
• Line ministries and Department of Hydrology and Meteriology
• Department of Agriculture and Department of Livestock Services
Federal • National Agriculture Research Council
• Tribhuvan University, Agriculture and Forestry University
• Ministry of Land Mangement, Agriculture and Cooperatives (7)

• Agriculture /Livestock Development Directorate (14)
Province
• Agriculture Knowledge Centre (51)

• Veterinary Hospital and Expert Service Centre (48)
District/ • Agriculture section of municipality and service centre
Local level (753)
Figure 3. Summary of the major agricultural institutions under Federal,

Provincial and Local Governments
Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE)

Coordinating efforts to facilitate and integrate the climate policy into sector
polices lies with the terms of reference of MoFE. The ministry serves as the
designated national authority to UNFCCC. It has designated separate Climate
Change Management Division responsible for the coordination of CC
responses.
National Planning Commission (NPC)

NPC is responsible for formulating plan and policies in response to CC into
the annual and medium term development planning process. Furthermore,
coordination of mainstreaming CC within the development plans lies with
the NPC. Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is also within the administrative
control of NPC.
Ministry of Finance (MoF)

The responsibility of MoF is accessing and managing climate finance for
proposed climate programs. It is the National Designated Authority (NDA)
of Nepal for Global Climate Fund (GCF) and International Economic
Cooperation Coordination Division (IECCD), under MoF, functions as the
Contact Point for GCF.
Sector Ministries
Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) plays a
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key role in supporting the implementation at the provincial and local level.
Department of Irrigation and DHM are the entities under the Ministry of
Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation. Ministry of Agriculture and
Livestock Development (MoALD) is the mandated Ministry to take the
initiative of developing and disseminating climate smart technology. Nepal
Agriculture Research Council (NARC), Department of Agriculture (DoA),
Department Livestock Services (DLS) are major institutions related to CC
adoption and mitigation in agriculture sector. NARC has got mandate of
developing various climate resilient technologies through the various
commodity and cross cutting research programs. While, DoA and DLS are
responsible for extension of pertinent technologies.
Despite of institutional arrangement, there is wide gap in translating their
designated role into action. There is very limited capacity of NPC and
sectoral ministries to examine and evaluate the mitigation and adaptation
measures of CC. Furthermore, the sectoral ministries are far behind to
concentrate their focus on CC while formulating and implementing their
regular programs.
Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC)

NARC, established in 1991, is the apex body responsible for developing
agricultural technologies and coordinating agricultural research activities.
NARC shares more than 80% of the total investment made in research and
development in terms of budget and human resources (Stads, et al., 2015). It
has research mandate for agronomic, horticultural and pasture crop,
livestock, aquaculture, natural resources, postharvest, CC, and the
agricultural economics. Regional Agriculture Research Stations (RARS) and
commodity research programs of NARC are working on all around the
countries aiming technology development and validation in agriculture.
Stations and programs led by senior scientist and are provisioned with certain
research space and infrastructure like laboratory and agro meteorological
station to conduct different research activities (NARC, 2018). There is
separate Agricultural Environment Research Division (AERD) under NARC.
This division has initiated the development of climatic data base for different
locations of the country with the aim of facilitating evidence based research
and technology development. This division has also started to conduct
studies of temporal and spatial adaptive capacity of different technologies,
especially crop varieties, under different ecological location to screen out the
best possible adaptive measures to cope the effects of CC (AERD, 2017).
Various International/Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Based
Organizations, farmers group and cooperatives are aggressively working on
the agriculture sector to combat negative effect of CC as well as development
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and adoption of CC adaptation strategies in local and regional level.
Coordination mechanisms for reducing climate change effects

The CC issues is complicated that needs the active involvement and
contributions of GOs, NGOs, INGOs Community Based Organizations, and
Civil Societies. Realizing this fact, the GoN has formulated coordinating
mechanism as discussed below.
Climate Change Council (CCC)

It is a high-level coordinating body chaired by Rt. Honorable Prime Minister
and it has been constituted on 23 July 2009.
Climate Change Coordination Committee (CCCC)

It is a coordination committee for implementing climate change projects.
This committee is chaired by Hon. Minister of the MoFE.
Multi-stakeholder Coordination Committee Initiative on Climate Change

(MCCICC)
It is a committee under the chair of Secretary of MoFE that aims to integrate
different CC programs and programs and coordinated CC response in Nepal.
This committee constitutes the representatives from relevant ministries and
institutions, international and national nongovernment organizations,
academia, private sector, and donors.
Infrastructure for CSA research and extension

The Department of Agriculture, DLS, Department of Food Technology and
Quality Control (DFTQC), and farm centers under MoALD are the major
extension service provider. At present MoALD at federal level has 12
agriculture farm centers and 20 livestock resource centers across the country.
These centers serve as the resource centers for agricultural technology inputs
and act as the demonstrator of technologies. These farms and centers have
its own land and infrastructure (like building, vehicles, laboratory, training
centers, meteorological equipment, publications etc.) to provide the ground
level extension service to the farmers. Recently, Vegetable Crop
Development Centre, Khumlatar has been transforming to climate smart farm
with the objective of demonstration of climate smart seedling production
technology.
At provincial level, under MoLMAC, Agriculture Development Directorate
and Livestock Development Directorate, training centers, few farm centers,
Agriculture Knowledge Centers are involved in provisioning of extension
service. While, local level extension service is provided by agriculture
section of municipality and rural municipality as well as agriculture service
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centre of concerned local governments.
Communication infrastructure for agricultural extension

Different televisions and FM radios programs are disseminating technologies
in the country. Meanwhile, the development of ICTs providing information
dissemination to the farmers with toll free number, websites, mobile apps
like Hamro Krishi, Krishi Ghar etc. In 2016 the concept of Kishan Call
Centre (Farmers Call Center) was brought under MoALD, which has been
expended to 25 Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) Project
districts.
Infrastructure of NARC
NARC has total of 3 Institutes, 5 Regional Agricultural Research Center, 16
disciplinary Divisions, 5 cross-cutting Divisions, 16 commodity research
programs, 12 area specific Agricultural Research Stations. NARC has also
well facilitated Gene Bank where 11120 accessions of different crop species
have been conserved for future research and development. NARC has 65
different laboratories in 28 research stations. All most all regional centers
and commodity programs are provisioned with certain research land, office
buildings, labs, and other accessories. All together 1272.11 ha land, 902
buildings is entitled to NARC (NARC, 2018). However, there is crucial need
of infrastructure development and maintenance; and additional equipment
and facilities to carry out the research program effectively.
Infrastructure of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM)

DHM is mandated organization to monitor all the hydrological and
meteorological activities in Nepal, has wide range of scope of work like
monitoring of river hydrology, climate, agro-meteorology, sediment, air
quality, water quality, limnology, snow hydrology, glaciology, and wind and
solar energy. DHM provides general and aviation weather forecasts
regularly. Total of 337 precipitation stations, 154 hydrometric stations, 20
sediment stations, 68 climatic stations, 22 agrometeorological stations, 9
synoptic stations and 6 Aero-synoptic stations are present under DHM and
data are collected regularly with the support of data collection facilities like
wireless communication, meteor burst, radiosonde, Satellite Distribution
Information System (SADIS), Weather Fax, and satellite picture receiving
system. There is also wireless system to connect Kathmandu to 54 stations of
Nepal for climatic and hydrological data collection and has also equipped
with Global Telecommunication System (GTS) that links DHM to the global
meteorological community.
Universities
There are three universities, which are actively involved on human resource
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development via agriculture education. Agriculture and Forestry University,
Tribhuvan University, Purvanchal University are the academia, which is
producing more than 1000 agriculture graduate per year. Most of the
Universities have separate Department dealing with Agricultural ecology and
environment and they are conducting research related to the climate and
agriculture, its adaptation and mitigation measures. Universities also provide
research grants and other resources for research.
International/Non-Governmental Organizations
Beyond the GoN, other organizations like International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development (ICIMOD), International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Action Aid,
CARE Nepal, Clean Energy, Department for International Development
(DFID), Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), FOREST
Action, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), National Trust
for Nature Conservation (NTNC), Practical Action, United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) Nepal, Winrock International Nepal, Local
Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD), The
Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and
Development (CEAPRED), Climate Change Network Nepal etc. are working
on CC research.
Human Resources for Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate

Change in Agriculture
Competent human resource is an integral part of technology development and
transfer. As CC issues are relatively recent, dynamic and complex for Nepal,
human resource factor matters most. So, human capability part needs to be duly
considered by all institutions dealing with CC issue. During the NAPA
formulation and adoption phase, government had admitted the large gaps in the
knowledge and technology required to prepare CC projections and guide the
prioritization of risks and adaptation activities (MoSTE, 2010; ADB, 2017).
Human resources in agricultural research

There are about 403 full-time agricultural researchers are carrying
agricultural research activities in Nepal for the year of 2012 and estimated
that only 3.57 researchers are working for 100,000 farmers. The number of
researchers having qualification of PhD is even very low i.e. only 59.8 PhD
scholars in terms of full-time equivalents worked for the same year (Stads et
al., 2015). NARC is constrained by limited research manpower and
associated budget. The recent information (up to February 2019) estimated
that the number of total approved seats for researcher in NARC is 804 (Table
5), while only 70.9 % of the researchers are working and rest of researchers'
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seat vacant. It has been very tough situation for NARC to retain its human
resource.
Table 5. Manpower for agricultural research in NARC
Post Total approved seats Working Vacant seats
Scientist 158 129 29
Technical officer 376 250 126
Technical assistant (T5) 135 76 59
Technical assistant (T4) 135 115 20
Total 804 570 234
Source: Authors collection from NARC (2019)
It is also reported that the Government’s recommendations for crop varieties

do not always match the particular agro ecological areas where they are
recommended for. It is very imperative that there is critical need to build the
capacity of the technical manpower working at different level ranging from
federal to local. Furthermore, the plans are formulated without vulnerability
assessment and it is justified to orient technical manpower working at
different districts and municipalities to make them capable of assessing the
vulnerability of the own working area (MoALMC, 2018).
Human resource in agricultural extension

Increased adaptation of CSA technology is impossible without effective and
efficient human resource set up. At present, around 6291 seats of agriculture
technicians, with different capacities, have been provisioned under Federal,
Provincial and Local Government (Table 6).
Table 6. Total technical manpower (Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Food

technology and Agriculture engineering) under Federal, provincial
and local government
Level of personnel Permanent Temporary (Pool) Total
Secretary 2 - 2
Joint secretary 79 7 86
Under secretary 431 111 542
Officer 1917 149 2066
Junior Technicians (JT) 2445 85 2530
Junior Technical Assistant (JTA) 1039 26 1065
Total 5913 378 6291
Source: Authors collection from MoALD (2019)
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In general, extension personnel above the undersecretary level are engaged
more in policy and plan formulation activities and rest are supposed to
engage in delivery of the agricultural technology to the people. Most of
Officers, JT and JTAs are supposed to work at local level.
With the restructuring of the country, almost all function of the agriculture
extension is mandated to the Local Governments as per the constitution of
Nepal. There is increasing needs of the human resource to accomplish the
constitutionally mandated role and wider transfer of agricultural
technologies. The actual scenario of the availability of the agricultural
technicians is very critical that there is crunch of JT and JTA especially at the
local level. The Local Government are facing huge human resource gap in
their daily business to facilitate the process of agriculture technology
adoption at local level.
Government is providing various subsidies and incentives for adopting CSA
technologies in Nepal. However, there is serious gap in human resource for
the delivery of CSA technologies to the grass root as it is estimated that
present human resource is providing extension services to 20% of the farmers
in the country (MoALD, 2018).
The efforts made by different institutions under the theme of CSA are
sporadic and isolated and it is being tough to coordinate for developing
synergetic effects. In this context, it is realized that capacity building for
CSA planning and implementation could be better option for improved
governance and policy commitment to ensure the desired outcomes (CIAT et
al., 2017). The existing agriculture extension service should be strengthened
to upscale its climate-related communication capacity. There is very poor
vertical communication among agricultural institutions and the situation is
more aggravated in the context of recent restructuring of the nation into three
tiers of the Government as the proper mechanism for inter Government
linkages and coordination is still to be clear.
Best Practices of Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

