Sustainable Mountain Development No. 56, ICIMOD, Winter 2009
in the changing climate. If the drought persists, the cost
of the current coping strategies might be high. It may
take some time for people to develop new adaptation
strategies as these are often related to a combination
of factors acting at different scales, like perceptions of
change and external support.
Adaptation at different scales
The situation in Kavre illustrates the need for adaptation
strategies at a local scale. But adaptation strategies
need to be developed at regional and national levels
too. At a regional scale, a river basin contains many
different climatic regimes and local environments,
each with its own local preconditions where water
consumption should be optimised. It does not make
sense, for example, to grow water-intensive crops in
water scarce areas. The ‘more-crop-per-drop’ principle
requires that crop selection is based on local water
availability, while ensuring that the products are part
of a regional market. Regional economic trade and
transport of water in the form of products (virtual water),
rather than costly transfer schemes for water itself, is
an important adaptation strategy at the regional scale.
Regional economic trade is still far from achieving its
potential in the river basins of the Himalayan region.
Wealthy farmers in Kabhre district, Nepal, use heavy machinery
to dig trenches in the dry river bed to get water for irrigation
(above); for others watering by hand is a short-term coping
strategy (right)
crops with a low water requirement, using rain
harvesting strategies and irrigation canals, and
diversifying livelihoods by combining vegetables,
paddy, and livestock. However, the increasingly dry
conditions have stressed the system, with irrigation
channels remaining dry through most of the year. Water
can only be accessed by digging deep wells or through
excavation of the dry river bed using heavy machinery
-- something that only wealthy farmers can afford. Poor
households have to carry water by hand to their fi elds,
and risk having to sell off livestock to compensate
for lack of income from agriculture, or because they
do not have enough water for them. The agricultural
system was well-adapted to the prevailing conditions,
but is not robust enough in the current context. Today
farmers are merely coping, with differences between
rich and poor households being enhanced. The inequity
is reinforced by the absence of policies focusing on
drought in general (the focus is on fl ood management)
or regulating access to groundwater in particular. The
local adaptation strategies are becoming non-functional
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