Why our Work Matters
Why is it important to study freshwater in Nepal?
Societies experience the impacts of the climate crisis especially through the medium of water. Climate change is impacting water resources worldwide, with United Nations experts projecting that global freshwater demand will exceed supply by 40 percent by 2030. As Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW), puts it, “The scientific evidence is that we have a water crisis. We are misusing water, polluting water, and changing the whole global hydrological cycle, through what we are doing to the climate. It’s a triple crisis.”
Climate-induced changes in temperature and precipitation are occurring more rapidly in South Asia than the global average. About 1.5 billion people in South Asia rely on waters provided by rivers and tributaries in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, sometimes called the ‘third pole’ because of the vast quantity of freshwater reserves in the form of ice and snow. Scientific research has confirmed that the Himalayas are being disproportionately impacted by – and are disproportionately impacting and accelerating – anthropogenic climate change, a fact that also has major repercussions for the densely inhabited lower altitudinal regions linked to the Himalayas.
Nearly a quarter of this Himalayan region is located in the country of Nepal, and over six thousand rivers and tributaries flow throughout the country. Nepal’s rivers enrich its many highly biodiverse basins and valleys, carrying out critical ecological functions and supporting 30 million Nepalese.
Water resources are the lifeblood of Nepal, sustaining farming, fishing, livelihoods, and cultural traditions. While Nepal does have a strong conservation ethic (protecting ~23% of its land area), the conservation of water resources and aquatic biodiversity has yet to be a primary goal. This has, therefore, been the focus of the Nepal Water Initiative.
Photo: Women collecting water from a stream in Kawasoti, Nepal, May 2019.
Nepal’s water resources, particularly its immense hydropower potential, play a pivotal role in its developing economy and help shape the geopolitical landscape. Rivers offer a pathway to alleviate power shortages in Nepal and generate revenue by exporting electricity to regional markets, like India, Bangladesh, and China. While economically enticing, the development of hydropower projects poses multidimensional risks, including disruptions to ecosystem services and cultural traditions, and displacement of communities. Nepal’s vulnerability to natural hazards (earthquakes, landslides, and monsoonal flooding) further complicates the impacts of hydropower development and climate change on water resources. Photo: Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project, https://www.world-energy.org/article/18793.html
Learn more about the work the Nepal Water Initiative is doing to protect and sustain the ecological, economic, and cultural vitality of Nepal’s freshwater resources.
Photo: Sunset over Phewa Lake, Pokhara, Nepal, May 2023.