In the path of climate smart agriculture, various activates related to research
and extension services are undergoing with the supports of different
international, national and local development partners. GoN has identified
several climate smart practices in its way to implement Climate Smart
Village (CSV) since fiscal year 2016/17. As per the Climate Smart Village
Procedure 2016 approved by Government, CSA technologies under six broad
pillars identified are mentioned below (Table 7).
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Table 7. Climate SMART agricultural practices adopted in Nepal
Water SMART technologies Soil nutrient SMART technologies
 Plastic lined water harvesting pond;  Use of FYM, Sheep/goat manure
 Straw and plastic mulching to and poultry manure to conserve
retain soil moisture and prevent and improve soil properties.
weed.  Compost manure to improve
 Drip irrigation for SMART and chemical and physical properties of
efficient use of water. soil.
 Rain water collection for dry  Jholmol (Locally made liquid
season irrigation. fertilizer);
 Soil solarization by different local
as well as advanced methods.
Crop and weather SMART Knowledge SMART technologies
technologies  Farmer to farmer technology
 Crop rotation, intercropping and transfer.
mixed cropping.  Agriculture Knowledge centers/
 Varietal selection and plant learning center.
breeding.  Weather forecasting and
 Weather based insurance system. recommendation of agriculture
activities.
 Network and Platforms (Trainings,
workshops, seminars etc.).
 Use of ICT on agriculture.
Energy SMART Marketing SMART technologies
 Incorporation of crop residue in  Collective marketing.
soil.  Cooperative marketing.
 Protected agriculture.  Scientific value chain management.
 Solar lift irrigation.
 Solar dryer.
 Use of hydropower energy.
CSV program is implemented in 14 districts of Nepal since 2016, so the

detail impact of CSV is yet to be furnished but the outputs are very
encouraging so far. Practice of conservation agriculture (for maize, wheat,
mustard), integrated pest management (for potato), and micro-irrigation and
water harvesting (for vegetables) are adopted in low scale. Adoption of some
technologies like precision nutrient management (for rice and maize) is
medium in degree whereas, same for wheat is low. Zero tillage is one of the
successful technology for relay cropping in case of lentil. Similarly, some of
the CSA practices like stall feeding combined with biogas plant, improved
farm yard manure, agro-forestry etc. in dairy sector (cow and buffalo); and
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improved sheds, stall feeding in case of goat (for meat purpose) are adopted
very low in scale (CIAT et al., 2017).
Government farms are also adopting some climate smart horticultural
technologies in Nepal (Atrey et al., 2019) and among them are Greenhouse
monitoring system; Farm Management System (Vegetable Crops
Development Center, Khumaltar); Mobile application for technology
dissemination on fruits, vegetables and flowers production; Sensor based
temperature and RH management by the use of mobile apps for greenhouses
(VCDC, Khumaltar); Quality sapling production of citrus fruits species under
screen house at Warm Temperate Horticulture Center, Kirtipur; Germplasm
collection and conservation of citrus fruit species under glasshouse (WTHC,
Kirtipur); Tissue culture lab and screen houses in government farm and
private sector for pre-basic potato seed and banana sapling production;
Soilless farming support grant (hydro and aeroponics); Vegetable (tomato,
capsicum, cucumber) and flower production under structures (roses, gerbera,
carnation); and Vegetable seedling and flower seedling production using hi-
tech structures. Though there is long list of CSA technologies in Nepal, the
scale of its adoption is in very nascent stage and it requires greater efforts for
wider extension and adoption of these technologies. Some of the successful
CSA practices are mentioned here.
Rain water harvesting- viable option for climate change adaptation

It is obvious that uncertain variation in rainfall makes rain-fed cropping
system risky, especially in hilly and mountainous region. Against this
backdrop rainwater harvesting (RWH) technology could be viable option to
cope with the vulnerabilities generated by CC impact. One research findings
indicated that adoption of RWH increases annual household income from the
agriculture and livestock sectors by over 130 %. The technology allows the
farmers to diversify their cropping system from cereal crops to high-value
vegetables and realize more than doubles household agricultural and
livestock income with incremental annual benefits of NRs. 69,456 (USD
700). Increased access to capital to bear the initial costs of NRs. 55,000
(USD 550) for establishment accompanied by increased capacity could boost
the adoption of RWH in hilly region of Nepal (Kattel, 2015). Similar is the
experience reflected from Erstwhile Nepa Village Development Committee
of Dailekh district where construction of rain water collection tank during the
fiscal year 2071/072 saved twelve hundred hours of farmers time creating
more opportunity to engage in economic activities (MoPE/NCCSP, 2016).
Community seed bank for increased access to crop varieties

The first community seed bank (CSB) in the country initiated by USC-
Canada Nepal (USCCN), in Dalchoki, Lalitpur in 1989. Similarly, a CSB
was established at Kachorwa, Bara in 2003 with the support of Nepal
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Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Local Initiatives for Biodiversity,
Research and Development (LI-BIRD) and Bioversity International (Shrestha
et al., 2013). With the objectives of enhancing access, exchange, use and
management of quality seeds of farmers' varieties and improved varieties,
through the budget speech of GoN for fiscal year 2008/09, announced the
establishment of CSBs. There were only 3 CSBs initially and expanded to 9
in fiscal year 2014/15 (CDD, 2015). The number of CSB in Nepal has been
reached to 115 up to June 2013 (Shrestha et al., 2013). It was estimated that
total 142 and 219.84 metric tons of seed (Rice, Maize and Wheat) was
produced during the year of 2011/12 and 2012/13, respectively (CDD, 2013).
Sindhu CSB, Thumpakhar, Sindhupalchok, is one of the successful CSB in
Nepal. This CSB has transformed the traditional seed production to the
commercial one and it has increased the seed replacement rate and
technology adoption rate in its area. It has also provided the stewardship of
68 landraces of different crops. The seed produced for the fiscal year 2011/12
was 50.1 metric ton and it is estimated that farmer were able to produce 40%
more food grain with the increased access to improved seed (Bhandari,
2013). The CSB can build the resilience of the farming community towards
the vulnerability causes by CC impact and market forces by providing easy
and immediate access to the wider range of local landraces that are best
adapted in the local conditions (Shrestha et al., 2013).
Solar-based irrigation system for enhanced resilience

In recent years efforts have been made by different sectors to promote the solar
energy based irrigation facility to the vulnerable communities. Local Initiatives
for Biodiversity, Research, and Development (LI-BIRD) piloted 12 solar-
powered irrigation systems in Bardiya, Dang, Nawalparasi and Mahottari that
contributed to reduce the risk of crop failure and empowered timely
establishment of rice nurseries and transplanting rice at earlier dates.
Furthermore, it has encouraged the farmers to adapt commercial vegetable
production, increase the cropping intensity by 200- 300%, and hence improved
farm income. It is also estimated that benefit-cost ratio of the investment on
those facilities is about 4.6 over a period of 12 years (CIAT et al., 2017).
Provided the easy access to capital to afford high initial cost ($10,000 per
scheme with capacity to extract 120,000 liters water/day) and capacity building
opportunities, the solar based irrigation system could be very suitable options
for farmer to enhance resilience.
Sustainable soil management- enhancing agricultural productivity and farm

income
Ever increasing population coupled with changing climatic variables and
extreme events trend would negatively impact the crop productivity. The
unintended and intended unawareness and negligence towards management
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of soil fertility aggravating the situation further and would cost more in
sustaining agriculture if remained unattended. Sustainable soil management
approach is a locally reliant approach that adopts simple and proven climate
smart technologies. The Swiss-supported Sustainable Soil Management
Programme (SSMP)/HELVETAS is pioneer program in Nepal promoting
sustainable soil management practices in the mid-hills of Nepal since 1999.
SSMP promoted the improved practices for the production and application of
farmyard manure (FYM) and compost, systematic collection and utilization
of cattle urine, integrating legumes and fodder crops into rotation, small-
scale collection of rain and run-off water, improved water use efficiency; and
introduction of vegetables and other cash crops into cropping system.
Evaluated the responses of 337 SSMP adopted farms, organic matter content
on an average was found increased from 3.32% to 3.77% over the period of
1-3 years. Similarly, it was boon to boost the nitrogen content of topsoil and
crop yield up to 30% when compared to traditional practices (Shrestha, et al.,
2014). The cross-sectional study of 130 farm households of Lalitpur and
Bhaktapur districts also demonstrated the increase income by 60% of farm
families adopting sustainable soil management practices of the poor farm
families in rural hill (Bhatta and Lynch, 2011).
Riverbed farming- potential livelihood option for vulnerable people

Many rivers in Nepal are resulting to the seasonal floods and used to swipe
the cultivatable land into river basin. Farmers are losing their fertile lands
due to the unpredictable climate hazard like flood and landslide in Terai
region of Nepal. Flood has converted thousand hectares of agricultural land
into river bank through sand deposition and siltation, creating serious threat
to increasing the vulnerability of rural poor in the agriculture and food
system. Many farmers are adapting Riverbed Farming (RBF) technologies to
fight against CC hazards like flood and landslide. Riverbed vegetable
farming, initiated by Nepal Climate Change Support Program (NCCSP) in
2016 at Mohana and Katihani river basin of Kailali, immensely benefitted the
involved households as their income has increased by 35 thousand to 40
thousand rupees per annum through the adoption of high value vegetable
crops (MoPE and NCCSP, 2016). The case is also encouraging in three river
corridors; Rohini, Danaw and Tinau river in Rupandehi district where farmer
succeeded to earn 12.75 thousands additional income per household per 3-4
month. There are several other CSA technologies like plastic house, small
irrigation, cattle shed improvement, sustainable soil management etc.
adopted widely in Nepal.
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Recommendations and Conclusion
Recommendations
Nepal's effort towards CC adaptation and mitigation is very encouraging and
country is highly committed to bring all possible options in to action.
Following are recommendation made based on above information and
discussion.
i. Enhance the human resource capacity to cope with the emerging
issues of climate change: Sufficient and capable human resource
should be developed in all line agencies with the provisioning of
scientific knowledge and technology so they can monitor and assess
CC risk and glacial lake outburst flood; and effectively implement
the programs as per the National Adaptation Plan. Immediately
develop the negotiation capacity of MoALD while implementing
international conventions and Koronivia Joint work on Agriculture.
ii. Expedite informed decision making process: Improve the access,
availability, and quality of global and local climate data is crucial to
formulate policies. Ensure periodic and regular vulnerability and risk
analysis at the national and sub-national level so that it could better
guide selection of CSA approach towards CC resilience.
iii. Institutional strengthening: Strengthen institutional and technical
capacity for preparedness, CC adaptation, increase access to CSA
and other good practices in agricultural management to improve soil
carbon, soil health and soil fertility. Enhance early warning system
in agriculture and establish well equipped and dedicated CC focal
units comprised of multidisciplinary experts in MoALD and
MoLMACs that deal with CC issues in agriculture.
iv. Enhance research capacity: Streamline the focused effort of NARC
to develop location-specific CSA technologies to combat the risk
identified by vulnerability and risk study. Focus researches in
evaluation of CSA technologies, micro climate based technology
generation, identification of best practices in sustainable soil
management, soil mapping and balanced use of fertilizers for
improved soil fertility.
v. Strong policy and program alignment: Prioritize CSA explicitly in
NAP process and align sector policies accordingly. ADS and SDG
target for building climate resilience in agriculture, like enrichment
of soil organic matter, should be sufficiently backed by well-
prepared implementation action plan. Downsize adhocism and build
the coherence among plans and programs; and ensure private sector
participation.
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vi. Meet the financing gap: Develop the capacity to assess the financing
gap, develop financing strategy, identify potential domestic and
international development partners; and align the programs
accordingly in view of implementing national and international
commitments. Prioritized allocation of resources for the CSA and
other adaptive and mitigating measures in agriculture with sound
expenditure tracking mechanism. Develop the institutional fund
absorptive capacity. Build transparency and accountability for
climate finance in CSA.
vii. Enhance the partnership with global stakeholders: Increase the data
access from the global stakeholders to prepare the framework for
readiness, processes and monitoring the progress indicators; and
capitalize the lessons on CSA and CC adaptation and mitigation
from various institutions across the globe.
viii. National and sub-national coordination: Explicitly set the effective
coordination and linkages between Federal, Provincial and Local
Government. Sufficiently link the national and sub-national
adaptation plan and policies, in the context of restructuring of the
country as earnest possible. Build the capacity of sub-national
governments to effectively plan and execute CSA.
ix. Build the national inventory and strong coordination with non-
governmental sector: Immediately bring the discrete information of
government and non-government sector into single platform by
provisioning the web-based inventory system to serve as the
repository of climate data, various research outputs, consolidated
outcomes and impacts of various efforts made in CSA and other
adaptation and mitigation in agriculture sector. Furthermore,
establish single door system formally at national and sub-national
level for climate financing for better alignment and bring the synergy
of efforts.
Conclusion
Nepalese agriculture is adversely affected by climate change. Results
obtained from different studies projected the increase in annual mean
precipitation, temperature, and greenhouse gas emission leading to increased
frequency of extreme events like floods and drought. Nepal is at the frontline
of vulnerable country to the risks of CC; as a slight changes in the climatic
parameter will have serious impacts on the livelihood of the poor people.
Mixed performance of crop yield due to CC has been observed in cereals and
vegetables in short term but it is sufficiently projected that our agriculture
and food production system and the economy will have to bear considerable
amount of cost in the days to come.
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Realizing the gravity of the concern created by CC, Nepal has duly taken
different policy and legal initiatives, like CCC, NAPA, LAPA, ADS, CCFF,
NDC etc., in line with the various international conventions and covenant.
Institutional mechanism to achieve the overall development goals through
adaptation and mitigation measures has been put in place. Nepal has done
exemplary work on carbon sequestration though there are much tasks to do in
mitigating impact of CC as compared to global requirement. Different
adaptation and mitigation strategies like adoption of conservation agriculture,
use of green manure, sustainable soil management practices, livestock shed
improvement program, rainwater harvesting techniques, protected
cultivation, improvement and utilization of indigenous breed and varieties,
crop and livestock insurance system, crop modeling etc. have been
successfully practiced with the support of government and non-government
sector. It is seriously noted that those efforts are very scattered and less
coordinated. Nepal has allocated chunk of climate relevant budget since last
decade however the share of investment on highly relevant activities is
almost constant over these period.
Climate smart agriculture (CSA) approach has been proved worthwhile and
relevant in attaining the outcome of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-1,
SDG- 2, and SDG- 13). However, it is far away from being sufficiently
integrated into periodic and annual agricultural development plans and
programs.
Combating the vulnerabilities and impacts of CC could not be the business of
single entity, and it requires streamlining of coordinated efforts of various
institutions to ensure that country has built increased capacity to deal CC
matters and channelize the benefits to the vulnerable communities. In this
journey, enhanced human resource backed up with strong institutions;
competent innovations system; consistent policy and programmatic
alignment among the stakeholders; and prioritized financing are the justified
and needful options to be addressed climate change in Nepal.
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Chapter 7
Strategies to Climate Change in Pakistan
Muhammad Tahir Anwar
Director General, Ministry of National Food Security and Research
Government of Pakistan, Islamabad
Email: mtahiranwar@gmail.com; Tel: +92 302 8563224
Abstract
Agriculture in Pakistan is adversely affected by frequent climate variability
and long-term climate change. Pakistan is ranked at the top-ten among the
most climate vulnerable countries in the world in reference to the Global
Climate Risk Index. Climate change threats are exacerbated in the country
due to the arid climate and reliance on water from the glacial melt in the
north. Changes in climate have been manifested resulting out the long-term
reduction in rainfall in the semi-arid regions of the country and higher glacial
melts that contribute to over 70% of river flows. Moreover, the mean
temperature across the country has been increased by 0.5°C in the past 30
years and projected to be increased the mean temperature 1.4°C - 3.7°C by
2060 in Pakistan. The northern part of the country potentially experiencing
higher temperatures compared to the southern part. Temperature is also
expected to increase more in winter than in summer in Pakistan. However,
the projections for precipitation change unclear due to considerable model
uncertainties for the region. The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept
aims to improve the integration of increasing agricultural productivity,
strengthen farmers’ resilience and mitigation of climate change. CSA
contributes in achieving food and nutrition security and broader development
goals under a changing climate. CSA technologies and practices have
opportunities for addressing climate change challenges, as well as for
economic growth and development of the agriculture sector. Many of CSA
practices already exist worldwide and are being used by farmers to cope with
various production risks. A critical stocktaking is ongoing and promising
CSA practices therefore is required for responding climate change through
adaptation and mitigation measures.
Introduction
Geography and climate
Pakistan extends its area of 796,000km2 with diverse in temperature and
precipitation. It has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 240,000km2 and
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an additional Continental Shelf area of about 50,000km2. Bordering with
China, India, Afghanistan and Iran, Pakistan is one of the key countries of
the region with unique geo-strategic and socio-economic realities.
Climate varies from arid to semiarid where three-fourths of the country receive
rainfall of less than 250 millimeters (mm) annually, except in the southern
slopes of Himalaya and the sub- mountain region in the northern segment of
the country where annual rainfall ranges from 760mm to 2,000mm. The
northern region includes some of the world’s highest mountain peaks, such as
K-2 (8,611 meters), and the largest glaciers including Siachen (70 kilometers
long) and Biafo (63km) that feed the Indus River and some of its tributaries
(WCD, 2000). During winter, the temperature in this region drop to as low as –
50°C and stays around 15°C in the warmest months (May – September) each
year (McSweeney, et al., 2008).
The western and southern segments of the country represent the Indus River
basin plain and Balochistan Plateau. The transboundary Indus basin covers
520,000km2 or 65% of the country’s total area, including the whole provinces
of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, most of the Sindh territory, and the eastern
part of Balochistan (FAO, 2011). This river is the world’s largest contiguous
irrigation opportunities accounting for 95% of the country’s total irrigation
system. The average annual rainfall in the Indus plain is around 230mm. The
temperature differences between the upper and lower basin plains are quite
noticeable: the mean winter temperature (December–February) in the lower
plain is 140C - 200C, and 20C - 230C in the upper plain areas, while during
summer (March - June), the mean monthly temperature varies from 420C -
440C in the lower plan, and 230C - 490C in the upper plain.
The Balochistan Plateau is a vast wilderness of mountain ranges in the
southwest of the country with an average altitude of about 600 meter from
the sea level. Some seasonal rivers cross this region but most of its north-
western part is a wide expanse of desert similar to the deserts found in the
central part of the country, such as Thar and Cholistan. The rainfall in this
region is less than 210mm annually or 20 - 30mm per month.
Demography
Pakistan is the sixth-most-populous country of the world; estimated
population to be 207.8 million and population growth rate 2.4% (MoS,
2017). The population is expected to swell up 229 million by 2025 and
approximately 275 million by year 2050 and will become the fifth most
populous country of the world (NIPS & ICF, 2013). The density of
population is 231 persons per km2 with almost 37% of the population
residing in urban areas, of which around 47% are slum dwellers. The poverty
rate estimated at $2 per day purchasing power parity exceeds 50% of the total
population with stark provincial disparities (WB, 2011).
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Climate threats
The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) for the Asia region notes that sensitivity to climate change
threats on agriculture dependent economies including Pakistan because of
distinct geography, demographic trends, socioeconomic characteristics, and
lack of adaptive capacity that determine the vulnerability by perpetuating a
vicious cycle of poverty (Hijioka et al, 2014) The climate change projections
of the AR5 for South Asia as a whole show that warming is likely to be
above the global mean and climate change will impact the glaciers’ melting
rate and precipitation patterns, particularly affecting the timing and strength
of monsoon rainfall. Consequently, this will significantly impact the
productivity and efficiency of water-dependent sectors such as agriculture
and energy.
Climate Change Trends and It’s Impacts

