Connecting Farmers’ Voices in Madhesh to Climate Change Policies and Discourses

Project Leader: Dr. Hari Dhungana
Partners and Collaborators: International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) and PANOS South Asia
Duration: 

Brief description of the project: This project is the collaboration between SIAS and International Water Management Institute (IWMI),which isfunded by the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Research Programme and the IWMI Uptake Department. The overall goal of the project is to reconnect the local, national and international discourses and actions around vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and to contribute to a radical rethinking of vulnerability and climate change adaptation interventions and policies in Nepal. Under this project SIAS hosted a roundtable meeting entitled “Do farmers’ voices matter? The Crisis of Agriculture in a Changing Climate in Terai-Madhesh”, on December 10, 2014 in Kathmandu in collaboration with IWMI, PANOS South Asia and NEMAF. It brought together farmers from Dhanusha, senior government officials, civil society representatives and researchers to create a common framing of vulnerability to climatic and societal changes in Terai-Madhesh, and to build a shared understanding of the critical issues affecting agriculture, irrigation and rural development in a changing climate. A policy brief is being prepared based on the participatory activities including series of dialogues conducted in Dhanusha and Kathmandu.