Nicholas Schofield

Hemant Ojha

Jeff Camkin

In Asia and the Pacific, climate change is now a well-recognised risk to water security but responses to this risk are either under reported, or continue to be guided by the incremental or business as usual approaches. Water policy still tends to remain too narrow and fragmented, compared to the multi-sectoral and cross-scalar nature of risks to water security. What’s more, current water security debates tend to be framed in discipline specific or academic ways, failing to understand decision making and problem-solving contexts within which policy actors and partitioners have to operate on a daily basis. Much of the efforts to date has focussed on assessing and predicting the risks in the context of increasing levels of uncertainty. There is still limited analysis of emerging practices of risks assessment and mitigation in different contexts in Asia and the Pacific. Going beyond the national scales and focussing on several socio-ecological zones, this book captures stories written by engaged scholars on recent attempts to develop cross-sectoral and cross-scaler solutions to assess and mitigate risks to water security across Asia and the Pacific. Identifying lessons from successes and failures, it highlights management and strategic lessons that water and climate leaders of Asia and the Pacific need to consider. This book showcases reflective and analytical thought pieces written by key actors in the climate and water spaces. Several critical socio-ecological zones are covered – from Pakistan in the west to pacific islands in the east. The chapters clearly identify strategies for improvement based on the analysis of emerging responses to climate risks to water security and gaps in current practices. The book will include an editorial introduction and a final synthesis chapter to ensure clear articulation of common themes and to highlight the overall messages of the book.

Framing Effective Response in Asia and the Pacific

Climate Risks to Water Security

Jagadish Timsina

Jagannath Adhikari

Tek N. Maraseni

Devendra Gauchan

This book explains how a former net food exporting Nepal has become a net food importing country due to a lack of an integrated system-wide approach to planning and governance of agriculture and natural resources. It demonstrates how various components of the food system, such as agronomy, agrobiodiversity, plant health, post-harvest management, livestock and fisheries, and socio-economics including marketing and trade, have been managed in sectoral silos, crippling the very foundations of food systems innovations. The book also explores ways to tackle climate change impacts while considering gender, social equity, conservation agriculture practices, and crop modeling as cross-cutting themes. This book utilizes Nepal as a case study in relation to wider questions of food security and livelihoods facing South Asia and synthesizes lessons that are relevant to the Global South where countries are struggling to harmonize and integrate natural resources management for sustainable and effective food security outcomes. As such, it significantly contributes to the knowledge toward achieving various United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Lessons from Nepal

Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security

Hemant Ojha

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