Greenhouse gas emissions
According to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), global greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions have accelerated to an unprecedented level despite
global efforts to cut down emissions. Climate model projections indicate that
during the 21st century, the global surface temperature is likely to rise 0.3°C
to 1.7°C (0.5°F to 3.1°F) for their lowest emissions scenario using stringent
mitigation, and 2.6°C to 4.8°C (4.7°F to 8.6°F) for business as usual carbon
intense emissions. Hence, the report warns that the present global agreement
of limiting the increase in global mean temperature to 2°C above pre-
industrial levels requires lowering the global emissions by 40% to 70%
compared with 2010 by mid-century, and to near zero by the end of this
century.
According to the national GHG inventory of Pakistan for the year 2011/12,
its total GHG emissions was at 369 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MtCO2e); energy share 45.9%, agriculture and livestock sector 44.8%,
industrial processes 3.9% and land use change for forestry sectors 2.6%
(Table 1). The energy and agriculture-livestock sectors alone account for
90.7% of the total emissions pool and have thus far remained the biggest
emitters of GHGs since 1994 (Mir & Ijaz, 2015).
Pakistan ranks relatively low among countries for per capita GHG emissions
due to its relatively low level of development and high population. At
present, Pakistan contributes 0.8% of the total global GHG emission and
ranking 135th globally on a per-capita basis (Global Economy, 2015). The
GHG emissions of Pakistan - in line with the government’s economic growth
strategy - will be more than double by 2020 (compared to the emissions in
2008), and increase by around 14 times by 2050 (Table 1).
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Table 1. GHGs emission trends from 1994 to 2012 and projected for 2020
and 2050 under business as usual scenarios (in MtCO2e)
Sector 1994 2008 2012 2020 2050
Energy 86 157 169 358 2,685
Agriculture 72 120 165 245 1,395
Industrial Process 13 18 14 26 67
Land Use Change and Forestry 7 9 10 14 38
Wastes 4 6 10 7 15
Total National Emissions 182 309 369 650 4,200
Source: Mir & Ijaz (2015)

Past changes in temperature
A significant warming trend of 0.57°C in annual mean temperature was
observed in the past century from 1901 to 2000, and increased 0.47°C from 1961
to 2007 in the country (Figure 1). This increased temperature is less than the
mean annual temperature increase of 0.75°C in the past century in the South
Asia region (Ahmed & Suphachalasai, 2014). The warmest year recorded was in
2004, and the highest temperature increased is observed during winter when the
temperature ranges from 0.52°C to 1.12°C. This is in line with the pronounced
rate of warming observed over the South Asia region in the decade 1998–2007,
which was attributed to increase in winter temperature and post-monsoon
changes.
KPK = Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Figure 1. Region-wise temperatures- winter, summer and annual mean (1960- 2007)
Source: Chaudhry et al. (2009)
135
The highest increase in winter temperature was observed for Balochistan
province, while the north-western parts of the country showed negative
temperature trends in the summer. The annual temperatures in Pakistan increased
by 0.87°C (maximum) and 0.48°C (minimum) from 1960 to 2007 (Chaudhry et
al, 2009).
The annual and seasonal trends in the mean annual temperature in various
climatic zones of the country are listed in Table 2. The Table shows: (i) the
mean annual temperature has been increasing in most parts of Pakistan, and
only the sub mountain and western highlands and lower Indus plains show a
decreasing trend; (ii) all the zones show a rising trend for the pre-monsoon
summer months (April–May); (iii) all the zones, except zone V (Balochistan
Plateau, which is an arid and hyper arid region), show a decreasing trend for
the monsoon period; (iv) greater Himalayan region shows an increasing trend
throughout from December to May; and (v) Balochistan Plateau (Zone V) is
getting warmer in all the seasons (GCSIC, 2005).
Table 2. Mean temperatures trends in Pakistan, 1951–2000 (°C/year)

Mean temperature trends (oC/year)
Climatic Regions Annual Jun- Dec- Apr- Oct-
Sep Mar May Nov
Greater Himalayas 0.04 -0.80 0.32 1.09 -0.06
Sub mountain -0.19 -0.57 0.00 0.13 0.12
Western Highlands -0.72 -1.48 -0.65 0.17 -0.47
Central and Southern Punjab 0.11 -0.25 0.03 0.83 0.13
Lower Indus Basin -0.08 -0.55 -0.07 0.35 0.15
Balochistan Plateau (East) 0.11 0.46 0.63 0.79 050
Balochistan Plateau (West) 1.17 1.30 0.43 2.17 1.80
Coastal Areas 0.00 0.18 0.05 0.03 0.30
Source: GCISC (2005)
Changes in precipitation
The winter and summer rainfall in arid plains and coastal areas decreased by
10%–15%, while increased by 18%–32% in the summer rainfall in the core
monsoon region of Pakistan during 1951 - 2000. Similarly, a decrease of
17%-64% in rainfall was observed during the seven strong El-Niño events in
the last 100 years. Depressions, storms, and cyclones forming in the Bay of
Bengal and Arabian Sea increased in frequency during the last decade of the
20th century, and has been affecting Pakistan as well as other countries in the
region (Anjum et al, 2005).
136
For a long-term precipitation time series, a 10-year moving average showed
that rainfall gradually decreased from 600 millimeter (mm) to 400 mm from
1900s to 1940, while increased by 133 mm after 1940. Annual precipitation
increased by 61 mm in Pakistan from 1901 to 2007. Monsoon rains increased
by 22.6mm, and winter precipitation increased by 20.8mm (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Time series annual average precipitation, 1901–2007 (in millimeters)

Projections of Future Climate Change in Pakistan

Using the General Circulation Model for future climate change projection,
the Global Change Impact Study Centre (2007) modeled annual temperature
and precipitation change for future years 2020, 2050, and 2080 under two
emissions scenarios of A25 and A1B6 in Pakistan. According to the model,
the temperature will be increased as high as 4.38°C by 2080. Regarding
regional change in annual temperature, the study further noted that (i) the
temperature increase in both summer and winter are higher in northern than
southern Pakistan, and (ii) the temperature increases in both regions are
higher in winter than summer. For the percentage of precipitation change, no
significant change is observed. However, there is some precipitation increase
in summer, and decrease in winter in southern Pakistan (Iqbal & Zaid, 2014).
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) conducted another study
that computed temperature and precipitation change for different regions of
5 The A2 scenarios are of a more divided world. The A2 family of scenarios is characterized
by: A world of independently operating, self-reliant nations; continuously increasing
population; and regionally oriented economic development.
6 A1B emission scenario is based on key assumption that future world is very rapid economic
growth, low population growth and rapid introduction of new and more efficient technology.
Major underlying themes are economic and cultural convergence and capacity building, with a
substantial reduction in regional differences in per capita income.
137
Pakistan from 2011 to 2050. The climate model shows a maximum rise in the
northern areas of Pakistan, central and south Punjab, and lower parts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. However, mixed trends are projected for
precipitation over different regions of Pakistan. Table 3 shows the region
wise changes in temperature and precipitation in Pakistan.
Table 3. Region-wise climate projections in alternative scenarios (2011–

