U.S.-Nepal Research Planning Visit: Impacts of Climate on Rural Communities in the Gandaki River Watershed, Nepal

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

Changing cimate has the potential to disrupt rural communities worldwide, and there is a pressing need to test existing theories and conceptual models of community resiliency to such changes. The remarkable variability in social and ecological systems along the Gandaki River corridor in Nepal's Himalayan range provides ideal conditions to test these theories, and the goal of this project is to support a three-week research planning trip to develop collaborative relationships with Nepalese partners and to finalize research hypotheses on the impacts of changing climate on rural communities in the region. By supporting U.S. researchers in Economics, Civil Engineering, and Earth Sciences to develop new international collaborations, this project helps to strengthen the nation's STEM capabilities. The primary focus area for this planning visit is the Gandaki River Corridor. The Gandaki is one of the major rivers of Nepal and it transects remarkably diverse landscapes from the arid Tibetan Plateau, through the Siwalik foothills, and into the humid Terai plains. The U.S.-based research team includes an atmospheric scientist, an economist, and a water resources engineer. The Nepalese partners include top researchers from both social and physical science backgrounds. Specifically, the primary collaboration coordinator in Nepal is Dr. Siddhartha Bajracharya, a senior environmental research scientist at the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), who has extensive experience working along the Gandaki corridor. Three U.S. graduate students will also participate in the project. This planning visit represents an initial step in the team's long-term research goal to advance understanding of the linkages and feedback mechanisms between biophysical and social factors that influence vulnerability and resilience to changing climate across interacting spatial, temporal, and organizational scales.