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Impact of community-based organizations on climate change adaptation in agriculture: empirical evidence from Nepal

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of community-based organizations (CBOs) on the adoption of agricultural adaptations to climate change impacts. To this end, we first analyze farmers’ perceptions on changes in local climatic condition, its impact and adaptations on agriculture based on information collected through a questionnaire survey of 720 farming households in six districts of Nepal. The findings reveal a widespread feeling of weather getting warmer, decreasing precipitation, and increasing weather unpredictability. It is found that climate change has adversely affected agriculture in Nepal, and farmers have adopted various adaptation practices to minimize the impacts. Second, we employ propensity score matching technique to examine the impact of CBOs on climate change adaptation. About 62% of the sampled farming households were associated with CBOs, and several socioeconomic factors influence such association. This study provides evidence supporting the argument that CBOs play important role in reducing the negative impacts of climate change by enhancing the adoption of adaptation strategies. It is also evident from the study the need of further strengthening and institutionalizing the informal farmers’ groups and institutions for the successful adaptation.

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Notes

  1. In Nepal, agriculture is a dominant sector, contributing about 35% of total gross domestic product and employing 70% of the population in the country.

  2. Other matching algorithms include Epanechnikov kernel matching, caliper and radius matching, stratification and interval matching (Khandker et al. 2009).

  3. A VDC is an administrative unit in Nepal similar to a municipality which is further divided into nine wards. Each ward constitutes one to several villages.

  4. These questions were also included in the household survey questionnaire.

  5. These indicators were identified from FGDs with farmers in the study area before the household survey.

  6. In this study, we define registered CBOs as the CBOs that are registered and affiliated with the local government organizations such as District Agriculture Development Office, District Development Committees, and District Soil Conservation Office.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Level 8, Z Block, Gardens Point, 2 George St, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

    Uttam Khanal, Clevo Wilson, Viet-Ngu Hoang & Boon Lee

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  1. Uttam Khanal
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  2. Clevo Wilson
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  3. Viet-Ngu Hoang
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  4. Boon Lee
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Correspondence to Uttam Khanal.

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Khanal, U., Wilson, C., Hoang, VN. et al. Impact of community-based organizations on climate change adaptation in agriculture: empirical evidence from Nepal. Environ Dev Sustain 21, 621–635 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-0050-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-0050-6

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