People’s Perception on Impact of Climate Change in Paschim Amawa and Tikuligadh Village Development Committee (VDC) Of Rupandehi District, Nepal

Abstract

The issue of climate change is one of the global challenges and great concerns to humanity. Although Nepal has a negligible share in the global emissions of greenhouse gases, it is more vulnerable to climate change impact due to its fragile mountain ecosystems. A study was carried out to assess people’s understanding on climate change, identify its impacts on their communities and document how they are coping with those impacts. Descriptive and explorative research designs with purposive sampling method were used to collect data from the field. The study showed that more than 50% respondents were familiar with the concepts of climate change and remaining had no idea. Those who were familiar with climate change got knowledge about it from mass media. The result of this study showed that the climate change has several impacts on the study area such as decrease in agricultural production, loss in biodiversity, decrease in water resources and increase in health hazards. During field survey, people suggested that the Government of Nepal must have effective plan, policy and program for holistic approach and develop low cost technology for adaptation to climate change impact and improve livelihood.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i1.12185International Journal of Environment Volume-4, Issue-1, Dec-Feb 2014/15, page: 141-160