Group for Technical Assistance
Country Profile
Population: 30,056,790
Major threats: Flood, Earthquake, Drought and Lightening/thunderstorm
Population affected: Farmers, Rural poor, Indigenous people, Women & Children
Location affected: Kathmandu, Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha, and the Southern plains
Industries affected: Agriculture, Tourism
Compounding issues: Livelihood, climate change, environmental degradation, WASH
World risk index ranking: 4.92
Global climate risk index: 9
Roughly 75 percent of Nepal is covered by mountains, making the country highly exposed to natural disasters. Over the last decade, Nepal has experienced several disasters that struck the country and killed almost 9,000 people due to earthquakes and floods.
In recent years, many countries, including China, India, United Kingdom, United States, and Japan, have assisted Nepal. Even though its agriculture depends on the monsoon rain cycle between July up to September, Nepal experienced numerous landslides and floods that damaged community houses due to heavy rain. The government and international agencies have socialized prevention and mitigation to reduce losses.
Economic assistance by countries around the globe shows that Nepal is one of the most vulnerable nations in the world, highly dependent on the import of necessary materials for its agriculture products, such as fertilizers. In rural areas, the living conditions of women and children exposes them to disasters as the men in the family go abroad for work. They must therefore depend on small-scale agriculture with limited access to other livelihood options.
Hazards caused by climate change, including landslides and floods, have led to damage, loss of lives, livelihoods, and poverty. This is happening because Nepal’s economy depends on climate activities, namely agriculture, as the primary cultivation of rice and corn (maize) and forestry.
Cutting standing forest to increase the cultivation land area has caused soil erosion, resulting in reduced yields and land losses by landslides.
As mentioned earlier, men leaving their families to work aboard has put women into difficult and even dangerous situations. With lack of economic resources and limited access due to their status, their living conditions decline and worsen in time of disasters, as loss of livelihoods results in increased poverty.
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