2050)
Precipitation Temperature
Region (mm/decade) (oC/decade)
A2 A1B B1 A2 A1B B1
Pakistan +1.73 +1.26 -0.89 +0.51 +0.41 +0.24
Northern Areas +4.6 -2.9 -1.3 0.76 0.63 0.39
Potohar and Upper NWFP -6.1 +3.8 -0.5 0.01 -0.34 -0.01
Central/Sothern Punjab and
-2.98 -1.78 -3.5 +0.63 +0,71 +0.05
Lower NWFP
High Balochistan +1.48 -0.92 -0.57 +0.15 +0.26 +0.03
Southeastern Sindh +5.1 +3.0 -0.1 0.00 -0.1 +0.01
Sindh and Lower Balochistan -1.8 -0.98 -0.05 +0.5 +0.27 +0.01
Note: Mm – millimetre, NWFP = Northwest Frontier Province and current Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, A2 shows business as usual, A1B shows balanced scenarios, and B1 shows
Ideal World (STES Report IPCC 2001) based on greenhouse gas emission likely in the 21st
Century.
The PMD released a daily gridded downscaled precipitation and temperature

time series from 2010 to 2099 climate change scenarios at 10 km resolution for
the four different General Circulation Models using the World Climate
Research Program-Coupled Model Inter-Comparison Project Phase-5 (CMIP5)
in 2015. The downscaled results show a 3°C–5°C temperature rise in mean
temperature under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5
emission scenario.7 The mean trend of temperature under RCP8.5 indicates a
7
The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report defined a set of four new scenarios, denoted RCPs,
RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP6; and RCP8.5 where the numbers (2 to 8.5) denote approximate
total radiative forcing in year 2100 relative to 1750, ranging from 2.6 watts per square meter
(W/m2) to 8.5 W/m2. RCP4.5 is a stabilization scenario where GHG emissions stabilize by
2100. RCP8.5 is another scenario with very high GHG emissions where radiative forcing does
not peak by 2100. Each RCP provides spatially resolved data sets of land use change and
sector-based emissions of air pollutants, and specify annual GHG concentrations and
anthropogenic emissions up to 2100.
138
4°C–6°C rise by the end of the century with a sharp increase after 2050. The
rainfall is highly variable in both spatial and temporal domains. Area average
rainfall over Pakistan shows a large inter-annual variability. A sharp rising
peaks give some indication of extreme precipitation events while negative
peaks indicate droughts. CMIP5 multi-model mean projections of annual
average temperature and precipitation changes for 2046–2065 and 2081–2100
under RCP4.5 and 8.5 relative to 1986–2005 are given in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Projections for 21st century using two different emission scenarios
Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture Sector

Agriculture is a key economic sector that contributes 21% to the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), employs 45% of the total workforce, and
contributes about 60% to export value (GoP, 2015). The total cropped area is
23.4 million hectares (Mha) (29% of the total reported area)8 of which
irrigated areas make up 18.63Mha (24% of the total irrigated area) with the
percentage by province of 77% in Punjab, 14% in Sindh, 5% in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, and 4% in Balochistan (GoP, 2014). Currently, 3.8Mha are
under Sailaba/Rod-Kohi, riverine, and Barani farming systems commonly
called the spate irrigation farming system.9 The potential area under spate
irrigation is estimated to be around 6.935Mha comprising of Balochistan
8 Excluding northern areas, the country’s total geographical area is 79.61Mha, of which only
72% is reported for land use and 28% is not surveyed yet for land use classification.
9 The spate irrigation farming system refers to a type of water management unique to semiarid
environments. Flood water from mountain catchments is diverted from river beds and spread
over large areas.
139
4.68Mha, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.862Mha, Punjab 0.571Mha, and Sindh
0.551Mha (Ahmad & Steenberger, 2007).
Crops are categorized into two types on the basis of season; Rabi and Kharif.
Rabi crops are sown in autumn (October–December) and harvested in spring
(March–April). Wheat is the major Rabi crop. Crops sown in summer are
called Kharif crops. The Kharif crop season is generally longer in Pakistan,
starting with sugarcane in February, cotton in March–May, rice in June–July
and maize in July–August. The major patterns are: (i) rice–wheat, (ii) maize–
wheat, (iii) cotton–wheat, (iv) sugarcane – wheat, and (v) coarse grain-wheat,
and some other minor patterns.
Crops grown in both irrigated areas and those under spate farming systems
are highly sensitive to the amount of water available and temperature
variability. Using the crop growth simulation model, the length of growing
season in four agro climatic zones along with the yield of major cereal crops
will be decreased (Table 4).
Table 4. Change in length of wheat growing season and production in
different climatic regions of Pakistan by 2080
Length of Growing Season (Days)
Northern Pakistan Southern Pakistan
Temperature
(Increase over Baseline) Mountainous Sub- Plains Plain
mountainous
(Humid) (Semiarid) (Arid)
(Sub-humid)
Baseline 246 161 146 137
1 232 155 140 132
2 221 149 135 127
3 211 144 130 123
4 202 138 125 118
5 194 133 121 113
Impact of Climate Change on Wheat
Production by 2080
Climatic Regions % Share in % Change in Yield
National Current Yield (2080)
(kg/ha)
Production A2 B2
Northern mountainous 2 2,658 +50.0 +40.0
Northern Sub- 9 3,933 -11.0 -11.0
mountainous
Southern semiarid plains 42 4,306 -8.0 -8.0
Southern arid plains 47 4,490 -5.0 -6.0
Pakistan 100 4,326 -5.7 -6.4
Source: Iqbal & Goheer (2009)
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The model predicted the largest decrease of around 14 days for 10C rise in
temperature in the growing season’s length of wheat in the northern
mountainous region compared to southern Pakistan. It is estimated that with
rise of temperature (+0.50C to 20C), the wheat productivity will decrease by
5% - 8% under A2 and B2 scenario in Southern Semiarid and Arid Plains,
whereas, wheat productivity will be reduced by 11% in Northern Sub-
mountainous region by 2080 (Dehlavi et al, 2015).
Other studies conducted to determine yield change in crops show similar
results. According to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
(IIASA) Austria, the yield will decrease for all the major crops and cereals,
particularly the wheat yield would have the highest reduction by 2080 (Table
5). The yield changes, particularly in wheat production, are alarming for
Pakistan that needs appropriate adaptation interventions.
Table 5. Projected % change in major crop yield (2020-2080) baseline yield

1961-1990 under A2 Scenarios
% Change
Crops
2020 2050 2080
Wheat -3.2% -11.0% -27.0%
Rice 0% -0.8% -1.9%
Maize -2.4% -3.3% 4.3%
Source: WB (2019).
Policy and Institutional Frameworks

Policy framework
Pakistan ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2005 and submitted
its First National Communication to the UNFCCC in 2003. The Ministry of
Climate Change oversees the activities on climate related agencies, including
the Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), the National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA), the Pakistan Environmental Protection
Agency (Pak-EPA) and the Zoological Survey Department of Pakistan
(ZSD). With leadership from this ministry, following climate change policies
of relevance to CSA practices have adopted in Pakistan:
 National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), 2010.
 Implementation Framework for Implementation of the Climate
Change Policy, 2014-2030.
 Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), 2015.
 Pakistan Climate Change Act (PCCA), 2017.
 Pakistan Vision, 2025.
 National Adaptation Plan (NAP) (forthcoming).
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National Climate Change Policy (NCCP)-2010 and Implementation
Framework (2014-2030)
In response to the disasters that ravaged the country in 2010 and 2011
(particularly floods), the GOP developed the National Climate Change
Policy, a multi-sectorial initiative that provides policy guidance on climate
change mitigation and adaptation action in Pakistan. GOP formulated a
framework in order to implement the policy along with building actions
plans, projects and programs for reducing GHGs and increasing the country’s
resilience to present and future effects of climate change by enhancing
infrastructure and knowledge, as well as reducing vulnerability in key areas,
ecosystems, districts and regions. The NCCP is supported by a national
implementing committee comprised of key government agencies to achieve
improved coordination of climate-related efforts in order to reduce
duplication of the programs and enhance competition for funds. The main
purpose of the NCCP are to identify the vulnerabilities to climate change,
and outlines potential avenues for adaptation and mitigation actions.
Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)

In 2016, the GOP issued its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
and accompanying explanatory note under the Paris Agreement. Under
INDC, the country’s long-term adaptation and mitigation goals are to
increase climate resilience and reduce vulnerability through good
governance, inter-sectoral coordination, capacity-building, investments in
science, innovation and technology development, provision of adequate
finance from domestic and international sources, and effective
communication and monitoring and evaluation. The expected annual costs
for implementing climate adaptation actions is US$ 7-14 billion. CSA has
featured centrally in Pakistan’s INDC, with the GOP targeting the
implementation of a comprehensive CSA policy within the country’s
medium and long-term action plan. The country also plans to set-up training
programs and field schools to promote CSA practices for the effective
implementation of INDC. The Pakistan- INDC’s priority areas on adaptation
and mitigation in agriculture sector are as follows:
 Water management for rice cultivation and improved rice varieties
development.
 Agroforestry (fast growing tree species).
 Manure management (e.g. use of green manure, improved manure
storage).
 Biogas and organic fertilizer production from animal waste.
 Improved livestock feeding.
 Efficient use of chemical fertilizers.
 No-till farming.
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Pakistan Climate Change Act 2017
The GOP has recently formulated the Pakistan Climate Change Act-2017 to
expedite the implementation of NCCP activities across sectors (including
agriculture), by creating a Climate Change Council under the leadership of
the Prime Minister and with representation of sub-national governments.
Pakistan Vision 2025
Pakistan Vision 2025 recognizes that sufficient, reliable, clean and cost-
effective availability of energy, water and food – for now and the future – is
indispensable to ensure sustainable economic growth and development.
There is a need to fill the enormous gaps in these areas, while simultaneously
making efforts to respond to the looming threat of climate change. There is a
renewed national consensus—as articulated in the manifestoes of all leading
political parties—to commit major new resources through public and private
sector collaboration in these areas and ensure required production and
storage capacities. At the same time, efforts will be made towards
conservation, efficient distribution and usage of resources, and preventing
contamination and environmental degradation. Pakistan Vision 2025
specifically targets food security across the entire supply-chain (from
production, processing, storage and distribution to consumption). Meanwhile,
the government has issued its 11th Five Year Plan that prioritizes agriculture
and food security as one the major economic goals to meet the rising food
demand for a growing population.
National Adaptation Plan
National Adaptation Plan is currently under formulation and identifies key
investment priorities such as: enhancement of irrigation infrastructure,
integrated water management and agriculture risk management, development
of a national CSA program, and the improvement of emergency response
infrastructure. The plan is focused on, but not limited to, following areas:
 Technical assistance loan for the implementation of the National
Environment Policy. It include: multi-sector project with
opportunities for climate resilient agriculture; drinking water and
sanitation; water and disaster management; and better governance.
 Information sharing system to enhance coping capacities of farming
communities in dealing effectively with climate variability and
climate change.
 Building climate resiliency for irrigation infrastructure and agro-
business.
143
Institutional framework
The Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) is the lead
ministry responsible for national policy, planning and coordination of the
agriculture and food security sectors. Several other ministries, departments,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), development agencies,
international institutions, research institutions and private sector play an
important role in the agricultural and climate change sectors. These include
the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), Pakistan Meteorological
Department (PMD), Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC),
Federal Flood Commission (FFC), Indus River System Authority (IRSA),
Provincial Agriculture and Livestock Department, Leadership for
Environmental Development (LEAD), World Wide Fund (WWF), Faisalabad
Agriculture University (FAU), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
World Bank and Zarai Taraqiati Bank (ZTBL), etc. Strategies and
programmes that target climate action in the agriculture sector include the
Agricultural and Food Security Policy, National Sustainable Development
Strategy, and National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy. Figure 4 highlights
key institutions whose main activities relate to one, two or three CSA pillars
(adaptation, productivity and mitigation).
Figure 4. Institutions for CSA in Pakistan

Source: CIAT & WB (2017)
There are several key institutional and policy challenges facing CSA
implementation in Pakistan including longstanding tensions between federal
and provincial governments, low implementation capacity of government,
shortage of financing and the lack of mainstreaming of the CSA concept in to
agricultural development strategies.
144
Regarding decentralized governance, the passing of the 18th amendment
(Article 140A) to the Constitution of the Government of Pakistan (GOP) in
2010 significantly transformed the institutional and governance structure in
the country, devolving legislative power over environmental issues to the
provinces. Since this time, responsibility to implement agriculture policies
and actions at local level rests with the provinces and are based on priorities
that emerge from the sub-district authorities.
Given the diversity of Pakistan’s environment and weather, local planning
offers the specific opportunities required to protect rural livelihoods
successfully in the face of climate change. Political tension from sectarian
and religious conflicts has led to implementation and governance voids
across national and sub-national levels, hindering progress and development.
Focused efforts are needed to build sub-national capacity and institutional
development, with support from the federal government and international
NGOs and donors.
Finally, despite the increased interest in CSA practices by farmers and
climate change institutions in Pakistan (most notably the INDC and NAP
documents), the concept of CSA has not been formalized as a clear
agricultural development objective in strategies and action plans of relevant
institutions and policies. Some progress has been made on this front recently,
with several efforts to merge climate change and agricultural development
planning. This includes, most notably, the Agricultural Model Inter-
comparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) in Pakistan, part of a larger
global effort. AgMIP Pakistan, a collaboration between Pakistan’s Agro-
climatology Lab at the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad and UK-AID,
has developed climate change scenarios for the region, modelled climate
impacts on key crops, and has aimed to determine the likely economic
impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector in Pakistan.
Financing for CSA in Pakistan

