Nepal: How the People of Nepal Live with Climate Change and What Communication Can Do

"Nepalis believe that temperatures have risen, rainfall has become less predictable and floods and droughts have increased during the last 10 years. People also feel the environment has changed and nearly nine in ten say that insects and pests have increased. "

These research results from Climate Asia's work in Nepal included consultation with 2,354 households and 20 opinion formers and experts in Nepal, as well as 12 focus group discussions and five community assessments across the country. It is part of BBC Media Action's study of people’s everyday experience of climate change. The project surveyed 33,500 people across seven Asian countries - Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam. The research was conducted from May 2012 to March 2013 across all Nepal’s ecological and developmental regions. This included a nationally representative survey conducted during July and August 2012.

The report reviews Nepali perception of and experience with climate change and discusses how best to reach them with information they need using media that they regularly access, including: mobile phone SMS text messages; television - including news, panel discussions, and serial drama; radio; and internet. There is an analysis of how to reach groups depending on their understanding of climate change, disaggregated as the following groups:

1. Surviving: "Finding it too hard to take action"
2. Struggling: "Trying to take action but finding it very difficult"
3. Adapting: "Acting and wanting to do more"
4. Willing: "Worrying about tomorrow"
5. Unaffected: "Believe there is no need to do anything”

For example, in the "Adapting: 'Acting and wanting to do more'" group, 17% of the total population, the aims for communication include:

• ”Use as role models: People in this segment are more likely to hold a prominent position in their community and are good role models for people in the surviving and struggling segments.
• Spark and share innovation: Communication should also harness their experience and knowledge to inspire, share tips and best practice with others, particularly regarding responses to water. This includes raising awareness about the importance of supporting people with fewer resources or people who do not feel involved in decision-making processes.
• Provide more technical information: While people in this group have better knowledge of responses than most, they still feel that they are not well equipped to deal with the changes. More information on how to respond and ways to cope with the challenges they face will help to support them.
• Increase skills: Increasing the skills in this group can help other groups too. Their skills can be shared with the community and could include new agricultural practices, installing renewable energy and building up houses so they would more resilient to flooding.
• Help them to plan for future: As they are important community facilitators and have high levels of knowledge, these people could be instrumental in helping communities plan for future risk, such as preparing for floods and other extreme weather events.
• Increase accountability: There is potential to build on this segment’s current actions to strengthen communication with government bodies and discuss the need for more complex responses and infrastructure."

The document includes a section that focuses on means of communicating with specific groups that are either harder to reach or more in need of climate change information. Reaching priority audiences includes the following:

1. Terai housewives: "This group will be most effectively supported by communications that inspire and foster self-belief to take action. Encouraging collective action and providing practical information will help to address their behavioural barriers that lead to inaction. Communications should build on their preference for formats such as dramas, leisure programmes and face-to-face activities. Television dramas should recreate situations such as dealing with water shortages and include characters that can model the desired behaviours, such as women taking actions to save water in the household or women from a community getting together to decide which actions to take. In addition, face-to-face activities such as training on alternative livelihoods through the creation of women’s groups could be a useful tool to reach and support this audience."
2. Young people aged 15-24: "Interactive television programmes could include spaces where young people can share innovative ideas as well as technical and practical information from experts on issues such as farming methods, ways to save water or how to be prepared for extreme weather events. An additional stream of programming should also provide information that can help young people with future prospects, such as potential jobs and alternative livelihoods. In rural areas, local radio programmes led by young people could adopt the same format as the television programme. Mobile phones can also be used as a way to increase participation in both television and radio programmes through phone-ins or SMS."
3. Farmers: "Community or local radio would be the best way to reach this audience. It can be used as a platform for discussion and to provide information and advice. Information on practices that are shown to work in situations similar to those that they are facing and won’t be too risky to adopt would be most useful. In addition, these discussion shows can provide an opportunity for farmers to question local government officials and experts, to hold the government to account and to understand how decisions at the local level are made. Television programmes and, for farmers without access to TV, activities such as mobile cinema could be used to show how people are taking action across the country and the benefits of these over time."

Climate Asia invites people to share this report, the links to the data portal, the climate change toolkit, and their research tools.