Local responses to too much and too little water in the greater Himalayan region
Maladaptive responses Governance systems – The transformation to the HRS
has enhanced the ability of people to choose their own
Despite existing water shortages, villagers are planting
autonomous individual responses to risks and stresses.
cash crops with low drought resistance. Technical
In all study sites, individuals have more incentive to
improvements, overuse of pesticides and fertilisers, and
innovate or respond since the introduction of the HRS.
the application of frost resistant chemicals on vegetables
have impacts on water and human health, and increase
Government policies allowing markets, rural reforms,
dependency on the market. The local government has
poverty reduction, and environmental protection have
implemented hail prevention measures that protect
provided opportunities for local adaptation. The villages
against loss of tobacco, but reduce rainfall, which has
and households have good access to technology,
an adverse effect on other food crops.
markets, information, and government programmes,
such as techniques for agricultural water saving,
Factors Influencing Local Adaptation
employment opportunities outside agriculture, and
measures for environmental improvement (e.g. Sloping
The study documented specific factors that enable
Land Conversion Program). These policies are a key
adaptation and factors that constrain it. However, some
to strengthening community and individual households’
factors, such as the community organisation during
adaptive capacities.
the communal period, can in some instances enable
adaptation and in others constrain appropriate and
Government environmental protection programmes such
sustainable responses.
as Natural Forest Protection Program, Sloping Land
Conversion Program, and Grain for Green Program;
have contributed to reducing landslide events in
Enabling factors
Baicai. With compensation payments from the central
Communal period infrastructure and institutions – government for converting sloping farmland into forest,
During the communal period, local institutions and villagers are able to do more off-farm work and to invest
collective actions governed the community to help in cash crops, animal husbandry, and fruit trees.
ensure that all villagers had equal access to resources,
irrigation, and infrastructure. Although resources were not Improved management of irrigation water at the local
always used efficiently, both large and small irrigation government level – Since the HRS was introduced in
facilities constructed during the communal period still Taokong in the early 1980s, new water management
benefit people by providing physical infrastructure for rules were established. These included a schedule for
their adaptation responses. distribution of irrigation water and a rotation system to
respond to increasing water demand. However, these
In both Daojie and Taokong, past investments in rules only help with the equal distribution of irrigation
irrigation infrastructure enable villagers to cope relatively water to a certain extent, because the township
well during droughts. During droughts, the management government is not directly involved in the enforcement of
of irrigation systems adjusts to reflect the limited water the rules to avoid conflicts.
supply and to attempt to minimise agricultural losses. The
communal system was an enabling factor that allowed Government aid and technological responses are being
villagers to make adaptive responses at the village level. used to mitigate disasters – Historically, hail, landslides,
However, the ability of individual households to respond and crop diseases had impacts on livelihoods; but
to climate risks and impacts was constrained in this various technological measures are now used to reduce
system. the damage. For example, agricultural technology
stations at the village level provide support to ensure that
Local leadership can be an enabling factor – For crop diseases or insect pests are reported and prevented
example, in Baicai, a village leader initiated in a timely way. There is government compensation
afforestation activities to cope with serious landslides for extreme disasters, such as providing water pumps
and soil erosion. Later, these activities evolved into a when there is a drought. In Taokong, the government
long-term adaptation strategy. In Taokong, some village established a hail prevention station to protect against
groups have better irrigation infrastructure than others as hail, especially for tobacco, but the technique reduces
a result of strong leadership. rainfall, affecting the farmers’ other crops.
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