Despite major economic threats from climatic change to the Pakistani
economy, and the agriculture sector in particular, the current climate
financing landscape has not kept pace. As Vision 2025 recognized that
agriculture is a key driver in Pakistani economy, the climate change has not
been taken yet into consideration in the allocation of development
expenditures at project and programmatic levels due to its low priority by the
government over other competing development agendas such as health,
security and education. Meanwhile, agriculture has been handicapped with
agriculture credit to farmers, weak extension services, and underinvestment
in agricultural research (0.3% of GDP) (FAO, 2012) leading to inadequate
growth in the sector.
145
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) undertaken Pakistan’s
Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR), which
estimated national climate-related expenditure at 6-8% of the national budget
between 2010 and 2014, mostly coming from the energy sector (57%),
followed by agriculture (19%), health (9%), and water resources sector (7%)
(UNDP, 2015). National finances for adaptation and mitigation actions have
varied between 25-60% and 30-71%, respectively of the climate-related
budget, and are expected to increase in importance in the coming fiscal years
due to planned investments in the promotion of renewable energies and
afforestation initiatives (GoP, 2016). The recently promulgated PCCA
envisions establishing the Pakistan Climate Change Fund that will mobilize
resources from both domestic and international sources to support mitigation
and adaptation initiatives in the country.
In 2016, the Provincial Government of Punjab announced a finance package
worth roughly US$ one billion for the promotion and prosperity of farmers,
through investments in improved technology and inputs to enhance on-farm
productivity. This transition is supported by larger allocations of federal
budget to the provinces and fiscal incentives for climate related activities,
such as interest-free loans to farmers for installation of solar powered water
systems in the 2015-2016 federal budget.
Donor-funded projects focused on agriculture that support climate change
also represent a considerable portion of the climate financing currently
available in Pakistan. The Punjab and Sindh Irrigated Agriculture
Productivity Enhancement Projects, for example, are funded by US$ 665
million World Bank loans to improve irrigation practices and crop
productivity. Similarly, the Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project is
funded by a US$ 40 million International Fund for Agricultural Development
loan on highly concessional terms. The project aims to increase the income
of 80,000 poor households in Pakistan through enhancing employment
potential and increasing agriculture productivity and production.
Pakistani farmers are encountered with the access to agriculture credit and
public and private investment. To promote and scaling up potential CSA
activities across the country, new streams of public, private, and international
finances need to be mobilized. Pakistan’s Climate Change Act sets the stage
for the establishment of the Pakistan Climate Change Authority and Pakistan
Climate Change Fund, which are expected to help mobilize domestic and
international funds for mitigation and adaptation interventions in the country.
Despite dedicated agricultural credit limits by commercial and agriculture
banks such as ZTBL, outreach of credit is available to less than 30% of the
farmers. The majority of the smallholder farmers rely on informal credit -
often at exorbitant rates - because of a lack of collateral.
146
Developing structures for group based lending, community based organizing
or self-help groups and encouraging microfinance institutions through
dedicated government credit lines to fund smallholders can help improve
financial inclusion and offer new sources of financing for CSA activities.
Private sector institutions, through innovative supply chain models, crop
storage, crop collateral, insurance schemes and other financial instruments
can also offer new and attractive sources of finance.
New international climate funds such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) also
offer opportunities to leverage funds for scaling-up CSA throughout the
country. Dedicated agricultural finance organizations can be set-up to access
direct financing from the GCF and other funds. This can be supplemented
with local funds as envisioned under the Pakistan Climate Change Act. Table
6 highlights existing and potential financing opportunities for CSA in
Pakistan.
Table 6. Financing opportunities for CSA in Pakistan

Funds for CSA Funds for other than CSA
 Cooperative for Assistance and Relief  Bill and Melinda Gates
Everywhere (CARE) Foundation (BMGF)
 FAO and Oxfam  CARE and Oxfam
 Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI)  Rockefeller Foundation (RF)
program
 Australian Agency for International  Economic Commission for Latin
Development (AusAID) America and the Caribbean
 Global Environment Facility (GEF) (ECLAC)
 German Society for International  Global Climate Fund (GCF)
Cooperation (GIZ)  Inter-American Development
 International Fund for Agricultural Bank (IDB)
Development (IFAD)  IFC, World Bank
 International Forest Carbon Initiative  IFAD
(IFCI)  JICA
 Japan International Cooperation  UNDP
Agency (JICA)
 United Nations Program on
 United Nations Development Program Reducing Emissions from
(UNDP) Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (UN-REDD)
 Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation  Green Pakistan Program (GPP)
Project, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (BTT)  Ministry of Climate Change
 Cooperative and Commercial banks (MoCC)
Source: CIAT & WB (2017)
147
Human Resources for Implementation of CSA
Need for capacity building on mitigation and adaptation of climate change
both at policy as well as operational levels is very essential in Pakistan. As an
aftermath of the 18th Amendment, sub-national governments are now
carrying out both policy and operational work. There is a need for
harmonizing national and sub-national policies and synergizing the action
agenda for over-arching development planning in a coherent manner. The
Ministry of Climate Change, which plays a pivotal role at the national level,
would also benefit from institutional strengthening and capacity
enhancement.
Priority areas in capacity development for mitigation and adaption are as
follows:
 Climate change and critical issue interlinked with key economic
indicators.
 Technical capacity for climate resilient with developmental
programs.
 Mitigation typically requires technological upgrades with
sophisticated technical capacity and additional costs. For fully
realizing the prevailing potential for both mitigation and adaptation,
technical capacity at all levels needs to be enhanced.
 With the bulk of climate change policy implementation actions now
to be implemented by the sub-national governments, the capacity
building programs relating to policy formulations, climate proofing
of developmental projects, natural capital management and
institutional strengthening shall have to be increasingly implemented
at sub-national level.
148
Needs for capacity building
Capacity building needs and respective activities are given in the Table 7.
Table 7. Components and activities required for capacity building
Components/
Activities
approaches
 Training programs on climate change and CSA for

national, sub-national and local authorities by national
and international experts.
 Training programs on climate change and CSA financing
needs for banks and micro-finance institutions.
Climate Smart  Farmer field schools focused on specific CSA activities
Agriculture (e.g. soil conservation).
 Exposure visits of farmer groups to different regions to
learn about specific CSA activities.
 Curriculum development in universities and technical
institutes to provide trainings for extensions workers on
climate change and CSA practices.
 Training of extension workers in risk management and

risk transfer mechanism.
 Developing an institutional set-up for providing
agriculture insurance.
Strengthening
 Farmer field schools to build awareness of agriculture
Risk
insurance options.
Management
System  Study tours of government officials/ members of the
financial sector in other relevant countries.
 Pre-feasibility study to assess viability and capacity gaps
pertaining to the development of national weather index
insurance system.
Best Practices of Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

Climate smart technologies have been successfully developed and adopted by
different institutions in the country are discussed in following.
Ministry of National Food Security and Research

 Improvement of 71,500 water courses – Improvement by brick lining
of critical sections and earthen improvement of farm channels.
 Solar pumping systems (under implementation) – Provision of solar
powered pumping (5 HP) system to the farming community for
irrigation water pumping.
149
Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC)
 Solar PV Pump for Mini dam/Farm Pond with high efficiency
irrigation systems – An integrated solar powered pump linked with
drip, sprinkler and bubbler systems for high value crops.
 Dug Well Solar Pumping System – Water lifting from dug wells
through alternate energy source, i.e., Solar system.
 Fertilizer Band Placement Drill – Tractor driven machinery used for
better placement of fertilizer for its efficient and cost effective
utilization.
 Wheat Straw Chopper – Equipment used collection and chopping of
leftover wheat straw into “bhoosa” from combine harvested fields.
 Zero-Tillage Drill – Equipment used for wheat sowing in
uncultivated fields after paddy harvesting to better utilize the residual
moisture.
 Pak Seeder – Equipment used for wheat sowing in combine
harvested paddy fields (high standing paddy stubble).
Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources

Climate smart technologies for Northern Pakistan
 Solar powered drip for raising apples– High efficiency irrigation
system powered through solar system.
 Piped water supply from glacier for irrigation on the foothill –
Closed pipe water supply system from glaciers to foothills for
irrigation purposes.
Climate smart technologies for the plains
 Improved Irrigation Infrastructure– Lining of irrigation canals,
distributaries and farm channels for reduced conveyance losses and
improved water availability to tail-end farmers.
 Bed and Furrow Irrigation– Crop sowing on Beds and Furrows and
irrigation in ditches for improved water use efficiency.
 Zero Tillage– Technology used for sowing of wheat in paddy
harvested field without seedbed preparation.
 Laser Levelling– Equipment used for precise grading of farm fields
for improved water application in case of flooding.
 Irrigation scheduling/ irrigation advisory services.
Climate smart technologies for rainfed areas
 Micro-catchments– Small structures to harvest rainwater for
orchards.
150
 Solar powered drip– High efficiency irrigation system powered with
solar energy.
 Rooftop rainwater harvesting– Methods used for harvesting of
rooftop rainwater and its utilization for domestic and agriculture
purposes thereof.
 Rainwater Harvesting Ponds– To harvest rainwater runoff for
agriculture and its utilization of stored water for irrigation and
livestock thereof.
Recommendations
As agriculture sector holds strong social, economic and cultural significance,
CSA offers attractive opportunities for strengthening the sector in a changing
climate reality in Pakistan. The CSA has been proven technology to address
the climate change effects in the country. Some important policies and
practices are recommendations are as follows:
i. Adopted range of measures from innovative, technological practices
like laser land levelling and solar powered irrigation systems to
management changes in crop diversification, proper cropping
patterns, and optimized planting dates.
ii. Invest in research to develop high yielding, heat resistant, drought
tolerant, and pest resistant crop varieties and livestock breeds is
especially critical.
iii. Develop data driven models to simulate the likely impact of climate
change on the different agricultural production systems across the
AEZ which will be critical to ensure the right adaptation and
mitigation strategies are context appropriate.
iv. Promote in using information technology, GIS techniques, and
remote sensing for precision farming that optimizes input use and
generates quality data on crop, soil and climate related parameters to
identify ideal cropping patterns for different AEZs.
v. Offer financing through local and international sources especially to
smallholders, which is important for widespread adoption of CSA.
vi. Develop climate conscious policies and recognizing the threat of
climate change in national planning agendas.
vii. Build capacity of the farmers in latest technologies and practices
through farmers’ programs that would further encourage CSA
adoption in Pakistan.
151
Conclusions
Pakistan reiterates its commitment and obligations towards the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement,
and the objective to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 to
2.0 degrees Celsius in the 21st century. It will continue to play a meaningful
role in global efforts towards achieving this goal. As explained in the Pak-
INDC, a number of mitigation and adaptation measures and actions are
already being undertaken with domestic resources and supports from
development partners. These measures and actions can be intensified in
coming years with expected availability of international climate finance,
technology development and transfer, and capacity building.
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Chapter 8
Strategies to Climate Change in Sri Lanka
Aruni B. Abeysekera
Assistant Director of Agriculture (Research), Natural Resources Management

