NEPAL

Nepal counts 157 Districts in 17 provinces, and has a population of 7,1 M people. LoCAL has engaged in 22 districts in Nepal

Climate Vulnerability:

Climate Vulnerabilities: Nepal has very diverse climatic conditions. Over 80 per cent of the country’s population depend on agriculture and forest resources for their livelihoods, which makes the Nepali people highly vulnerable to climate change. Like other Himalayan populations, the Nepalese live in areas with a high risk of floods, soil erosion and landslides. Increased snow melting rates will further exacerbate the risk of glacial lake outbursts and their related flash floods.

National Response

As part of its National Adaptation Programme of Action, Nepal has established a Climate Change Knowledge Management Centre and a Multi-Stakeholder Climate Change Initiative Coordination Committee. Nepal has also initiated local adaptation plans of action, appointing district and village development committees to act on climate change adaptation. This last has provided an important entry point for LoCAL to support local governments and communities in climate change adaptation.

LoCAL first piloted in Nepal in 2014 and in 2019 a scoping mission was undertaken to gauge the potential for scale up of performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs) and the LoCAL mechanism as the country moves to a federal system.

LOCAL IN NEPAL

• A menu of eligible resilience investments was designed and approved, comprising two categories of intervention. At the district level, the menu has a strategic and cross-sectoral focus; at the local level, it focuses on improving the climate resilience of community livelihoods and existing small infrastructure.
• LoCAL stakeholder mapping, implementation guidelines and capacity development plans were prepared through district- and village-level stakeholder consultations and transferred to local authorities through workshops and trainings benefiting 142 officials and staff. LoCAL was implemented in these two districts until June 2017.
• LoCAL Phase I ended in July 2017. However, UNCDF, under the umbrella framework of MoFAGA’s Environmental Friendly Local Governance (EFLG), designed an EFLG Transition Support Plan to continue LoCAL jointly with the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) of the United Nations Development Programme–United Nations Environment Programme. The transition plan took into account the changed political context of the country as it moved from a unitary to a federal structure.
• Two new districts – Kavre and Sindhuli – were selected based on their high vulnerability to climate change. All 22 municipalities within these two districts have been covered. Given the limited investment grants available, LoCAL provided capacity development support to the 22 local governments to enhance their capacity for better planning and utilization of their own resources for climate change adaptation and resilience projects. Capacity development, policy improvement and advocacy have resulted in increased government grants for climate resilience projects in these two districts. During the financial year 2017/18, the Government of Nepal provided about $500,000 as an additional grant for climate resilience activities in the 22 LoCAL districts.
• About 500 people have been trained in Kavre and Sindhuli on the planning and budgeting process and financing for climate resilience investment projects. Training beneficiaries included Mayors, Deputy Mayors, municipal officials and representatives of community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations. In addition, in partnership with Tribhuvan University, LoCAL financed the development of EFLG baseline data in these two districts covering all 22 local governments.
• The Government of Nepal approved the multi-donor-funded Provincial and Local Government Support Programme, one of whose funders is UNCDF. This capacity development programme will cover seven provinces and 753 local governments under a four-year budget of $130 million (excluding infrastructure services).
• A scoping mission was undertaken in 2019 to gauge the interest in and potential for a follow-up LoCAL programme for Nepal and in supporting the performance-based climate resilience grant (PBCRG) mechanism in a federal context. This resulted in a concept note, developed with support from UNCDF, for a LoCAL-Nepal Phase II, which encompass four rounds of PBCRG allocations.

Brief:

The aim of LoCAL in Nepal is to demonstrate the role and ability of local government in promoting climate change resilience investment through mainstreaming climate finance into the intergovernmental fiscal transfer system and local planning and budgeting process. This is expected to result in:
• Increased awareness of climate change and potential adaptation/resilience-building responses among local government and communities.
• Methods for mainstreaming climate resilience investment in local public expenditure management systems.
• Strengthened local government capacity for climate change resilience and adaptation through improving the planning, budgeting, financing and implementation.
• Greater gender equity and social inclusion at the local level.
• Designed and tested arrangements for tracking and reporting on climate change adaptation expenditures at the local level.

Two PBCRG cycles have been fully implemented, with 59 small-scale adaptation measures financed in two pilot districts, which together have a population of almost 50,000 people. During Phase I, the majority of investments focused on climate-related disaster prevention, with 27 projects addressing bio-engineering, drainage and damming works on roads, river streams and canals to prevent flooding and landslides for downstream and neighbouring communities. Another 23 interventions aimed at improving rainwater harvesting and availability through the construction or restoration of community ponds for irrigation and watering cattle, etc. Some measures included alternative income-generating activities, such as eco-tourism in Siddalake, and a bee-keeping initiative in Gajuri.

22 Districts engaged

59 Adaptation investments

337,226 Beneficiaries

Budget: US$ 110,973

Action on Climate Change:

LoCAL Phase I ended in July 2017. However, UNCDF, under the umbrella framework of MoFAGA’s Environmental Friendly Local Governance (EFLG), designed an EFLG Transition Support Plan to continue LoCAL jointly with the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) of the United Nations Development Programme–United Nations Environment Programme. The transition plan took into account the changed political context of the country as it moved from a unitary to a federal structure:

■ Two new districts - Kavre and Sindhuli – were selected based on their high vulnerability to climate change. All 22 municipalities within these two districts have been covered. Given the limited investment grants available, LoCAL provided capacity development support to the 22 local governments to enhance their capacity for better planning and utilization of their own resources for climate change adaptation and resilience projects. Capacity development, policy improvement and advocacy have resulted in increased government grants for climate resilience projects in these two districts. During the financial year 2017/18, the Government of Nepal provided about $500,000 as an additional grant for climate resilience activities in the 22 LoCAL districts.

■ About 500 people have been trained in Kavre and Sindhuli on the planning and budgeting process and financing for climate resilience investment projects. Training beneficiaries included Mayors, Deputy Mayors, municipal officials and representatives of community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations. In addition, in partnership with Tribhuvan University, LoCAL financed the development of EFLG baseline data in these two districts covering all 22 local governments.

■ The Government of Nepal approved the multi-donor-funded Provincial and Local Government Support Programme, one of whose funders is UNCDF. This capacity development programme will cover seven provinces and 753 local governments under a four-year budget of $130 million (excluding infrastructure services).
■ A scoping mission was undertaken in 2019 to gauge the interest in and potential for a follow-up LoCAL programme for Nepal and in supporting the performance-based climate resilience grant (PBCRG) mechanism in a federal context. This resulted in a concept note, developed with support from UNCDF, for a LoCAL-Nepal Phase II, which encompass four rounds of PBCRG allocations.

NEPAL

National Response

LOCAL IN NEPAL

Brief:

Action on Climate Change:

Stories from the Field

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