Centre, Department of Agriculture, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Email: arunikasekera@gmail.com; Phone: +9471 8446763
Abstract
Sri Lanka is an Island in the Indian Ocean having a tropical monsoonal
climate. Agriculture sector has made a significant contribution accounting
6.9% to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Climate change is one
of the major challenges in agriculture that has been adversely affecting to the
livelihoods and food system in the country. Climate projections showed that
the Dry zone of Sri Lanka will become drier, while the Wet and Intermediate
zones become wetter at the end of this century. Sri Lanka has made several
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) on adaptation to climate
change. Number of acts and ordinances including Soil Conservation Act
(1951 No 25, and Amendment Act No 24 of 1996) which makes a legal
framework to minimize the impacts of climate change on agriculture and
food system. Sri Lanka has been adapting to the Climate Smart Agriculture
(CSA) practices, such as short duration rice varieties, dry sowing systems,
zero tillage, changing cropping calendar, intercropping, shared cultivation,
improved water and soil conservation methods, integrated plant nutrient
systems (IPNS), integrated pest management (IPM), organic farming, crop
diversification and livestock integration. Lacking of human resources with
adequate knowledge, poor infrastructure development, inefficient water and
irrigation resource management, and post-harvest losses are the major
constraints in the country. Seasonal climate forecasting and agro-met
advisory services, appropriate training to all levels of officers and technicians
including field level technicians, systematic de-silting of village tanks,
establishing climate smart villages, and climate smart farmer field schools
are some major programs and practices to cope with the adverse climate
change. Policy harmonization and international support, especially the north-
south and south-south co-operation is important for successful
implementation of climate smart agriculture in Sri Lanka.
154
Introduction
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an
island in South Asia, located southeast of India and northeast of Maldives.
Among South Asian nations, it is fifth in size, being only larger than the
Maldives and Bhutan. It is located well within the tropics, between the
northern latitudes of 5o 55’ and 9o 51’ and longitude of 79o 41’ to 81o 53’ in
close proximity to the Indian land mass (National Atlas, 2007). The total
population of Sri Lanka is estimated to be 21444000, population density 342
per Km2 and population growth rate 1.1% per year (DSC, 2018). Sri Lanka
has made considerable progress in reducing poverty during the past two to
three decades. The proportion of population living below the poverty line –
referred to as the poverty headcount ratio (PHCR) – has considerably
dropped from 26.1% in 1991 to 6.7% in 2013 (Kelegama, 2016).
The pattern of climate change is mainly determined by the spatial (altitude)
and temporal pattern of precipitation. The mean annual rainfall of the country
is 1,850mm and it varies from 900mm at South-Eastern part of the Dry zone
(e.g. Maha Lewaya, Hambantota) to over 5,500mm on the South-Western
slopes of Central Highlands (e.g. Kenilworth Estate and Ginigathhena)
(Punyawardena et al., 2013b; Chandrapala, 1996). Rainfall in Sri Lanka
determines by monsoonal, convectional and formation of “Weather Systems”
in the Bay of Bengal (Punyawardena et al., 2013b). Considering the higher
climatic heterogeneity, Sri Lanka has been delineated into 46 Agro
Ecological Regions (AERs) on the basis of monthly rainfall regime, terrain
characteristics, predominant soil type, and land use and vegetation. So that
each AER represents a unique agro-climate, soils, terrain conditions so that
certain types of crops and farming practices have been adopted in each agro-
ecological regions (National Atlas, 2007).
There are two cultivation seasons in the Island; namely Maha and Yala,
which are synonymous with two monsoons. Normally both seasons begin
with the onset of inter-monsoon rains received by the convectional activity.
Maha Season starts with the “Second Inter-monsoon” and extended
throughout the “North-East monsoon” from October to February in the
following year. Yala season is effective during the “First Inter-monsoon”
thereafter “South-west monsoon” from March to September each year.
Agriculture sector has made a great contribution to the national economy,
making 6.9% contribution to the national GDP (CBSL, 2017) and about 27%
employed by agriculture sector (DOA, 2018). Rice is the most important
food crop occupying about 34% of the total cultivated area; about 560,000ha
are cultivated during Maha season and 310,000ha during Yala season (DOA,
2018). It is estimated that about 1.8 million farm families engaged in paddy
cultivation, produced 2.7 million tons of rough rice annually, and meet about
95% of the domestic requirement.
155
Rice demand is projected to increase at 1.1% per year and the country’s
targeted to increase paddy production at the rate of 2.9% per year (DOA,
2018). Increasing the cropping intensity and enhancing the yield are the
major options available to achieve this production targets. The cost of
production of rough rice is estimated to be LKR 8.57 (0.048 USD) per kg
consisting of cost of labor (55%), farm power (23%) and tradable inputs
(23%) (DOA, 2018). Maize is the second most important coarse gain
cultivated in more than 30,000ha of land annually (DOA, 2018). In addition
to coarse grains, condiments, legumes, oil crops, vegetables, fruit crops, and
roots crops also contribute to enrich the food diversity in the country.
Additionally, tea, rubber and coconut are the major plantation crops along
with some export oriented spice crops such as pepper, cinnamon, clove,
nutmeg etc. The main livestock products in Sri Lanka are milk, meat and
eggs. Livestock sector contributes around 1.2% of national GDP. DAPH
(2018) estimated that there are about 1.3 million cattle, 0.3 million buffalo,
0.4 million goats, 13 million poultry, and 0.08 million pigs in the country
with negligible numbers of sheep, ducks and other animal breeds.
Improving agriculture and food system in the country is constrained by
adversely effects of climate change events, for example, floods, droughts,
landslides, coastal hazards, cyclones, etc. This study therefore aims to
analyze the climate change and its effects in agriculture and food system, and
recommend policies and programs to cope with adverse effects of climate
change and improve the climate smart agriculture in Sri Lanka.

Climate change is emerging as a major threat to agriculture, food security
and livelihoods of millions of people in many places of the world (Bernstein
et al., 2007). Premalal and Punyawardena (2013) revealed that the daytime
maximum temperature and nighttime minimum temperature in Sri Lanka are
significantly increasing at a rate of 0.010C to 0.030C per year, respectively.
Both number of days with cold daytime and cold nighttime are significantly
decreasing in most places of the country. Meanwhile, a considerable
increasing trend in temperature has also been observed in number of days
with warm daytime and warm nighttime. De Silva (2006) and Punyawardena
et al. (2013b) predicted that the food security of Sri Lanka will be adversely
affected by climate change in future.
The cumulative annual or seasonal rainfall of major climatic zones in Sri
Lanka during the last 50 years had not undergone a significant change
(Nissanka et al., 2011). However, there is an apparent increasing trend of
heavy rainfall anomalies during the most recent pentads (Premalal &
Punyawardena, 2013; Abeysekera et al., 2015). The evidence showed that
the climate of Sri Lanka is undergoing three major types of changes: gradual
156
increase in ambient air temperature, changes in distribution pattern of
rainfall, and increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events
(NAP, 2016).
Warming is projected to be stronger in South Asia than that of global mean
(Cruz et al., 2007). Projection suggests that extreme weather events may
increase by 400% during 2071-2100 as compared to last three decades during
1971-2000 in the country (Ahmed et al., 2009). In addition to droughts,
floods, landslides, cyclone events, coastal hazards such as coastal erosion and
salinity intrusion into soils and aquifers are a common feature, especially in
the drier parts along the eastern coast of the country (Marambe et al., 2015).
Three modeling approaches have been used for projecting Sri Lanka’s
climate change: General Circulation Model (GCM), Regional Climatic
Models (RCM), and statistically downscaled GCM models (Eriyagama et al.,
2010). Punyawardena et al., (2013a) predicted that the average annual
temperature will increase by 2.5- 4.5oC by the year 2080 under A2 scenario
and 2.5-3.25oC under B2 scenario. Furthermore, the projections revealed that
the Dry zone will become drier, while Wet and Intermediate zone become
wetter than at present. This finding has further proven by a recent study
conducted by Jayawardena et al. (2017) based on the Representative
Concentration Pathways (RCPs) into two approaches; Low Emission
Scenario (RCP 4.5) and High Emission Scenario (RCP 8.5). Multi Model
Ensemble prediction for Yala season shows a positive anomaly of rainfall in
future, while the Maha season rainfall will be below the expectation.
Punyawardena et al. (2013b) revealed that the urban area in the Low country
Wet zone is the least vulnerable to climate change in Sri Lanka. Despite
exposure to floods and higher population densities, these districts have better
infrastructure, education, health services and livelihood diversity.
Communities in the Northern Province excluding Jaffna peninsula, Puttalam
and Ratnapura districts demonstrate a very high degree of vulnerability due
to high exposure of climate change events, high sensitivity of livelihoods,
and lower level of socio-economic development. Meanwhile, major rice
producing districts of the Island located in Dry and Intermediate zones of the
country, namely Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Hambantota,
Moneragala and Kurunegala possess high degree of vulnerability to climate
change. Mountainous districts of the western and eastern flanks of the
Central hills of Sri Lanka, namely Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla
along with Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the Eastern Province show a
moderate degree of vulnerability to climate change (Figure 1).
157
Decreasing arable agricultural lands,
increasing population pressure, erratic
climate change and poverty incidence
are the main issues that render
achieving the national level of food
and nutrition security in Sri Lanka
(Marambe, 2012). Extreme weather
conditions prevailed in the country
resulted in contraction mainly in
paddy and other food crops. Changes
in crop cultivation suitability,
reduction of biodiversity and increase
the prevalence of pests and diseases
are some of the major climate change
impacts. Agriculture production
systems require adaptation to these Figure 1. Vulnerability to climate change
changes in order to ensure the food Source: Punyawardena et al. (2013b)
systems and improve livelihoods of farming communities (Dwivedi et al.,
2017). World Food Program (2011) reported that out of the total population,
12% are severely food insecure, of which 82% are residing in the Northern
and Eastern Provinces.
Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in Implementing Nationally

Determined Contributions
Sri Lanka was amongst the first 50 countries to ratify the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1993. It has tied
up to the Montreal Protocol in 1989 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. The
Paris Agreement entered into force, to strengthen the global response to the
threat of climate change. Sri Lanka is one of 195 states that adopted the Paris
Agreement in December 2015, and to date 169 states have ratified. Major
policy set up adopted by Sri Lanka are discussed below.
The Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement, Paris climate accord or Paris climate agreement is an
agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation,
adaptation, and finance. The Agreement aims to respond to the global climate
change threat by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below
20C degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to limit the temperature
increase even further to 1.50C. The contributions that each individual country
should make efforts in order to achieve the worldwide goal as determined by
all the countries individually and called "Nationally Determined
Contributions" (NDCs).
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Nationally Determined Contributions
According to the Second National Communication (2011), the CO2
emissions in Sri Lanka is much less as compared to the Global values. The
Nationally Determined Contributions therefore in Sri Lanka (NDCs)
published in 2016 mainly focused on adaptation strategies rather than
mitigation. The NDCs identified and implemented four adaptation
approaches:
i. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to minimize pest
damages and improve environmental impacts and health.
ii. Developing resistant or tolerance varieties to biotic and abiotic
stresses arising from climate change.
iii. Re-demarcating Agro Ecological Regions (AER) map of Sri Lanka
with current climate and future climate, and recommend appropriate
crops for different areas to reduce vulnerability to climate change
impacts.
iv. Suitable land and water management practices for central highlands
and other marginal areas to minimize land degradation and to
improve land and water productivity.
Adaptation is the key strategy available for facing the impacts of climate
change. Climate adaptation is widely defined as actions taken to moderate,
cope or take advantage of experienced or anticipated changes in climate
(Bernstein et al., 2007). Lack of knowledge on adaptation methods,
unavailability of prior information on climate change, absence of suitable
cultivars and lack of funding have been identified as the key constrained
hindering adaptation (Marambe et al., 2015). To cope with unpredictable
fluctuations in rain and temperature, long and short age traditional varieties
such as ‘Hata da vee’ (Mature in 70 days) and the ‘Maha ma vee’ (6 months
to mature) are cultivated by farming communities in different localities of Sri
Lanka (Marambe et al., 2015).
Adaptation on applying several agricultural practices such as dry sowing
systems like Kekulama, Manawari and Nawakekulama and zero tillage are
water conserving agronomic practices. Paddy cultivation in the Dry and
Intermediate zones in Sri Lanka under zero tillage condition has enabled to
reduce the cost of production and enhanced water conservation without
significantly affecting the yield (Jayawardena et al., 2010).
Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) is a water-saving technology that
farmers apply to reduce their irrigation water consumption in rice fields
without decreasing the yield. Gunawardana et al. (2013) reported that
adoption of aerobic growing conditions for rice varieties could minimize the
water use under changing climatic condition. Salinity in paddy fields also
could overcome by a combination of agronomic measures including
159
improved field drainage, application of organic manure, rice straw and burnt
paddy husk, and transplanting instead of direct seeding (Marambe et al.,
2015). With the late onset of the season, farmers tend to changing planting
date, reduce the extent under cultivation or look for some other adaptation
options such as shared cultivation (Bethma System). On withstanding the
heavy rains, winds, and droughts, tall traditional paddy varieties with strong
stems are used by farmers rather than new improved varieties.
Policy and Institutional Framework for Adaptation and Mitigation

CSA is a novel concept emerged in 2010. The international agencies such as
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and World
Bank are working on it to derive a road map addressing the challenges
caused by climate change. CSA aims to achieve food security and broader
development goals under a changing climate (Kaczan et al., 2013). FAO
defined CSA as “Agriculture that sustainably increases productivity and
income, adapting and building resilience to climate change and reducing
and/or removing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions when and where
possible”. It consists of three strategies: increasing the productivity,
resilience (adaptation) and reduce or remove Green House Gases
(mitigation). CSA aims to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and
incomes from crops, livestock and fish without having a negative impact on
the environment. CSA contribute to reduce the exposure of climate change
effects and strengthening their resilience by building their capacity to adapt
and prosper in the face of shocks and longer-term stresses (Dwivedi et al.,
2017). CSA’s major priority is to reduce or remove greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. Furthermore, a special attention to be paid to avoid deforestation
and to manage soils and trees in such a ways that maximizes their potential to
acts as carbon sinks and absorb CO2 from the atmosphere (Dwivedi et al.,
2017). To implement these strategies country specific technology
development works and farmer oriented technologies development and
dissemination programs are needed.
Policies dealing with the climate change, agriculture and food system
including National Environmental Policy (NEP) - 2003, Roadmap for
Disaster Risk Management - 2005, National Agricultural Policy - 2007,
National Livestock Development Policy - 2007 and National Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources Policy -2006 are the major policies have been
implemented in Sri Lanka. However, these policies and programs are not
consistent and inter-connected in addressing cross-cutting issues of
agriculture and food system with climate change.
National Adaptation Plan (NAP)

Climate Change Secretariat (CCS), Ministry of Mahaweli Development and
Environment (MMDE) is the key national agency with specialized mandate
160
for addressing national issues of climate change. Two important milestones
of National Adaptation Plan processed by CCS are National Climate Change
Policy (NCCP) – 2011, and National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
(NCCAS) - 2016 are being implemented in the country. These important
policy documents elaborate the national vision and strategic priorities with
regard to facing the threat of climate change. These two documents provide a
source of legitimacy and authority required for producing the National
Adaptation Plan (NAP) for Climate Change Impacts in Sri Lanka.
The Ministry of Environment, CCS has published two reports on National
Communications of Climate Change in 2001 and 2011, which reviewed the
existing situation, policies and practices with regard to climate change. In
addition, Sector Vulnerability Profiles (SVPs) have been developed in five
sectors: namely, Urban Development; Human Settlements and Economic
Infrastructure; Agriculture and Fisheries; Water, Health, Biodiversity; and
Ecosystem Services. The ministry has also completed Technology Needs
Assessment (TNA) for adaptation and mitigation of five sectors, namely
food, health, water, coastal sector, and biodiversity (NAP, 2016).
The most vulnerable sectors to climate change identified by National
Adaptation Plan for Climate Change (NAP) are: agriculture, fisheries, water,
human health, coastal and marine ecosystems, biodiversity, infrastructure and
human settlements. The ultimate goals of the plan are to enhance the adaptive
capacity of these vulnerable sectors and reduce the degree of vulnerability.
The NAP provided opportunity for developing policies; strengthening
cooperation, institutional setup, resource mobilization, technology
development and transfer; and awareness and capacity building to increase
resilience of vulnerable communities, areas and sectors (NAP, 2016).
However, these ultimate goals have to be delivered through the joint efforts
of key stakeholders including of government sector (line ministries and line
agencies), private sector (corporate sector and small and medium-sized
enterprises- SMEs), civil society organizations, academia, researchers, policy
makers, and local community-based organizations (NAP, 2016).
Legal framework
Soil erosion is the major concern under the legal framework in addressing the
adaptation and mitigation aspects in agriculture sector. Accelerating soil
erosion and devastating earth slips in the hill, made realize the country to
formulate a strong legislative measures to address the problem of land
degradation. Soil Conservation Act (1951 No 25, Amended by Amendment
Act No 24 of 1996) is the major legal document on the prevention of soil
erosion in Sri Lanka. In addition, Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka Act, State
Lands Ordinance, Agrarian Development Act, National Environment Act,
161
and Water Resources Board Act are also more consistent legal frameworks
on addressing the problem of soil conservation.
Soil Conservation Act empowered to undertake surveys and investigations to
be made for the purposes of ascertaining the nature and extent of land
degradation due to various factors including floods, droughts, salinization,
desertification, siltation and soil erosion. It empowers to declare
“conservation area” to specify measures regulating the use of land in such
areas and to acquire land for carrying out measures to prevent erosion
(Munasinghe & Pushpakumara, 2002).
Institutional framework for research and extension

Institutional development for promoting research and extension with regards
to climate smart agriculture has not been well developed in Sri Lanka.
Research capacity of Sri Lankan researchers on developing stress tolerance
crop varieties is hindered by lack of sophisticated laboratories and high-tech
equipment. Research facilities on conservation of genetic diversity and
indigenous crop and livestock varieties are also needed.
A dearth of mobility facilities in conducting of field level trails is another
problem. Maintaining of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) at the field level
is always successful under the supervision by extension officers. Planting
times, water and soil conservation techniques, manure production and
organic fertilization, application of inorganic fertilizers and crop
diversification activates always become fruitful under the supervision of
extension officers.
Extreme rainfall events severely damage the irrigation infrastructures of
major and minor irrigation tanks. Furthermore, these erosive rains cause
siltation of tanks and reservoir, thus limiting the water availability for crop
production during dry spells. Water salinity poses threats to the agriculture as
more than 45,000 hectares of agricultural land are affected by salinity due to
improper irrigation techniques and poor drainage facilities (Mapa, 2003).
Therefore, adequate infrastructure is needed for the construction of proper
irrigation system, reconstruction of irrigation tanks, sluice gates, diversion
canals (D-canals), reduction of siltation and improved drainage system.
Human resources for climate smart agriculture

Human resource development is the most limiting factor on addressing the
issues of climate change. Human resources, particularly the technicians play
a vital role to reduce the effects of climate change by strengthening CSA
strategies and programs. However, 50% of the carder of professionals
attached to the Department of Agriculture has not fulfilled. The policy
decisions and innovative technologies need to be effectively disseminated
towards the grass-root level through extension system. Inadequacy of
162
extension officers to recruit in the remote areas, especially in dry areas where
agriculture is mostly established, is also a major problem. Lacking of training
programmes and viable knowledge dissemination approaches are major
constrains in capacity development of officials to grass root level. Climate
Field Schools (CFS) is a viable and effective technology dissemination
approach, which can be used to reorient the agricultural extension systems,
simulating the participatory methods and fortifying farmers’ collective
decision making ability (Wijeratne, 2014). Lacking of strong assessment
tools and inadequacy of financial support are constrained for the fruitfulness
of existing policies.
Indeed, farmers are able to increase the production. However, without having
efficient domestic marketing system, promoting comparative advantage in
agriculture, and proper import and export markets, they are encountering
highly desperate in enhancing yield. Medium and long range seasonal
climate forecasts and improved market access for smallholders could
minimize these challenges.
Reduction in GHG Emissions and carbon sequestration are the two main
steps in mitigation part of CSA practices. An appropriate policies tie up with
consistent programs for research and technology development in adaptation
and mitigation of climate change is crucial to cope with the adverse effects in
agriculture and food system in Sri Lanka.
In implementing CSA approaches, policy makers need to pursue inter-
regional and international trainings and functional coordination in north-
south and south-south cooperation. In addition, Sri Lankan researchers could
improve their capacities through conducting joint collaborative studies with
expatriates within region or beyond. Not only higher ranked officers, but also
field level offers and technicians need exposures of the regional experiences,
and practiced innovative technologies. International exposure is very
important to improve attitudes of people towards the CSA concept. Special
trainings on handling and repairing of equipment are also required because of
considerable amount of the high-tech instruments are kept without
functioning after minor breakdowns.
Best Practices on Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change

Sri Lanka has been adopting several policies, programs and practices on
sustainable agricultural development in consistent with CSA approach to
cope with adverse effects of climate change. As a result, agriculture crops
have been considerably increased (for example, harvested area of rice is
increased by 30.4%, from 2003 to 2013 and maize harvested more than
doubled from 2003 to 2013). Conservation of genetic diversity of indigenous
crop varieties is the foundation for the sustainable development of new
varieties that address the present and future challenges. Similarly, the
163
preservation of genetic variability in indigenous livestock has enhanced
resilience to changing climate conditions in native dairy stocks. Department
of Agriculture, Sri Lanka has successfully developed new rice varieties to
adapt the challenges of extreme climatic events (Table 3). Breeding of salt-
tolerant rice varieties is also primary adaptation measure to maintain national
rice production levels and ensuring food security in the face of expanding
salinity due to sea level rice (Marambe et al., 2015) (Table 1).
In addition to water and soil conservation methods, the Sri Lankan
agricultural community has successfully practiced several other adaptive
farm operations such as Integrated Plant Nutrient System (IPNS), Integrated
Pest Management (IPM), organic farming, intercropping, crop diversification
and livestock integration.
Conservation of rain water received during short intense rains for frequent
dry spells is an important adaptation method for changing climate. Farmers
are practicing several adaptation methods to improve the water-use efficiency
during prolonged dry periods (Table 1).
Table 1. Successful climate smart adaptation practiced

Program/Activities/
Approaches Impacts
Practices
 Ultra-short duration and These varieties are being used
drought escaping rice when the onset of cultivation
Development varieties eg. Bg 250 (matures season delay due to the
of new in 75-80 days) prolonged droughts. Reduction
varieties  Salt-tolerant rice varieties eg. of yield losses can be observed
At 354 (three and half month even under water scarcity and
age class). salinity conditions.
 Rainwater harvesting Crop losses due to severe

systems. droughts specially in the Dry and
 Micro-irrigation techniques. Intermediate zones can be
managed in some extent by
 Shade management (growing
improving water-use efficiency.
Water cover crops, mulching).
conservation
 Reconstruction of ancient Higher quantity of rain water
tanks. received during short intense
rains that can be stored for water
scarcity conditions.
 On-farm soil conservation. Due to the wide range of
Soil - Mechanical measures (Soil topographic features, soil erosion
conservation or stone bonds, lock and is a major problem in the
spill drains, bench terraces, agricultural lands of the country.
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Program/Activities/
Approaches Impacts
Practices
contour or individual Both on-farm and off-farm soil
platforms). conservation method are very
- Biological measures (Grass important in protection of
hedge rows, double hedge agricultural lands during high
rows, cover crops and agro- intense rains and floods.
forestry).
 Off-farm soil conservation.
 Gully conservation, stream
bank conservation, road bank
conservation and slit trap.
Recommendations in Reference to Koronivia Joint Work

The 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany
marks a milestone for negotiations on agriculture. COP 17 brought
agriculture into the negotiations by asking the UNFCCC’s technical body to
consider issues relating to agriculture. COP 23 has reached a decision on next
steps for agriculture within the UNFCCC framework, the Koronivia Joint
Work on Agriculture (KJWA). This is a landmark decision that recognizes
the vital role of the food security and agriculture sectors in climate change
adaptation and mitigation. Climate change action in agriculture has been well
recognized in the KJWA, considering the productivity and food security.
Both the subsidiary bodies of UNFCCC, namely the Scientific and
Technological Advice (SBSTA) and for Implementation (SBI), have been
requested to work together on issues related to agriculture in the climate
change scenarios. All country parties and observers have been invited to
submit their views to be included in the further joint work. Sri Lanka has
been actively taking part in the negotiations and informal dialogues in KJWA
and is a significant contributor to the overall process. Sri Lanka’s
recommendations are as below:
i. Stock-taking stock of existing data, evidence, knowledge and
practices for gap identification.
ii. Modalities of implementing the KJWA.
iii. A ‘work plan’ or a ‘roadmap’ that would guide Subsidiary Body of
Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and
Technological Advice (SBSTA) on milestones that need to be
achieved before reporting back to the Conference of Parties (COP) at
its twenty-sixth session (November 2020).
165
iv. Formulating concrete submissions that include implementable action
points on how KJWA should be taken forward.
v. Exploring how other bodies under the Convention, within their terms
of reference (TOR) and mandate may support shaping further
activities under the KJWA.
vi. Further dialogue on all received submissions on the progress, which
will facilitate further discussion.
The country parties have agreed that agriculture sector is the most sensitive
to climate change impacts. Further, urgent action for adaptation to climate
change in the agriculture sector has been emphasized. The need for
collaboration between Ministry of Environment and other sectoral ministries,
including agriculture, was also important to develop coherent policy
frameworks for climate action. Inter-linkages between the 2030 Agenda and
the KJWA must be further assessed in order to achieve the objectives.
On the basis of discussion in the previous section, following policy
recommendations are made for improving CSA:
i. Strengthen research and development with increased resources in
CSA.
ii. Formulate policy and program framework in consistent with
UNFCCC framework and KJWA.
iii. Capacity development of government officers, technicians,
researchers and scholars, and farmers.
iv. Enhance carbon trade to reduce GHG emission and improve adaption
of climate change.
v. Functional coordination among north-south and south –south
cooperation in technology and resource mobilization.
Conclusion
Climate change has made a considerable impacts on food security in Sri
Lanka. The country has made several Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDC, 2016) on adaptation to the climate change. Newly developed
technologies, crop varieties and adaptive farm operations are some steps
taken by agriculture sector to respond the impact of climate change. Several
policy documents including National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and strong legal
frame work are established in Sri Lanka to address the adaptation and
mitigation aspects of climate change. In implementing the CSA strategies in
the country, infrastructure development, improvement of human resource
capacity and international support, especially North-South and South-South
cooperation are important.
166
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to extend their sincere gratitude to Prof. B. Marambe,
Professor of Weed Science; Chairman, National Experts Committee on
Climate Change Adaptation (NECCCA), Ministry of Environment;
Chairman, National Invasive Species Specialist Group (NISSG), Ministry of
Environment for providing valuable information on writing this paper. Dr.
S.H.S.A. De Silva, Director, Natural Resources Management Centre,
Department of Agriculture is highly acknowledged for providing supports.
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169
Report of the Regional Expert Consultation on Climate
Smart Agricultural Policies, Strategies and Agricultural
Development Programmes towards Climate Change
Adaptation and Mitigation in South Asia
(17-19 April 2018, Hyderabad, India)
Introduction
South Asia is extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts owing to
diverse geography, higher population density and higher levels of poverty
incidence. Climate change issue is complex and adversely affects agriculture
in a number of ways including reduced productivity, sudden crop failures and
high vulnerability in marginal areas. In order to address effectively these
challenges, there is a need for stronger integration and mainstreaming of
climate change issues in agricultural policies, especially taking into
consideration countries’ adaptation and mitigation commitments under the
Paris Agreement. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) is an emerging approach
to cope with the climate change effects in agriculture and food system. This
approach need to be tie-up with adequate policies and programs, and orient
concerned stakeholders including farming communities and reduce GHG
emission and enhance adaptation capacity. SAARC Agriculture Center,
Dhaka, Bangladesh and Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research
(APN); Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC),
New Delhi, India; ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research
Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, India had jointly organized a regional
consultative workshop on CSA policies and programs towards climate
change mitigation and adaptation technologies in South Asia.
Objectives
The objectives of the regional expert consultation were:
 to promote common understandings of climate change impact on
agriculture.
 to evaluate agricultural policies integrating climate change
adaptation and mitigation into agriculture.
 to prioritize issues and gaps in climate change policy, research,
capacity development and knowledge management.
 to recommend key policy areas on climate change conceptual
framework for collaborative research, capacity development, and
knowledge management in South Asia.
170
Program Structure
The program was held during 17-19 April 2018 in Hyderabad, India. After the
inaugural session at the first day (17 April, 2019), there were four technical
papers presented by country focal point experts on climate smart agricultural
policies and programs towards adaptation and mitigation of climate change in
their respective countries. Country representative experts from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were involved in
the presentation and discussion. Each of the sessions were facilitated by
Chairperson for the presentation and discussion.
On the day second, there were four sessions for invited technical papers
presentations focused on research towards climate-smart agriculture in South
Asia; institutional capacity and human resources development for facilitating
climate-smart agriculture in South Asia; economics and innovative policy for
climate-smart agriculture in South Asia; and success stories of community
participated climate change adaptation in agricultural sector in South Asia.
The invited technical paper presentation session was followed by roundtable
discussion with two issues: COP23 Decision- “Koronivia Joint Work on
Agriculture” from science to implementation, and knowledge and capacity
gaps in understanding climate change impacts on agriculture, and adaptation
and mitigation measures. Third day was scheduled plenary session for the
recommendations on a conceptual framework for policy and actions towards
on climate-smart agriculture.
Methodology
The program was organized back to back with SAARC expert consultation,
and APN South Asia Sub-regional Committee Meeting. The consultation was
interactive and participatory to explore and analyze climate change effects
and promote climate smart agriculture for adaptation and mitigation
measures. It consists of country presentations (Country Focal Point Experts),
thematic presentations (by resource persons), plenary sessions, roundtable
discussions and working group exercises.
Each Focal Point Expert nominated by respective SAARC Member
Countries. They prepared a comprehensive technical country paper stating
the country states on climate change and agriculture.
Organizers and Partners

The consultation program was jointly organized by SAARC Agriculture
Centre (SAC), Bangladesh; Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change
Research (APN); Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
(MEFCC), India; and ICAR- National Academy of Agricultural Research
Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, India.
171
Key Recommendations of the Invited Technical Paper on
Economics and Innovative Policy for Climate-Smart
Agriculture in South Asia
Dr. BG. Mukhopadhyay
Former Chief General Manager

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), India
Key recommendations are made in the invited technical paper presentation

on economics and innovative policy for climate-smart agriculture in South
Asia.
i. Engaging the system- in order to encourage the farmers in climate
smart agriculture, it is necessary that the vulnerabilities of farmers
are duly addressed and the pain points of farmers are identified.
NABARD did a very innovative way of engaging the stakeholders
by launching a nationwide campaign with Water Resources
Ministry, Government of India in one hundred thousand villages
(water campaign) in the country where we engaged the non-
governmental / civil society organizations to speak at the grassroots
with Panchayats, opinion leaders, Self - Help Group women and
community leaders. This process led to the feedback from the village
levels, what could work and what needs to be done differently in
water conservation, sustainable agriculture and reducing the risks
and uncertainties during the time of climate change which can
stabilize farmers’ income.
ii. Creating incentives and dis- incentives in the system- the
government has introduced the incentives to encourage farmers and
other stakeholders to switchover to clean energy and simultaneously
reduce the usage of fossil- fuel based energy to check pollution. The
Government is encouraging the participation of private sector to
graduate from waste to wealth and use biogas for fuel and cow
dung for manures in farmers’ field.
iii. Climate Change Adaptation infrastructures- The Govt of India is
encouraging the states to use the funding support under Rural
Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), which is created out of
the shortfall in Priority sector lending of banks for adaptation and
mitigation activities. Solar micro- irrigation, rooftop solar and solar
village concepts are gaining ground.
iv. Development of Business models- NABARD has collaborated with
KFW (German Development Bank) and GIZ to develop the proper
business models of climate finance under Umberlla Programme of
172
Natural Resource Management (UPNRM), which essentially takes
care of many of the components of climate smart agriculture.
NABARD is disseminating these ideas and practices to the Rural
Financial Institutions after ground truthing many of these concepts
thru pilot projects.
v. Climate Finance Products- NABARD is collaborating with Green
Climate Fund (GCF), Adaptation Fund Board, National Adaptation
Fund for Climate Change to develop blended finance models for
Adaptation and mitigation. Some of the banks like EXIM Bank, Yes
Bank have issued Green Bonds for Climate Finance.
vi. Public - Private Partnership- Government of India is encouraging and
incentivizing the private corporate for drip and sprinkler irrigation
for climate smart agriculture.
173
List of Participants
Name Designation and Address Representation

Mr. Sarwaree Gh. Head of Rangeland Afghanistan
Dastageer Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and (Country Focal
Livestock (MAIL), Afghanistan. Point Experts)
Email: ghulam.dastageer@gmail.com
Tel: +93 799249283
Mr. Shainur Azam Deputy Director Bangladesh
Khan Department of Agricultural Extension, (Country Focal
Barguna, Bangladesh. Point Experts)
Email: dddaebarguna@gmail.com
Tel: +880 1712164776; +88 044862469
Mr. Jigme Tenzin Deputy Chief Horticulture Bhutan (Country
Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Focal Point
Bhutan. Experts)
Email: jigmetenzin@moaf.gov.bt
Dr. M. Prabhakar Principal Scientist India (Country
ICAR Central Research Institute for Focal Point
Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, Experts)
India.
Email: m.prabhakar@icar.gov.in;
nicra1.crida@gmail.com
Tel: +91-40-24331100
Dr. Aminath Shafia Director General Maldives
Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, (Country Focal
Male, Maldives. Point Experts)
Email: shaf0015@gmail.com,
shafia.aminath@fishagri.gov.mv
Tel: +960 3339245
Mr. Muhammad Tahir Director General Pakistan
Anwar Federal Water Management Cell, (Country Focal
Islamabad, Pakistan. Point Experts)
Email: mtahiranwar@gmail.com
Tel: +92 302 8563224; 051 9245103
Ms. Aruni Buddhika Assistant Director of Agriculture Sri Lanka
Abeysekara (Research) (Country Focal
Natural Resources Management Centre Point Experts)
(NRMC), Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Email: arunikasekera@yahoo.com
Tel: +94 718446763
Md. Billal Hossain Additional Secretary APN-Delegates
Ministry of Environment and Forest, and Invited
174
Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka-1000, Experts from
Bangladesh. Bangladesh
Email: mdbhossain05@gmail.com
Tel: +88029514766; +8801716157306
Md. Giashuddin Miah Vice Chancellor APN-Delegates
Office of the Vice-Chancellor, and Invited
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Experts from
Agricultural University, BSMRAU, Bangladesh
Gazipur-1706, Bangladesh.
Dr. Sanjay Vashist Director APN-Delegates
Climate Action Network South Asia and Invited
(CANSA), Bangladesh Centre for Experts from
Advanced Studies (BCAS) House # 10, Bangladesh
Road # 16A, Gulshan -1 Dhaka -1212,
Bangladesh.
Email: sanjay@cansouthasia.net
Mr. Loday Phuntsho Principal Horticulture Officer for Climate APN-Delegates
Change Adaptation and Mitigation, and Invited
Ministry of Agriculture and Forest, Post Experts from
Box: 1095, Thimphu, Bhutan. Bhutan
Email: lphuntsho@moaf.gov.bt
Dr. J. R. Bhatt Advisor (Climate Change) APN-Delegates

Ministry of Forest, Environment and and Invited
Climate Change, Experts from
326, ‘Jal’ Wing, Indira Paryavaran India
Bhawan, Aliganj, Jor Bagh Road, New
Delhi-110003, India.
Email: jrbhatt@nic.in
Dr. Hemant Visiting Scientist APN-Delegates
Borgaonkar Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and Invited
Prabhakar Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune 411 Experts from
008. India. India
Email: hemant@tropmet.res.in
Tel: +91 20 25904360
Dr. Kanayathu Sustainability Consultant and Emeritus APN-Delegates
Chacko Koshy Professor of Sustainability, and Invited
Governing Council Member Experts from
(Sustainability), Environmental Resources India
Research Centre (ERRC)
36 MM Nagar, Manjadi P. O. Thiruvalla,
Kerala 689105, India. Email:
kanayathu.koshy@gmail.com
Tel: +91 9747691704
175
Mr. Ajay Raghava Deputy Director APN-Delegates
Climate Change Division, Ministry of and Invited
Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Experts from
326, ‘Jal’ Wing, Indira Paryavaran India
Bhawan, Aliganj, Jor Bagh Road, New
Delhi-110003, India.
Email: ajay.raghava@nic.in
Dr. B.G. Chief General Manager APN-Delegates
Mukhopadhyay National Bank for Agriculture And Rural and Invited
Development (NABARD), Plot C-24, G Experts from
Block, Bandra Kurla complex, BKC Road, India
Bandra East
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051 India.
Email: benu8896@yahoo.co.in
Dr. Dipayan Dey Chair, South Asian Forum for APN-Delegates
Environment, and Invited
B 43, 2nd Floor, Survey Park, Kolkata Experts from
700075, WB, India. India
Email: drdipayandey@gmail.com
Dr. Kirit Parikh Former Member APN-Delegates
Planning Commission, Government of and Invited
India. Experts from
Chairman, Integrated Research and Action India
for Development (IRADe), India.
Email: kparikh@irade.org
Ms. Mrinmoyee Professor, Department of Geography, APN-Delegates
Naskar Baruipur College, West Bengal, India. and Invited
Email: mrinscape@outlook.com Experts from
India
Mr. Ram Prasad Meteorologist, Ministry of Forest and APN-Delegates
Awasthi Environment, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, and Invited
Nepal. Experts from
Email: awasthiramprasad@gmail.com Nepal
Dr. Madan Lall Academician, Nepal Academy of Science APN-Delegates
Shrestha and Technology, Khumaltar, Patan, Nepal. and Invited
Email: madanls1949@gmail.com Experts from
Tel: 977 1 4266499 Nepal
Mr. Nasimur Rehman Deputy Director APN-Delegates
Environment Protection Department, and Invited
National Hockey Stadium, Ferozepur Road, Experts from
Lahore, Pakistan Pakistan
Email: nasim.epd@gmail.com
176
Dr. Amir Muhammad Member of the Board of Governors, APN-Delegates
National University of Computer and and Invited
Emerging Sciences Experts from
House #3, Street 35, F-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan.
Email: amir.muhammed@nu.edu.pk
Mr. Rifa Wadood Assistant Director APN-Delegates
International Relations, Ministry of and Invited
Mahaweli Development and Environment Experts from Sri
82, “Sampathpaya”, Rajamalwatta Road, Lanka
Battaramulla, Sri Lanka.
Email: rifagee@gmail.com
+94 112034121
Mr. Sarath Premalal Director General APN-Delegates
Department of Meteorology and Invited
383, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07, Experts from Sri
Sri Lanka. Lanka
Email: spremalal@yahoo.com
Mr. Yukihiro Imanari Division Head, Development and APN Secretariat
Institutional Affairs Division, 4f, East
Building, 1-5-2 Wakinohama Kaigan Dori,
Chuo-Ku, Kobe 651-0073, Japan
Tel: +81 78 230 8017; Fax: +81 78 230
8018
Email: yimanari@apn-gcr.org
Mr. Xiaojun Deng Programme Officer for Communication APN Secretariat
and Development, 4f, East Building, 1-5-2
Wakinohama Kaigan Dori, Chuo-Ku, Kobe
651-0073, Japan
Tel: +81 78 230 8017; Fax: +81 78 230
8018
Email: xdeng@apn-gcr.org
Dr. W. A. R. T. Senior Program Specialist (PSPD), SAARC
Wickramaarachchi SAARC Agriculture Centre Agriculture
BARC Complex, Farmgate, Dhaka 1215, Center, Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Bangladesh
Email: wartwa@gmail.com; Tel: +880
1754696984
177
Pictures of the Program
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Strategies to Respond Climate Change

SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)

All rights reserved

Corresponding Editor’s Information

Ending poverty, zero hunger and respond to climate

South Asia is facing unprecedented challenges posed by

This book is the outcome of a regional expert’s consultation on “climate

ADB Asian Development Bank

Chapter 3 Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation 37

Chapter 4 Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation 62

Chapter 5 Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation 79

Chapter 6 Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation 97

Chapter 7 Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation 132

Report of the Expert Consultation 170

Senior Program Specialist

Major Issues and Challenges in Climate Change and Agriculture

Climate Change Trends, Projections and It’s Impacts

Table 1. Hydro-meteorological climate change impacts in South Asia

Climate change and its impacts on crop production

Table 2. Potential climate change impacts on crop production

Climate change events Potential impacts

Approaches for climate change adaption and mitigation

Synergies and tradeoffs between the pillars of CSA

Planting pits - zai and half-moon techniques

System of rice intensification (SRI)

Erosion control techniques

Climate information services

Cash transfer for building resilience

Climate technologies for water risks reduction

CSA practices under temperature, rainfall, and sea level

 Adoption of salt tolerant and submergence

Conclusion and Policy Recommendations

Deputy Director, Department of Agricultural Extension

Climate Change and It’s Impacts on Agriculture

Greenhouse Gases (GHS) emission

Agricultural systems in Bangladesh

Climate change and agriculture

Adaption and Mitigation Strategies in Agriculture

Use of short- Promotes high Increases Provides moderate

Success Story on Climate Smart Agriculture in Bangladesh

Conclusion and Recommendations

Jigme Tenzin1*, Loday Phuntsho2 and Lakey Lakey 3

Table 1. Agro-ecological zones and agriculture production

Agriculture system in Bhutan is still predominantly subsistent where farmers

Climate Change Trends and It’s Impacts on Agriculture

Table 2. Agriculture land use in Bhutan

Sub-class Total Area (Ha) Total Area (%) Cultivated Land

Figure 1. Monthly Temperature

Rainfall pattern change

Figure 3. Average annaul rainfall pattern

Climate change projections

Greenhouse gas emissions

Climate Change and It’s Impacts

Reduction in agricultural water availability

Pests and diseases

Climate change and its effects on food and nutrition security